Brussels averts massacre
Belgian security forces avert a possible massacre in the capital’s central rail terminal on Tuesday gunning down man with shrapnel and gas bomb
The man shot dead on Tuesday evening in Brussels Central Station when he was presumably about to perpetrate a terrorist attack has been identified as Osama Zariouh a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen living in Molenbeek, in the north of the Belgian capital . According to the Federal Prosecutor’s spokesman, the alleged suicide bomber could have caused many casualties if he had managed to detonate the suitcase he was carrying which was filled with “nails and gas canisters.” There were at least a dozen passengers around the assailant when he attempted to carry out the attack. He did manage to explode one small device before being brought down by armed security.
Although Zariouh shouted “Allah Akbar” before the attack, he had not been involved in jihadist activities but did have a criminal record for minor crimes involving drugs. He was divorced and known to be a solitary individual.
The hypothesis of the failed terrorist attack was also corroborated yesterday by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “We prevented a terrorist attack at the central station,” said Michel at the exit of the Belgian security council. “We are not intimidated by the terrorists,” he added, while confirming that the alert remains unchanged at level 3 ( possible and plausible threat), on a scale of 4.
The attempted attack took place a day after another attack in Paris, where an Islamist rammed a car into a gendarmerie van stationed on the popular Champs Elysees.
Brussels has been the scene of a number of jihadist attacks in recent years, including an attack on the city’s airport which left a toll of 130 dead.