Parts of this article (those related to 2018) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2018)
This article covers attacks and activity of terrorism in Belgium.
Belgium has a population of 11 million including large numbers of immigrants from Muslim countries. 100,000 Moroccan citizens live in Belgium, often descended from Moroccans recruited to work in the mining industry in the 1960s; a small fraction of the children and grandchildren of the immigrant generation have been attracted to Militant Islamism and Jihad. A tiny fraction of this large Muslim population has participated in terrorist attacks.[2] In a report by the Combating Terrorism Center, of the 135 individuals surveyed in connection with terrorism, there were 12 different nationalities. Of those 65% had Belgian citizenship and 33% were either Moroccan citizens or had ancestral roots there.[3]
In 2016, Belgian researcher estimated that about 562 individuals had travelled to become foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars, the majority of whom joined the Islamic State with others joining the al-Qaida-affiliated group Al-Nusra Front.[4] The majority of those who went to the Syria in the 2012-2016 time span were of Moroccan descent according to U.S. and Belgian authorities.[5]
Belgium has been the base of operations for a number of terrorist attacks in the 2010s, including the November 2015 Paris attacks.[2] It has also been the place where some Islamist militants developed militant views before going to the Middle East to fight with ISIS.[2]
In June 2016, with 451 fighters having travelled to join the Syrian Civil War, Belgium had the highest number of foreign fighters per capita.[1]
The November 2015 Paris attacks in France were coordinated and planned from Belgium. The overall leader of that terrorist cell was believed to be Mohamed Belkaid, an Islamic State operative from Algeria who previously had lived in Sweden. Belkaid was killed in a shootout in the Foret district of Brussels, during which Belkaid was firing on police to allow Salah Abdeslam to escape. Salah Abdeslam was arrested a few days later and the surviving members of the cell, including brothers Najim Laachraoui and Khalid and Ibrahim Bakraoui (previously armed robbers) launched the 2016 Brussels bombings targeting Brussels airport and metro killing 32.[1]
Terrorism experts regard Islamic State activities in Europe's Francophone area as a single, French-Belgian junction of ISIS activity and attacks.[6]
List of terrorist incidents
Attacks related to Middle East politics
1985
1 August 1985: Silco incident. Kidnapping of Belgian-French family by the government of Libya; they were held for almost five years.[7]
28 July 1980: 1980 Antwerp summer camp attack. A Syria-born Palestinian, Said Al Nasr, used grenades to attack a group of 40 Jewish children waiting with their families for a bus to take them to summer camp.[11] The explosion killed one boy, identified as 15-year-old Parisian David Kuhan, and wounded 20, aged 13 to 27, eight of whom had to be hospitalized.[11]
21 April 1985: A bomb exploded in the AEG Telefunken building in Brussels, blowing out several windows in the AEG Telefunken building and its neighboring structure. The attack was attributed to FRAP after the organisation's acronym was found spray painted on the site.[13]
29 May 2018: 2018 Liège attack. A prisoner left prison, stabbed two female police officers, took their guns, shot and killed them and a civilian in Liège, Belgium. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack done by a soldier of the caliphate.[24]
2022
10 November 2022: 2022 Brussels stabbing. A police officer was killed together while another officer were injured in a stabbing attack in Brussels. The perpetrator was shot and injured and later brought to the hospital.[25]
2023
16 October 2023: A shooting occurred in central Brussels before a match between Belgium and Sweden at the King Baudouin Stadium. Two Swedish nationals were shot and killed and one severely wounded. According to several sources, it has been reported that the shooter was working on the behalf of ISIS. The suspected gunman was killed by the police after an all-night manhunt.[26]
^"FREED HOSTAGES 'IN BELGIAN HANDS' FAMILY HEADS HOME AFTER PALESTINIAN GUERRILLA LEAVES PRISON NEAR BRUSSELS". Orlando Sentinel. Reuters. 13 January 1991. ProQuest277798387.
^Lasoen, Kenneth (2019). "War of Nerves. The Domestic Terror Threat and the Belgian Army". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 42 (11): 953–971. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2018.1431270. S2CID116180694.
