Belgium shooting: Terror prosecutors investigating after gunman steals police officers' weapons and kills them

Passer-by also killed and two other people wounded in attack, authorities say

Terror prosecutors are investigating after two police officers were shot dead in an attack in Liège, Belgium.

The attacker, who prosecutors said disarmed the two police officers after stabbing them from behind and then killed them along with a 22-year-old bystander, was shot and killed in turn.

Liège police said the passer-by was the passenger in a vehicle passing the scene.

Belgian prosecutors confirmed three people plus the gunman had been killed.

“There are indications” it may have been a terror attack, they told reporters, but a spokesman at the national crisis centre added: “There is absolutely no confirmation yet that the incident is terror-related.”

Christine Defraigne, the president of the Belgian senate, tweeted: “We are learning with horror [of] the Boulevard d’Avroy shooting at #Liège and the death of two police officers on duty. It’s a tragedy.

“We are wholeheartedly with the forces of law and order who give their lives to protect us, and the families of the victims.”

At a lunchtime press conference in the town local authorities said the attacker had been "hunting" police officers and had used his first-victims' weapons in the ensuing shoot-out.

According to Le Soir, the attack took place at about 10.30am when the gunman opened fire on police officers near a cafe.

The attacker took a female cleaner hostage at a nearby school, it was reported.

Jan Jambon, Belgium’s security minister, said: “Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of making an overview of what exactly happened.”

The country’s crisis centre was monitoring the situation, he added. The centre tweeted to say children of nearby schools were safe.