Two people were killed and two others critically injured in a gun attack in a district near Brussels-Midi station in the Belgian capital.
According to the authorities, the attack occurred on Thursday night around 1 a.m. A group of people were shot at in front of a café near the train station, police said. Investigators initially gave no information about the motive.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, those killed were a 44-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman, both of whom died immediately. A 42-year-old man and a 49-year-old man were seriously injured and are in hospital and in critical condition. Another person was also injured.
After the attack, the suspected shooters fled. According to initial investigation results, an assault rifle was used in the attack. An investigating judge has been commissioned to investigate murder and attempted murder.
In Belgium, violence has been on the rise for several years, mainly due to turf wars between rival drug gangs. However, on Thursday the police initially did not establish a connection between the nighttime attack and drug trafficking.
The crime scene is in the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles. Mayor Jean Spinette spoke of an increase in the trade and consumption of crack in Saint-Gilles and called for additional police patrols. Spinette accused the café in front of which the attack took place of ignoring closing times, but he did not provide any information on possible links to the drug scene.
