An armed individual in Belgium killed two police officers and a passerby

Local media in Belgium report that on Tuesday, an armed individual shot and killed two police officers and a passerby in the center of Liège, and was subsequently shot dead by police. This individual opened fire on the officers after they requested him to show identification. In this incident, he also killed a passerby and injured two others. He then fled to the grounds of a school, where during a hostage situation involving a female school janitor, he was shot and killed by police. According to Belga news agency, local officials say that his actions, which were accompanied by shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' and occurred near a café, may be considered terrorist in nature. Belgian media report that their initial investigations indicate the armed individual is named 'Benjamin Herman', a 36-year-old former prisoner. Jean Jamain, Belgium's Minister of the Interior, stated on Twitter that besides terrorism, other motivations could also be behind the actions of this armed individual, and the case is being examined at the National Anti-Terrorism Crisis Center. A spokesperson for this center has also stated that all scenarios are currently under investigation, and the motivation of terrorism is just one of the options on the table. More details about this hostage situation have not yet been released. Liège is an industrial and French-speaking city located near the German border, and in 2011, an armed man killed four people before taking his own life, injuring over a hundred others. Belgium, and particularly the city of Brussels, has been a target of terrorist attacks by members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in recent years. In 2016, two suicide bombings at Brussels Airport resulted in at least 16 deaths, and a bomb explosion in the city's metro killed another 16 people. The Muslim-majority neighborhood of Molenbeek in Brussels has been under surveillance by counter-terrorism officers following terrorist attacks in Europe over the past three years. During this time, police have conducted several operations in this neighborhood and arrested dozens of suspects. Reports indicate that this neighborhood has been the base for several individuals involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks. The November 2015 attacks in France left 130 victims and resulted in Belgium and France maintaining their highest security alert levels for an extended period. Using reports from Reuters and Radio Farda.