At least two people have been killed and up to 47 others wounded when up to four grenades exploded outside the main courthouse in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.
Via Drudge
At least two people have been killed and up to 47 others wounded when up to four grenades exploded outside the main courthouse in the eastern Belgian city of Liege.
Via Drudge
More info: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/8953711/Belgium-grenade-attack-live.html
Note that the journalist has no idea of the root cause of Amrani and his cohorts but is immediately sure about a far-right shooter in a different, unrelated shooting.
I know the area well; I’ve been to Liege on a number of occasions, attending what I consider the Best Conference in the World – the CASYS conferences on Computing Anticipatory Systems. Serious grounded analysis – no sophist sociologists and postmodern blather allowed.
Liege is in the French area of Belgium – [and if you want a nation defined as Two Solitudes – Belgium is the place!]- and a beautiful old area.
The attacker is, at the moment, named as Nordine Amrani – known to police for weapons charges – and that’s all I know.
“More from Le Soir – they’ve dug into their archive and found an article from three years ago in which Amrani, then aged 29 and from Liege, was sentenced to just under five years for possession of 12 guns and growing 2,800 cannabis plants. He was also fined 11,000 Euros and had another 76,500 Euros confiscated. ”
Looks like a gangster went berserk,not a jihadist.
ET
My interest tends towards a different kind of achitecture…..such as the remains of the massive Fortress of Liege…..but the, allegedly restored, old city is…picturesque.
This careful restoration is very common in Western Europe….buildings we would have razed…they have carefully restored…perhaps with an eye on tourism….perhaps an attempt to preserve culture…..or simply a futile effort to turn back the clock…
It is interesting to note the immediate description of the dead perp as a “gun-freak” ignoring his non-european ethicism, the common use of grenades by terrorists and the matter of multiple attackers. It’s sort of a Mark Lepine/Ghamil Gharbi redux….deny deny deny….
This will increase the popularity of Geert Winters and his supporters.
sasquatch – I admire the restoration agenda of Western Europe and wish our towns and cities in Canada would preserve more of their historic buildings.
With us, the wear and tear is age; in Europe, it was WWII in particular as well as age. But I think it’s very important to remind a population of their history – and Canada has been sadly remiss in that. Harper is taking steps to remedy this – with his focus on the War of 1812, his revamping of the immigration act to remind visitors that Canada has a culture and isn’t a hotel..etc.
As for the individual, so far, there is nothing to define him as a non-European, or non-Belgian. The name ‘Amrani’ is most certainly arabic or midle eastern but not necessarily Islamic. For example, Hedva Amrani is an Israeli singer.
So, for the moment, I think we must be cautious about assigning an Islamist agenda to the shootings rather than a psychological one.
I thpught this kind of event only happened in the USA. Except for when it doesn’t.
Robert Spencer says: “One of the attackers was named Nordine Amrani… This is a Muslim name. Nordine = nur deen, light of the religion, and Amrani is related to Imran, the father of Moses according to the Qur’an (cf. sura 3, “The Family of Imran,” ahl-e-Imran).”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/12/belgium-grenade-attack-outside-courthouse-linked-to-sentence-in-honor-killing-case.html
Not to worry too much though…
“A Belgian Interior Ministry official, Peter Mertens, says there was only one attacker, who was killed in the incident, adding that it was not related to terrorism.”
Well so far none of the Consensus Media Party have said this incident calls for a Hand Grenade Act, along with a Hand Grenade Acquisition and Possession Licence.
Of course included would be the registration of all hand grenades, regardless of colour or size. Well the smaller ones would be declared prohibited or restricted.
Throwing the hand grenades in front of the court house? There is more to this story.
Though do keep in mind, trafficking in drugs is a significant source of income for jihadis. Muslim countries are a source of much of the illegal drug supply in Europe. How vertically integrated? It’s a gray area.
Drug dealers die in shoot outs with rivals and occasionally with the police, but an indiscriminate public attack followed by suicide, very strange.
Possibly a case of Sudden Jihad Syndrome.
Terrible thing but either the killer yelled Alahu Ackbar or he didn’t. No?
I try to avoid knee-jerk assumptions and my position is suspicion of the immediate default denial of terrorism…despite the details I enumerated.
Drug dealers never and indeed organized crime rarely engages in terrorism(except on an individual level)….Mexican drug cartels are perhaps the exception……
These elements are motivated by avarice/greed(capitalism)…SHOW ME THE MONEY!….there is no profit in this………
Hmmm, it will be interesting how this shakes out. We have come to think that these sorts of incidents most likely are the acts of Islamic terrorism and this initially looks like this one could be also.
