A manhunt is underway in the European Union capital, but Belgian police still haven’t identified the suspects behind three shootings in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday morning, two of which are believed to have involved the same perpetrators using automatic weapons.
One incident happened in the commune of Saint-Josse. Two shootings involving assault weapons that resemble Kalashnikov rifles occurred near the Clemenceau metro station in Anderlecht, just 1.5 kilometers from Brussels’s historic city center.
According to Belgian media, Anderlecht mayor Fabrice Cumps confirmed that one victim was wounded in the leg on Thursday morning, but there were no fatalities.
Videos shared on social media show two hooded figures emerging from the metro station brandishing automatic weapons and shooting in the air several times. Authorities believe this is part of an escalating territorial war between the city’s many rival drug trafficking gangs, whose members are usually from a North African migration background.
Although police reportedly arrived at the scene fairly promptly, the two suspects were able to flee through the metro tunnels. The traffic was temporarily stopped on the lines connected to the station to help the search, but there is no sign of the gang members as of the time of writing.
X users claimed to have identified the weapons as a Romanian-made PM md. 63—a Soviet AKM derivative designed in the 1960s that’s still in service in the Romanian armed forces—and an American M4 carbine variant.
Brussels’ public prosecutor Julien Moinil said it was “shocking” to see the footage and that it was “regrettable” that there were three incidents in 24 hours, although no-one has been arrested yet.
“[We] don’t know who we’re dealing with,” Moinil admitted on Thursday morning, while stating that authorities believe the shootings were “retaliation” by one drug gang against another for conquering certain territories.
“It’s totally unacceptable. A decline is underway” in Brussels, he added.
Belgian police don’t seem to be able to curb the city’s gang problem which has been steadily worsening over the years. Although the targets are usually rival gang members, passersby often get caught in the crossfire as these altercations claimed multiple deadly casualties last year.
