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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Four people killed, including two teenagers, and 75 hurt as gunman hurls
grenades into Christmas shoppers in Belgian city of Liege
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:35 PM on 13th December 2011
Four people died and 75 were injured when a rogue gunman lobbed grenades and
shot into crowds of shoppers at a Christmas market in Liege, Belgium.
The shoppers, many of them children, ran screaming for safety in the panic
as the gunman opened fire.
The dead included a 15-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl, and a 75-year-old
woman. The attacker, 32-year-old Nordine Amrani, who was a convicted sex
attacker and drug dealer, also died.
Among the injured is a two-year-old girl, who is 'clinging to life' in
hospital.
Men, women and children fled down the streets of the city centre - some
still carrying shopping bags - as ambulances and police descended on the
area.
Detectives said Amrani used a rifle, a pistol and grenades in the attack.
In the initial chaos, reports said up to three men had taken part in the
attack, but the Interior Ministry later confirmed only one was involved,
adding the incident was not terrorism-related.
Amrani was on his way for police questioning when he attacked a crowd near a
bus stop at Place Saint Lambert, a central shopping square which is the
site of the city's Christmas market and its main courthouse. It was not
clear whether he committed suicide or died accidentally.
Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for local Liege newspaper La Meuse, ran over
to the square just after the attack, shortly after 12.30pm.
We saw people with bullet wounds in their shoulders, their hands,' he said,
adding that he had seen one dead body.
'I see people completely scared, people are crying, everyone is on their
phones.'
Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo expressed horror at the attack and
travelled to the city. The nation's King and Queen also arrived on the city
this evening to visit survivors.
Interior Ministry official Peter Mertens said emergency medical teams were
called in from as far away as the Netherlands.
The broadcaster Radio Television Belge Francophone said during the attack
that all buses had been asked to leave the city centre and all shops in the
area were closed, some with many customers stranded inside.
It said police helicopters were flying over the city and a medical post has
been set up in the courtyard of the palace of the Prince Bishops (the court
house) located on the site.
Police were on the scene quickly and sealed off the square. TV images showed
blood splattered across the cobblestones.
Place Saint-Lambert is a busy crossroads. Every day 1,800 buses serve the
square, which leads to downtown shopping streets.
The Place Saint-Lambert and the nearby Place du Marche host Liege's annual
Christmas market which consists of 200 retail cabins and attracts some 1.5
million visitors a year. |
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