A Tunisian gunman suspected of killing two Swedish football fans has been shot dead by police in a Brussels café.
The 45-year-old, who identified himself as a member of Islamic State and claimed responsibility in a video posted online, was shot by police on Tuesday afternoon, Brussels time.
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Sweden’s Football Federation confirmed on Tuesday that the two people killed were fans of the Swedish national team.
Sweden were playing Belgium in a Euro 2024 qualifying match in Brussels when news came through of the attack on Monday. The game was abandoned at halftime with the score 1-1.
The suspect is also believed to have wounded another Swedish national in his attack on Monday night.
A Belgian federal prosecutor initially said there was no evidence that the attacker had any link to the renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, but that was no longer excluded, broadcaster RTBF said.
Video footage of the attack posted on the Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper website showed a man in an orange jacket on a scooter at a street intersection with a rifle first firing five shots, then following people fleeing into a building before firing again.
The victims were a man aged around 70 from the Stockholm region, and a man aged about 60 who lived abroad, Sweden’s foreign ministry said. The injured man, also aged about 70, was still in hospital.
In a video on social media, the suspected gunman called himself Abdesalem Al Guilani. He unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium in 2019, was living in the country illegally and was known to Belgian police in connection with people smuggling, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said.
Armed police stood guard outside the suspect’s apartment in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek on Tuesday while investigators gathered evidence.
The Swedish team flew home on Monday night and Belgian football federation managing director Manu Leroy said the fairest solution would be for the match to be recorded as a 1-1 draw.
However, UEFA said it was too early to make any decision and that “further communication will be made in due course”.
The King Baudouin Stadium was locked down for two and a half hours for security reasons and it was 4am local time before the last of the Swedish supporters left the stadium, under police escort.
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