BRUSSELS: Belgium said on Thursday that it had arrested a 45-year old Tunisian man in connection with the gun attack earlier this month by another Tunisian who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and shot dead two Swedes.
The Brussels Federal Prosecutor said a Tunisian identified as Lamjed K was arrested this week over the October 16 attack and was charged with murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization.
“The federal public prosecutor’s Office only wishes to confirm that he can possibly be linked to the weapon used during the terrorist attack on 16 October 2023,” it said in a statement.
The gunman behind the October 16 attack called himself Abdesalem Al Guilani. He had unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium in 2019 and was living in Belgium illegally.
The gunman targeted Swedes who were in Brussels to watch Belgium play Sweden in a European championship soccer match. The game had to be abandoned, and a police manhunt for the gunman culminated in police shooting him dead.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called the shooting a “brutal terrorist attack,” and criticism over how Belgian authorities had been monitoring the gunman resulted in the resignation of the Belgium Justice Minister.
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Belgium charges Tunisian man in relation to Brussels Islamist attack
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Belgium charges Tunisian man in relation to Brussels Islamist attack
- The gunman targeted Swedes who were in Brussels to watch Belgium play Sweden in a European championship soccer match
Russia says ‘progress’ in talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Thursday that there was progress and a positive movement forward in negotiations on peace in Ukraine, as delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States prepared for talks in Abu Dhabi.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the east, triggering the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two and biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy on investment who has played a central role in US-mediated negotiations on Ukraine, said that “warmongers” from Europe and Britain were “constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to meddle in it.”
“And the more such attempts there are, the more we see that progress is definitely being made,” he told reporters ahead of the talks. “There is positive movement forward.”
He said active work was underway on restoring relations with the United States, including within the framework of a US-Russia working group on economy.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took part in the previous meeting of the working group in Miami on January 31 along with Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the east, triggering the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two and biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy on investment who has played a central role in US-mediated negotiations on Ukraine, said that “warmongers” from Europe and Britain were “constantly trying to interfere with this process, constantly trying to meddle in it.”
“And the more such attempts there are, the more we see that progress is definitely being made,” he told reporters ahead of the talks. “There is positive movement forward.”
He said active work was underway on restoring relations with the United States, including within the framework of a US-Russia working group on economy.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took part in the previous meeting of the working group in Miami on January 31 along with Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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