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2023 Brussels shooting
Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe
A view of the Sainctelette Bridge, close to where the shooting happened
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Coordinates	50°51′29″N 4°20′47″E / 50.85806°N 4.34639°E / 50.85806; 4.34639
Date	16 October 2023 (2023-10-16) 19:15 CEST (UTC+2)
Target	Swedes
Attack type	Mass shooting
Weapons	Kalashnikov rifle
Deaths	3 (including the perpetrator)
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Abdesalem Lassoued
Motive	Islamic extremism

The 2023 Brussels shooting was an Islamist terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium, in which two Swedish football supporters were killed and a third (the taxi chauffeur) was injured. The shooting took place at about 7:15 pm on 16 October at the crossing of two boulevards next to the Place Sainctelette/Saincteletteplein, in the City of Brussels. The victims were on their way to a football match at the King Baudouin Stadium. The gunman, identified as 45-year-old Tunisian Abdesalem Lassoued, fled the scene and posted a video to social media claiming to have been inspired by the Islamic State. The following morning, he was tracked down to a café in the Schaerbeek municipality of Brussels where he was shot by Belgian police and died on the way to hospital.

Following the attack, the terror threat level for Brussels was raised from 2 to 4, the highest level. Over the rest of the country, it was raised from level 2 to level 3. After the death of the perpetrator, Brussels was lowered to level 3, the same as the rest of the country.

Background

Since the mid-2010s, Islamist bombing and stabbing attacks have been carried out in Brussels, including those in 2014, 2016, June 2017, August 2017, 2018 and 2022. An Islamic State terror cell was based in the city in the mid-2010s.

Attack

At around 7:15 pm on 16 October 2023, Lassoued opened fire on Swedish football supporters at the junction of the Boulevard du Neuvième de Ligne/Negende Linielaan and the Boulevard d'Ypres/Ieperlaan, next to the Place Sainctelette/Saincteletteplein, in the City of Brussels. The supporters were on their way to the King Baudouin Stadium, about 5 km (3 mi) away, where the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier between Belgium and Sweden was being played. One victim was shot in the foyer of a building, while the other was shot in a taxi. A third Swedish football supporter was also shot and was left in a serious, but not life-threatening, condition. The victims were all men, with the two who died being in their 60s and 70s, and the one who was wounded in his 70s. The gunman, who was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket, then fled on a motorcycle.

The football match, which had started at 8 pm, was called off at half-time as news of the attack spread. The Swedish players said they did not want to play the second half of the match and the Belgium team agreed. The 35,000 spectators were held in the stadium before being evacuated a little before midnight, with the Swedish fans being the last to leave. Swedish fans were reported to have removed their supporters gear in order to avoid being identified as Swedish. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised Swedes in Brussels to be vigilant.

Soon after the attack a video of a man speaking Arabic and claiming responsibility for the shooting was circulating on social media. The man said he was inspired by the Islamic State. A spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said that the investigation was concentrating on a terrorist motive, with Swedish nationals having been targeted, possibly on account of recent Quran-burnings in Sweden. The attacker was identified as Lassoued.

As a result of the attack, the terror threat level for Brussels was raised from 2 to 4, the highest level, and raised from 2 to 3, the second-highest level, in the rest of the country.

Perpetrator's death

The following morning, police received a tip-off that Lassoued was in a café close to where he lived in Schaerbeek. During the arrest, he was shot in the chest by police. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him and took him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death was confirmed by Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden on the social media platform X. The weapon used in the attack (an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle) was found in his possession, as was a bag of clothes. After his death, the terror threat level for Brussels was lowered to 3, the same as the rest of Belgium.

Investigation

Perpetrator's background

On 17 October Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson held a press conference stating that he had received information that Lassoued had previously been to Sweden and had been suspected of terrorist activities in Tunisia. Initially it was reported that he was not known to Swedish police, but a more detailed review found that he had lived illegally in Sweden in 2012–2014 using different names and had been imprisoned for a period for a drug-related conviction; subsequently he had been deported from Sweden with a ten year re-entry ban.

Lassoued had entered Europe in 2011 via Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, making the journey on a small boat. In the decade after his arrival in Europe, he is known to have sought asylum in Belgium, Italy, Norway and Sweden, all of which rejected his claims, and he appears to have travelled between different European countries using several identities. He had been flagged by Belgian authorities for potential extremism and a "foreign intelligence service" had also issued a warning about him in 2016. After having threatened another Tunisian man at an asylum centre, Lassoued had been called in for questioning on 17 October (the day after the attack) by Belgian authorities.

After the death of Lassoued, the federal prosecutor told reporters that he was thought to have been acting as a lone wolf rather than as a member of a terrorist group. Later on the evening of 17 October, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through their Amaq News Agency.

Motive

Belgian authorities have said that a motive behind the killing was that the victims were Swedish, and potentially a revenge for the 2023 Quran burnings in Sweden. The victims were wearing Sweden men's national football team shirts when they were shot. In a video released after the attack, the perpetrator claimed to be directly targeting Swedes. Lassoued had followed an account on the social media application TikTok that spread conspiracy theories about Muslim children being kidnapped by the Swedish social authorities. Hours before he committed the attack, he had written and shared a post about the killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume in the United States, which was indirectly related to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war; Belgian authorities would not exclude the possibility of the war also being part of his motive.

Reactions

•  Sweden - Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed condolences to the casualties.
  • Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer called the attacks "terrible news".
•  Belgium - Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo sent his condolences

•  Denmark - Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sent her condolences on the evening of the attack.
•  France - During a visit to Albania, French President Emmanuel Macron commented on the attack that "Europe has been shaken".
•  Netherlands - The Netherlands enhanced its border control due to the shooting.

See also

• List of terrorist incidents in 2023
• List of terrorist incidents linked to the Islamic State
• Terrorist activity in Belgium

Notes

1. Killed by police the morning after the attack

References

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34. "Attentat terroriste à Bruxelles : deux morts, l'assaillant, qui était connu pour radicalisation et en séjour illégal en Belgique, est toujours en fuite, perquisitions en cours à Schaerbeek, les fans suédois escortés (direct)". sudinfo.be (in French). 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.

• Current events from October 2023
• 2023 in Brussels
• 2023 in international relations
• 2020s murders in Belgium
• Anti-Swedish sentiment
• Belgium–Sweden relations
• Deaths by firearm in Belgium
• Islamic terrorist incidents in 2023
• ISIL terrorist incidents in Belgium
• October 2023 crimes in Europe
• October 2023 events in Belgium
• Racism in Belgium
• Terrorist incidents in Brussels
• Terrorist incidents in Belgium in 2023
• 2023 mass shootings in Europe