Belgium: “Allahu Akbar” shouting attacker, who murdered three people, is a former prisoner who was radicalised in jail
The man, who murdered two police officers and a passer-by in the Belgian city of Liège, was on a day-release from a local prison on Monday.
The attacker, Benjamin Herman, is a man with Belgian nationality from Rochefort. He was born in 1982 and was let out from prison on temporary release.
According to HLN and other sources, Herman shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. It started after he attacked two female police officers from behind with a sharp weapon. He stabbed them numerous times and took a gun.
With the gun Herman approached a car and shot dead a man that was sitting in the passenger seat. He then took a woman hostage at a local school.
The attacker was shot dead by a police intervention team after he left the school building and fired at the police. During the shootout, four police officers were injured, but none of them critically.
Herman was known for drug crimes and thefts. According to the newspaper HLN, he was radicalised in prison. Other prisoners describe him as a ‘violent’ and a ‘nobody’. BT/HLN – EP
