The man who shot dead two Swedes in Brussels on Monday has been named as Abdesalem Lassoued, a 45-year-old Tunisian with a history of radicalisation.
Belgian authorities have described the killings as a terrorist attack and said the gunman had been living illegally on Belgian territory.
“He was known to the police for suspected acts of human trafficking, illegal residence and endangering state security,” said Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne on Monday.
Police shot and killed Lassoued on Tuesday morning after an overnight manhunt. He is believed to be the same man who, in a widely circulated video on Monday evening, claimed to have killed three Swedes and to be inspired by ISIS.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the two Swedish victims had travelled to Belgium for a football match. A third person, a taxi driver, was severely wounded.
Police are searching for the attacker's accomplices, reports said.
The federal prosecutor's office said a witness reported seeing Lassoued in a cafe in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek shortly after 8am on Tuesday. Police arrived on site and shot at him.
Emergency services transferred him to hospital, where his death was confirmed at 9.38am EST.
“A weapon of war and a bag of clothes were found in the cafe,” said the prosecutor's office, which is to launch an inquiry into the incident.
Lassoued lived on the first floor of a building in Schaerbeek with his wife, who worked as a hairdresser, and their young daughter, reports said. He was recently “chased away” from a local mosque for “radical statements,” local mayor Cecile Jodogne told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.
He filed an asylum request in November 2019, which was rejected the following year, said Nicole de Moor, Secretary for Asylum and Migration.
A meeting planned for Tuesday
Police had for several years been receiving information about Lassoued's potential radicalisation but had not believed him to represent an imminent danger for society.
A meeting to discuss his case had been scheduled by police on Tuesday, one day after he shot dead the two football fans, said Mr Van Quickenborne.
He first came to local authorities' attention in July 2016, when a foreign police service told Belgium that he had a “radicalised profile and wanted to go to a conflict zone” to join extremists fighters, said Mr Van Quickenborne.
At the time, Belgium was still reeling from an ISIS-claimed suicide attack that killed 35 people in an underground train and at Brussels international airport. There were “dozens such reports a day, it was a true terror crisis. The information was verified and nothing was done with it,” said Mr Van Quickenborne.
As a result, Lassoued was not included in Belgium's list of people believed to be radicalised, known as Ocam.
This year, an asylum seeker living in the north-eastern region of Campine accused Lassoued of threatening them on social media. They also claimed he had previously been sentenced for terrorism in Tunisia, said Mr Van Quickenborne.
Police in Antwerp, Belgium's second-largest city, had scheduled on Tuesday a meeting of the country's joint information centre, a structure set up after the 2016 terrorist attacks to analyse potential threats.
But police at that time had not considered Lassoued to represent an imminent threat, said Mr Van Quickenborne.
They had received information that he had not been sentenced for terrorism in Tunisia as claimed by the asylum seeker in Campine, but for “common law crimes”, said the minister.
Lassoued had also been seen once in a mosque in June last year “but this did not give rise to other measures”, added Mr Van Quickenborne.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)
Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)
Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
Don't get fined
The UAE FTA requires following to be kept:
- Records of all supplies and imports of goods and services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents related to receiving goods or services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents issued
- Records of goods and services that have been disposed of or used for matters not related to business
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
More on Quran memorisation:
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
BABYLON
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Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HyveGeo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abdulaziz%20bin%20Redha%2C%20Dr%20Samsurin%20Welch%2C%20Eva%20Morales%20and%20Dr%20Harjit%20Singh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECambridge%20and%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESustainability%20%26amp%3B%20Environment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%20plus%20undisclosed%20grant%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVenture%20capital%20and%20government%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
