De Croo confirmed the information on social media and expressed his condolences to Sweden. “I have just expressed my sincere condolences to Ulf Kristersson (Sweden’s Prime Minister) after a terrible attack on Swedish citizens in Brussels this evening. Our thoughts are with the families and friends who have lost their loved ones. As close partners, we fight against.” “Terrorism is communal,” he wrote.
The shooting happened around 7:15 p.m. (local time, 2:15 p.m. in Brasília) around Place Sainctelette.
The suspected shooter said in a video shared on social media that he was a member of the Islamic State. The public prosecutor’s office in the Belgian capital told AFP that an investigation had been opened.
Police are investigating the possibility of a terrorist attack, according to the newspaper Le Soir. “We live for our religion, we die for our religion, thank God,” the suspect says in the video. “Thank God, your brother Abdesalam avenged the Muslims, I just killed three Swedes,” he adds in the video. However, local police confirmed two deaths.
Rescue workers were on scene and no one has been arrested so far. In images taken by a resident of the area, a man wearing a neon orange jacket and white helmet, with a gun in his hand, can be seen getting on a motorcycle and fleeing. The weapon would be an AK47 submachine gun.