Terrorist activity in Belgium

This article covers attacks and activity of terrorism in Belgium.

Jihadist base

Belgium has been the base of operations for a number of terrorist attacks in the 2010s, including the November 2015 Paris attacks. It has also been the place where some Islamist militants developed militant views before going to the Middle East to fight with ISIS.

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. 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.

Poor integration and Belgian political instability have been blamed for these problems.

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.

Attacks related to Northern Ireland

1979

• 22 March 1979: A Belgian bank employee was shot by the Provisional IRA, who thought it was Sir John Killick.
• 25 June 1979: An IRA bomb in Brussels targeted but failed to hit a British general.
• 6 July 1979: An IRA bomb detonates in a British consulate building in Antwerp.
• 29 August 1979: 1979 Brussels bombing. The IRA bombs the central square of Brussels whilst targeting British troops, injuring 15.
• 3 November 1979: The British consulate in Antwerp is bombed by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Antisemitic attacks

1980

• 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. One boy was killed and 20 other people were wounded in the attack. 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,

1981

• 20 October 1981: 1981 Antwerp synagogue bombing Bombing of an Antwerp synagogue.

Far-left attacks

The Communist Combatant Cells was a communist terror organisation in Belgium who committed fourteen attacks in the country in 1984 and 1985. Its most serious attack is mentioned below.

1985

• 1 May 1985: A car bomb exploded in front of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises building in Brussels. Two firemen were killed when trying to extinguish a fire that the terrorists deliberately set on the car.

Islamist attacks

Terrorism experts regard ISIS activities in Europe's Francophone area as a single, French-Belgian nexus of Islamic State activity and attacks.

2014

• 24 May 2014: Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting. ISIS directed attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels by a French national in contact with ISIS.

2016

• 22 March 2016: 2016 Brussels bombings. Two ISIS suicide bombings occurred at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels. Thirty-two civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks.

• 6 August 2016: 2016 stabbing of Charleroi police officers. ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on Belgian police officers by an Algerian national who had been scheduled for deportation.

• 5 October 2016: 2016 stabbing of Brussels police officers ISIS-inspired lone wolf stabbing of three police officers in Brussels.

2017

• 20 June 2017: an explosion occurred in the Brussels Central train station, a failed bombing attempt by Moroccan lone actor Oussama Zariouh.

• 25 August 2017: Two soldiers were lightly wounded after a machete-wielding man attacked them in Brussels close to the Grand Place. The perpetrator was shot dead at the scene, and the surrounding area was promptly evacuated.

2018

• 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.

Other attacks

• 6 December 1985: 1985 Liège bombing: The Liège courthouse is significantly damaged and one person is killed by a bomb attack by a lawyer.
• The Brabant killers, a trio of bandits who killed 28 people in the 1980s, have been referred to as terrorists by some.