Man shot in Brussels after knife attack on soldiers

BRUSSELS (AFP): A man has been shot in the centre of Brussels on Friday evening after attacking two soldiers with a knife.

The man is in a critical condition, Belgian prosecutors told Reuters. They also confirmed the man was not known to have any terror links. “With the identity that we currently have it is a 30-year-old man who is not known for terrorist activities,” said a prosecution spokeswoman.

The soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack, one in the face, the other in the hand. Belgium’s anti-terror command unit confirmed that soldiers had “neutralised” a person.

In addition to regular police, the streets of Brussels are being patrolled by soldiers due to a heightened threat level following a series of terror attacks in Paris and the Belgian capital in 2015 and 2016.

In June, soldiers shot dead a suspected suicide bomber in the Brussels central train station but there were no other casualties, in what authorities treated as a terrorist incident.