Two Swedes shot dead in Brussels, Belgium raises terror alert to top level

People work at a shooting scene as Belgian police secure the area, in Brussels, Belgium, October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Two Swedish nationals have been shot dead in Brussels, police said on Monday, and Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level as a man in a video on social media claimed that he was the assailant and that he was from the Islamic State.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo confirmed on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the victims were Swedish, but not their number, which the assailant, calling himself Abdesalem Al Guilani and a fighter for Allah, put at three, rather than two.