Breaking: Attack in Belgium

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D.Turtle
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Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by D.Turtle »

BBC wrote:Deadly attack rocks central Liege in Belgium
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A gun and grenade attack in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege has killed at least two people and wounded about 25, Belgian media say.

They say several men threw grenades and fired on a crowd at a bus stop in Place Saint Lambert, a busy square.

Some reports say one of the attackers is among the dead. Local media said another had been seized by police but gunfire was continuing.

The area has been sealed off. There is no word on who carried out the attack.
Telegraph wrote:Belgium grenade attack kills two
At least one person was killed and a number of others wounded Tuesday when up to four grenades exploded outside the main courthouse in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.

The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town's courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.

One of two or more assailants threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another was hurled at a bus shelter, RTL-TV1 said.

Shots were fired across the square by gunmen posted on the rooftop of a bakery shop, with further shots heard later from across town.

Police cordoned off the square and gave chase to the assailants, one of whom was reportedly killed.

The Karachi Post in Pakistan claimed that the attack was linked to a sentence in an honour killing case. It said the parents of Sadia Sheikh were sentenced on Monday when there had been a bomb alert in the court.

Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for La Meuse Liege on the scene, told The Daily Telegraph there was panic and confusion on the streets of Liege.

"There is at least one dead and the attacker. Police are looking for another shooter. There are lots of ambulances and many casualties - at least 10 people.

"At the moment you can't move in the city centre. People are crying and in shock - they do not know what is going on. Everyone has been told to stay inside and are hiding in shops."

Police were not immediately contactable to confirm the toll or events.

The attack comes a day after a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their law student daughter and sister in the country's first "honour killing" trial.

After pronouncing the family members guilty for the shooting death of 20-year-old Sadia Sheikh in October 2007, the jury sentenced father Tarik Mahmood Sheikh to 25 years behind bars, mother Zahida Parveen Sariya to 20 years, brother Mudusar to 15 and sister Sariya to five years, media reported.

Lawyers for the family said brother Mudusar, who confessed to pulling the trigger on the three bullets that killed his sister, was handed a lesser jail term than his parents as they were considered to have ordered the girl's death.
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Siege
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by Siege »

What the hell?

The Guardian quotes Belgian news sources sayingthere were three attackers, one of whom was killed, another captured, and a third as of right now still on the run. Other new sources speculate the attack may be linked to an attempted breakout from the palais de justice which is apparently very near to the site of the attack.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by wautd »

At this point it looks like the act of one guy who had a beef with the justice department. 4 dead (including that piece of worthless shit) and 64 wounded. :|
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by Col. Crackpot »

Hand grenades and a Kalashnikov? Jesus Christ! The latest has a 4 year old among the critically wounded... just awful.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

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So, the latest, including info from a press conference:
BBC wrote: A gunman has opened fire in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege, killing at least three people and wounding 75.

The man also threw grenades into a crowded square from a rooftop before killing himself, reports say.

The attacker was named as Nordine Amrani. He was known to police for firearms offences.

Earlier reports said at least two more men were involved, but officials said the attacker acted alone. Terrorism was not a cause, they added.

Amrani was jailed for 58 months in September 2008 for possessing firearms and drugs, media reports said.

Officials did not confirm this, but said they were aware he had spent some time in prison.

Amrani had been asked to come for an interview at a police station in connection with charges against him.

A resident of Liege, he left home with a gun, a pistol and three grenades in a bag, prosecutors said.

Greg Ienco, a journalist at local newspaper La Meuse-Liège, described the scene of the attack.

"We saw four explosions. I was in a building 200m from Saint Lambert Square," he said.

"It was quite incredible. We saw one man on the roof who tried to kill people. This man killed himself with a grenade."

Two of the three dead were teenage boys aged 15 and 17, the third a 75-year-old woman.

TV images showed blood splattered across the cobblestones of Place Saint Lambert, where the attack happened.

Doctors at a city hospital are trying to save the life of an 18-month-old boy injured in the attack. Several others are reported to be in a serious condition.

Medical staff at a field hospital at the scene treated 52 of the injured. Some others made their own way to other hospitals.

Roads into the centre of Liege were sealed off but vehicles are now coming back into the city.

Explosives experts were called in to search the area for unexploded grenades. People were initially told to stay in buildings but are now returning to the streets.

Place Saint Lambert is a busy intersection, served by hundreds of buses daily. It hosts an annual Christmas market which attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by Siege »

It's not as immediately important, but I do wonder where the Telegraph got that initial honor killing stuff from. No other news source picked up on that angle, I can't even find a source for the Karachi Post claim they alledge, and the time between the news breaking and the Telegraph article being published seems awfully short for them to have consulted a Pakistani newspaper from the other side of the world.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by Vendetta »

The Telegraph frequently resembles nothing more than the Daily Mail in a smart tie. It guarantees sales in part by catering to middle english tory prejudices.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

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Well, the sentence was pronounced just yesterday, so they speculated that this was in connection to that. It obviously wasn't. I'm guessing that the Karachi Post thing was seen online (Google News ftw), but can't be sure about that.

Also note that it was first thought that there was more than one attacker, which also wasn't true.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by Bounty »

It could, horrificly, have been worse - the last time the shooter was arrested the police found multiple machine guns and RPG's in his home. He was currently released under supervision following time in prison for operating a weed plantation and the guns, after getting a probational sentence for rape, and was scheduled today to be questioned about another rape case.

So yeah, not a nice man.

The news just now put the death toll at 4, possibly rising to 6 in the night, with 120+ wounded.
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Re: Breaking: Attack in Belgium

Post by wautd »

Current balance is at least 5 dead and 123 wounded. Could be a lot worse looking at the number of wounded.

They also found another dead person in his house (the cleaning lady of his neighbours).
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