An armed attack took place at 7pm on Monday local time in Brussels. A gunman opened fire in the city center, killing two people and injuring another.

The gunman reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is great”) before opening fire.

A police spokesman said officers quickly arrived at the scene and immediately cordoned off the area. However, he did not provide further details on the circumstances under which the incident took place. The perpetrator has not been arrested and the authorities have launched a manhunt to locate him.

The victims appear to have been wearing jerseys of the Swedish national team, which is playing tonight against Belgium for the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

As can be seen in the video, the attacker wears a red jacket, black pants and a hood on his head. He appears on foot, gun in hand, and starts shooting anyone on the sidewalk in front of him. People, as soon as they hear the shots, start to run in panic, while the gunman ran after two people, who tried to find shelter in a building with a storefront. There he traps them and appears to shoot again.

See image from the scene of the attack:

The shootings came at a time of heightened vigilance linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has heightened tensions. The country’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo is in Belgium’s national crisis management center with the justice and interior ministers.

“My sincerest condolences to the families of the victims of the cowardly attack in Brussels,” says Alexander De Croo in a post on Platform X, adding that he is “with the justice and home affairs ministers at the national crisis management centre”.

“We are monitoring the situation and ask the residents of Brussels to be vigilant,” he underlines.

After the attack the threat level is raised to level 4, the maximum level, in Brussels.

The perpetrator’s confession

Minutes after the attack, a video was released on social media showing a man admitting on Facebook that he was responsible for the attack.

The attacker confesses in the video to the killings in the “name of Allah” and asks for forgiveness from those he hurt while saying he wants to take revenge on the Muslim brothers. Specifically, in the video he says: “My name is Amdesalem Al Gilani and I am a fighter of Allah. I belong to the Islamic State. We love those who love us and hate those who hate us. We live for our religion and die for our religion. Your brother took revenge in the name of Muslims. I have killed three Swedes so far. Yes, three Swedes. To those whom I have done wrong, please forgive me. And I forgive them all”