On 5 October 2016, three police officers were attacked by a man wielding a
machete in the
Schaerbeek municipality of
Brussels, Belgium. Two of them suffered stab wounds, while the third was physically assaulted but otherwise uninjured. The suspected assailant, a Belgian citizen named Hicham Diop, was apprehended and charged with attempted terrorism-related murder and participating in a terrorist group.
He soon told police that his brother, Aboubaker Diop, had also been involved, and the latter was also arrested.
Background
Prior to the stabbing, Schaerbeek and the nearby municipality of
Molenbeek
( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...
had already become known as "a hotbed of
jihadism" in Brussels. It was there where the perpetrators of the March
2016 Brussels bombings
On 22 March 2016, two coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium were carried out by the Islamic State. Three coordinated suicide bombings occurred: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station on the Brussels m ...
and some of the perpetrators of the
November 2015 Paris attacks
The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...
were based. Schaerbeek was the home of the taxi driver who drove the suspects to
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...
.
They raided the home and found a nail bomb, of
acetone peroxide,
hydrogen peroxide, and an
ISIL flag
The jihadist flag is a flag commonly used by various Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist movements as a symbol of jihad. It usually consists of a black background with a white text of the ''shahada'' (Islamic creed) emblazoned across it in callig ...
. Inside a
waste container near the house they also found a computer belonging to
Ibrahim El Bakraoui
Ibrahim El Bakraoui ( ar, إبراهيم البكراوي; 9 October 1986 – 22 March 2016) was a Belgian-Moroccan terrorist, confirmed to be one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels Airport in the 2016 Brussels bombings.
Personal backg ...
who is believed to have carried out suicide bombings during the attacks along with his brother.
The stabbing came nearly two months after
a similar stabbing attack in
Charleroi
Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. , in which an Algerian citizen stabbed two police officers; and nearly one month after another similar attack in Molenbeek, in which a man of North African origin slightly injured two police officers.
At the time of the stabbing, Brussels was on a high terror alert.
has used social media to inspire sympathizers in Western countries to target police and soldiers for attack on the grounds that they represent the state.
The attack was one of a series of attacks on Belgian police officers in 2016, including the stabbing of two officers on 7 September in Molenbeek and the 6 August
2016 stabbing of Charleroi police officers
On 6 August 2016, a man attacked two policewomen with a machete in Charleroi, Belgium, before being shot dead by another police officer.
Background
The attack was one of a series of attacks on Belgian police officers in 2016, including the stabbi ...
.
describes this attack as part of a pattern of
jihadist attacks in which there have been, "many small incidents and thwarted ones, then suddenly one or two high-casualty attacks" in Europe since 2014.
The attack occurred as a summit of world leaders, including American Secretary of State
John Kerry, met in Brussels to discuss Afghanistan.
Attack
The attack reportedly occurred during an identity check on Boulevard Lambermont, a busy main road in Schaerbeek.
[Milan Schreuer, "2 Brussels Police Officers Are Stabbed in ‘Potential Terrorist Attack’," 5 October 2016, '' The New York Times'']
A man, armed with a
machete, lunged for two police officers; one was stabbed in the stomach and the other in the neck, but neither was seriously injured. Afterwards, the attacker fled the scene, but encountered a third officer nearby and got into a violent struggle, which resulted in Diop, a former professional
Boxer (boxing), boxer, slugging the officer and giving him a broken nose.
The officer then shot and wounded the attacker with a single shot to the leg.
According to an eyewitness, the attacker shouted something in Arabic after being shot.
Suspect
The suspect, Hicham Diop (43), was at first identified only as Hicham D. by police and media.
According to Belgian media, he was a 43-year-old Belgium Army veteran and former
Boxer (boxing), boxer who was discharged in 2009 and was previously known to police
and to security services for his contacts with extremist Islamists. He was also believed to have links to jihadists who traveled to
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
[ A married man with young children, Diop once stood for a seat in a regional parliament, but lost the election.]kickboxer
Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...
.
Legal proceedings
Hicham Diop
Hicham Diop has been charged with attempted murder in a terrorist context, deliberate intentional assault, violations of arms legislation and armed rebellion.
Aboubaker Diop
Aboubaker Diop, born in 1970, a Belgian national has been charged with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group."
Reactions
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon tweeted a statement after the attack, expressing his support for police officers in Schaerbeek.[
In a speech in February 2017, Donald Trump stated that the media was not reporting on terrorist attacks. Later that day, the administration included this stabbing attack in a list of 78 attacks which the admin said were "under-reported". It was not clear what "under-reported" meant, or what criteria were used to compile the list. News organizations stated that they had indeed covered most of the incidents in the list, some of them extensively. Politifact rated Donald Trump's claim as false.]
See also
* Islamic terrorism in Europe
* Stabbing as a terrorist tactic
* 2016 stabbing of Charleroi police officers
On 6 August 2016, a man attacked two policewomen with a machete in Charleroi, Belgium, before being shot dead by another police officer.
Background
The attack was one of a series of attacks on Belgian police officers in 2016, including the stabbi ...
* 2018 Liège shooting
* List of terrorist incidents in Belgium
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brussels stabbing, 2016
October 2016 crimes in Europe
2016 in Brussels
Stabbing attacks in 2016
Islamic terrorism in Belgium
Terrorist incidents in Belgium in 2016
Terrorist incidents involving knife attacks
Terrorist incidents in Belgium
Crimes against police officers in Belgium
Stabbing attacks in Belgium