It’s been barely 24 hours since the terror attack in London in which 3 died and many more were injured.
Khalid Masood drove a rental car into a crowd on a London bridge and then when on a rampage armed with a knife, killing one police officer before he was shot dead.
Now it appears a possible copycat attack may have been stopped in Belgium.
A person has been detained in Antwerp, Belgium, after attempting to drive his car into a busy shopping street at high speed, according to police.
“A vehicle with French plates has tried to drive at high speed into the Meir [shopping street] so that pedestrians had to jump aside,” Antwerp police chief Serge Muyters told a news conference.
“Our army colleagues forced the driver to stop but he pulled away and ran a red traffic light. We sent a special forces team and the car and the driver were stopped.”
“A man in camouflage was taken away.”
The car was intercepted at nearby port docks, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.
The man was also reported to be armed, which increased suspicion of that the incident is related to terrorism:
Authorities said they found knives, a gun, and a gas can with an unknown liquid in the car, Reuters reported.
“Different arms were found in the boot, bladed weapons, a pump-action rifle and a container of as yet unidentified liquid,” Belgium’s federal prosecutor said in a statement, as quoted by AFP.
“Because of these elements, and the events in London yesterday, the case is being taken on by the federal prosecutor’s office,” the statement added.
The man is of North African descent and is believed to be a radicalized Muslim, according to the media.
The prosecutor said the man has been identified as 39-year-old Mohamed R., a Tunisian national who resides in France.
It wasn’t yet clear if the attempted attack by Mohamed R. was coordinated with the attack by Khalid Masood in London. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the London attack.
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