An Attack Foiled in Antwerp

Belgium thwarted a repeat of Nice in Antwerp a day after Westminster was attacked by an Islamist terrorist. A French-Tunisian Islamist was arrested after trying to drive a red Citroën with French license plates loaded with liquid gas, a shot gun and knives into a crowd of shoppers in an attempted terror strike.

The suspected attacker named as Mohamed R, 39 year old French-Tunisian tried to mow down pedestrians on Meir, Antwerp's main pedestrian street on 23rd March 2017.

Source: Daily Mail

It was not immediately clear if the car contained any explosives.

The car was driven down the Meir street in Antwerp - the city's busiest pedestrian streets. 

Shoppers had to dive out of the way of the speeding car to avoid serious injury.

Belgian soldiers then forced the driver to stop, but he fled by running a red light as he made his way towards the Scheldt river.

He tried and failed to knock people down in the busy shopping area and fled the scene towards the city's port where he was arrested, according to Le Soir. 

The man was detained on St Michielskaai in Antwerp which is less than a mile away from the Meir, according to VTM.

The gas liquid was found in a canister, and as a result the case was handed over to the federal prosecutor's office, which usually deals with terrorism cases in Belgium.