Three injured in mass stabbing incident at Brussels Metro station in Belgium

A 30-year-old man is in police custody after stabbing three people at a Metro station in Brussels, Belgium.

As confirmed by the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office this evening, Monday, January 30, a 30-year-old man is in police custody after stabbing three people. The incident occurred in the Schuman metro station in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

🔴 SUIVI – #Belgique : Après une attaque au couteau dans le métro de #Bruxelles, deux hommes et une femme ont été blessés, l'un d'eux plus sérieusement. L'assaillant a été interpellé. #terror #terrorisme #Brussels #stabbing #TerrorAttack pic.twitter.com/dRKknWrWp3

— FranceNews24 (@FranceNews24) January 30, 2023

One of those attacked is said to be in critical condition, with two others injured. The knife attack took place in the station located right underneath the European Commission headquarters in the city.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that terrorism is not suspected as a motive. This was contradicted by other witness reports that claimed the suspect shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before committing the attacks.

#Breaking: Confirmed by multiple eye witnesses who where at the time in the Schuman metro station in #Brussels, #Belgium, they said that the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he performed the stabbing attack, injuring 4 people whom one of them in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/ZUBeVKgU5n

— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) January 30, 2023

According to euronews.com, the emergency services received a request for two ambulances to be deployed at 17:48 local time. Police officers descended on the location and the suspect was subsequently detained.

STIB-MIVB, the city’s public transport company, confirmed that the station had been closed to the public in the aftermath of the incident.

M1 M5 remplacés par des M-Bus
entre Arts-Loi et Merode (M5) ou Montgomery (M1)
Intervention police#stib

— STIB-MIVB (@STIBMIVB) January 30, 2023

Philippe Close, the mayor of Brussels tweeted: “Knife attack in Schuman station: cooperation with various federal police forces and @zpz_polbru ensured that the perpetrator could be quickly arrested”.

Attaque au couteau dans la station Schuman: La collaboration avec les différents services de police fédéraux et de @zpz_polbru a permis l’arrestation rapide de l’auteur.

— Philippe Close (@PhilippeClose) January 30, 2023

A witness told Euronews the assault unfolded inside a metro car when the attacker stabbed a woman with a knife and asked passengers to exit.

An eyewitness named Salaheddine told Euronews: “I got into the metro carriage, the doors closed and then one moment I saw a crowd of people coming out shouting”.

He continued: “What happened was that it was a man with a knife. He stabbed, as I understand it, a woman and then he wanted to attack us. What he wanted, mainly, was for us to get out of the carriage and for him to be alone while waiting for the police”.

“But despite everything, as you know, in this station there are many strains, etc, so people, passengers, get out and therefore find themselves in front of this gentleman and so he becomes a little violent”, he added.

“Emotion in the European district. Warm thoughts for the victims. Thanks to the security forces @zpz_polbru”, tweeted the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. His offices are located in the building directly above the Metro station where the attacks took place.

A guy who was seriously injured was on the metro sitting in the front of my boyfriend, who witnessed everything… I hope he will survive the attack! The assailant was already known as a psychiatric case.

— Milica Stanojevic (@milicastanoj) January 30, 2023

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