Fatal Bus Stop Hand-Grenade Attack May Have Been Attempted Jailbreak (Updated)
Two Four people are dead after a man (men?) threw as many as four hand grenades at a bus stop in Liège, Belgium. One of the dead is apparently an the attacker; there are seven critically injured and 47 injured total. And apparently people are saying it was part of an attempted jailbreak?
Update: Police have confirmed that it was a single attacker—Nordine Amrani—and that he doesn't seem to have been attempting to spring anyone from jail. Two of the victims are teenagers; the third is a 75-year-old woman.
The attack happened around 1:30 local time, and details are still sketchy: despite several reports of more than one attacker—possibly as many as three—police insist that only one man was involved, apparently a 32-year-old Belgian named Nordine Amrani with a previous conviction for "the possession of weapons and for growing 2,800 cannabis plants as part of a criminal gang." He was apparently also armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, which he fired into the crowd.
This could possibly square with the speculation that the attack was staged as part of a jailbreak, The Guardian reports:
The Palace of Justice complex on the St Lambert Square, the scene of the attack, is a large court and prison compound. Initial speculation that the assailants were involved in a jailbreak are hardening though it is unclear how they could be so heavily armed.
The mayor of Liege, Willy Demeyer, confirmed that three males tried to escape from the palace of justice, according to the main Flemish paper, De Standaard.
The video above is from the scene after the grenade attack.