The total truth about the Fort Hood shooter is still not being told nor is is about shooting in Montreal.
sasquatch, exactly, “there is no profit in this”.
Correction in the last sentence in my previous post. Should have said “nor is it about the shooting in Montreal.”
Clearly Canada needs a grenade registry due to this event. The NDP should spearhead this, as clearly we need to think of the children!
LH
I knew a Belgian once. Don’t miss it.
http://islamversuseurope.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-cultural-enrichment-in-belgium.html
Belgium grenade attack kills two
The Daily Telegraph
The attack took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the town’s courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market, Belga news agency said.
One of two or more assailants threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another was hurled at a bus shelter, RTL-TV1 said.
Shots were fired across the square by gunmen posted on the rooftop of a bakery shop, with further shots heard later from across town.
Police cordoned off the square and gave chase to the assailants, one of whom was reportedly killed.
The Karachi Post in Pakistan claimed that the attack was linked to a sentence in an honour killing case. It said the parents of Sadia Sheikh were sentenced on Monday when there had been a bomb alert in the court.
Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for La Meuse Liege on the scene, told The Daily Telegraph there was panic and confusion on the streets of Liege.
“There is at least one dead and the attacker. Police are looking for another shooter. There are lots of ambulances and many casualties – at least 10 people.
“At the moment you can’t move in the city centre. People are crying and in shock – they do not know what is going on. Everyone has been told to stay inside and are hiding in shops.”
Police were not immediately contactable to confirm the toll or events.
The attack comes a day after a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their law student daughter and sister in the country’s first “honour killing” trial.
After pronouncing the family members guilty for the shooting death of 20-year-old Sadia Sheikh in October 2007, the jury sentenced father Tarik Mahmood Sheikh to 25 years behind bars, mother Zahida Parveen Sariya to 20 years, brother Mudusar to 15 and sister Sariya to five years, media reported.
Lawyers for the family said brother Mudusar, who confessed to pulling the trigger on the three bullets that killed his sister, was handed a lesser jail term than his parents as they were considered to have ordered the girl’s death.
Of course, it was a tiny minority of extremists, the vast majority of muslims are peaceful, there is no sanction for honour killings in islam (despite 91% of honour crimes worldwide being committed by muslims) and if you question any of this you’re a racist, islamophobic bigot who should die of cancer.
There, I think that covers everything.
As of about 6pm we have five dead and it seems there was only one attacker, who either shot himself or had one of his grenades go off in his hand. Another amazingly effective response by European cops. One would think it would be easy for even a Belgian cop to tell the difference between a gun shot and a fricking hand grenade, but maybe not.
The baby died, sad to say. On the bright side the shooter has gone to his reward, such as it may be. 72 Valkyries, one may hope. Give him one for me, Brunhilde.
phantomsoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/12/gun-control-working-well-in-belgium.html
Going by the pictures, the shooter had a .308 rifle, possibly a FAL. Let us offer up a prayer of thanks for his abysmal worthless, gangbanger marksmanship. If monkeyboy could have hit a barn from the inside this would have been much worse.
Too bad they didn’t have an Israeli grandma handy to wax this f-er for them.
How’s that gun registry work’n out for ya??????
Who is Nordine Amrani?
Don’t know for sure yet, but Amrani is a common name in Morocco. Hmmm Muslim connection maybe?
We do know he was busted with allot of cannabis, Liberal left?
Yup one of the two or both.
The question is did he register his firearms and grenades. Not so much…..
The Phantom >
“.308 rifle, possibly a FAL”
Indeed, I find the FAL, FAL or BAR very effective and efficient environmentally friendly, eco accurate, protective safety arms. You can’t go wrong with the positive multicultural incentives inherent in their proactive designs.
Knight 99:
How’s that gun registry working out for ya?
My thought exactly. And, how well did that gun registration work out in Norway when that nutbar killed a few score people?
Hope the courts smack Quebec in the face, and let the Feds destroy the data.
KevinB >
All true. I wondered if the grenade registry was more effective than the gun registry for them myself. It looks like they both fail.
Common sense should then dictate that the problem lays elsewhere, no? It seems like Liberalism and multiculturalism cross paths somewhere along the line every time, Maybe some of that research money for drinking prostitutes in China should be redirected elsewhere just a little.