Belgian city rocked by deadly grenade attack

A man has opened fire with an assault rifle and thrown grenades in the Belgian city of Liege, staging an attack in which five people died including the gunman himself, officials said.
Those killed in Tuesday’s attack included a baby, two teenage boys and a 75-year-old woman. Officials said at least 120 others were also wounded in the attack, which occurred 90km east of Brussels.
Judicial sources named the lone attacker as Nordine Amrani, who was known to police.
The sources said police had recently raided his Liege home seeking cannabis plants, but had found arms instead. In 2008, he was sentenced to almost five years in prison for illegal possession of arms and growing cannabis.
Despite the 33-year-old’s criminal history, Belgium’s federal crisis centre said the attack was neither a terrorist incident nor linked to a pending criminal trial.
Amrani climbed onto the roof of a bakery and threw grenades at a bus stop at Place Saint Lambert, a central shopping square which is the site of Liege’s Christmas market and its main courthouse. Then he opened fire with an assault rifle.
Public prosecutor Daniele Reynders said it was “uncertain yet whether he killed himself or whether his weapons exploded”. Local media reports indicated that he may have committed suicide.

‘Like a hunter’

“The people who witnessed the attack said the gunman was like a hunter, trying to kill as many as possible,” Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from Liege, said.
The attack sent terrified residents running for their lives, fleeing into churches and shops.
“We heard two huge deafening noises and then lots of explosions, people were running everywhere,” said a baker giving her name as only Patricia.
“We closed the door, turned off the lights and hid behind the counter with the customers.”
Police were on the scene quickly and sealed off the square.
As police hunted for possible accomplices, residents were ordered to stay in their homes or seek shelter in shops or public buildings. Sirens blared and a police chopper roared overhead. Dozens of emergency vehicles took victims away for treatment and to provide immediate assistance, a museum on the square was converted into a makeshift hospital..
“Luckily the mayor had postponed the opening of the Christmas market due to bad weather and high winds. Otherwise many more would have died,” a townhall employee told the AFP news agency.
Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, who travelled to the city, stressed the attack was the act of a lone assailant, a man known
to police who had no links to terrorism.
“The whole country shares in the pain. This is an isolated case. This is not about terrorism,” he said.
King Albert II and Queen Paola also visited the scene.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies