Terrorist organisation Islamic State claims responsibility for Liège shooting

Islamic State’s propaganda agency has stated that the man responsible for killing three people, Benjamin Herman, was “a soldier of the caliphate”.

The claim came in a communiqué from Islamic State’s news agency Amaq, published online on the Telegram social media app. It said Herman carried out the attack in response to calls to target coalition countries.

Even if it was difficult to know if Herman was loyal to Islamic State, the claim should be taken seriously, Liège University criminologist Michaël Danitnne told RTBF. “It’s a signature and it’s also – which is important to know –a form of recognition after the event for the person who has done this,” he said.

Herman killed two women police officers and a 22-year-old student in the centre of Liège on Tuesday morning. After taking a woman hostage – who he released after she said she was a Muslim - he was shot dead by a Liège police special unit. Several officers were injured in the exchange of gunfire.

The federal prosecutor has opened a terrorism investigation. He told a press conference on Wednesday that the initial findings of the investigation suggested that it could have been a terrorist attack.

TV footage by RTBF showed Herman – dressed in black – shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest, in Arabic). The investigation is examining whether Herman could have been radicalised in prison.

More details have emerged of the events leading up to the shooting spree. Herman was on temporary release from Marche-en-Famenne prison when he robbed a jewellery shop in Rochefort on Monday evening with former fellow prisoner Michael Wilmet. Herman allegedly  killed his accomplice later that evening by inflicting numerous blows to his head with a hammer.

Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon told Bel RTL that Herman “no longer had a future in our society because he had committed a murder the night before”.

A minute's silence was held in the centre of Liège on Wednesday afternoon, attended by more than a 1,000 people, including politicians and dignitaries. Federal and local police simultaneously observed a minute's silence at Brussels' Palais de Justice .

Photo: Virginie Lefour/Belga Photo
Friends of victim Cyril Vangrieken at tribute at Tivoli space, Liège, on Wednesday