Brussels police call for more workforce following stabbing

According to federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon, Belgium’s state security service had informed the municipality of Schaerbeek in Brussels about Hicham Diop, the man accused of stabbing two police officers on Wednesday.

The information in the possession of intelligence services was added to the federal database on “foreign terrorist fighters,” which is accessible to municipal mayors, among others, Jambon said.

Diop, a former member of the armed forces and a competitive kick-boxer, has been detained on suspicion of the attempted murder of the two officers, who he attacked outside the Brugmann Hospital in Schaerbeek with a knife. A former army officer, Diop is also linked to radical Islam and the extremist sheikh Bassam Ayachi of Molenbeek.

One of the officers was stabbed in the neck, and the other in the abdomen. A third officer who came to their assistance sustained a broken nose. In a pursuit by a second patrol, Diop was shot in the leg. The two officers who were stabbed are in good condition.

Diop 43, served in the army until 2009. Since then, he is known to have been in contact with men who have been fighting in Syria. The prosecutor’s office is considering whether to classify the attack as a terrorist incident, which could affect any eventual sentence.

Following the attack, Schaerbeek mayor Bernard Cleyrfat called for an improved system for the exchange of information between levels of government. Police unions, meanwhile, called for more resources and staffing as well as specific training to cope with such incidents. “The risk of incidents like the one in Schaerbeek can never be ruled out,” a spokesperson for the police union SNPS told Bruzz. “It goes with the job.”

Photo: Dirk Waem/BELGA