Belgium police attack: Man shouting 'Allahu Akbar' attacks two officers in Charleroi with machete

The suspect has died after being shot by a third police officer

Two female police officers have been attacked in Belgium by an man wielding a machete and shouting “Allahu Akhbar”.

Police in the city of Charleroi said the officers were “not in danger” after the attack outside the local police headquarters.

The suspect was shot by a third officer and has died from his wounds, police confirmed.

Local media reported that a female police officer was taken to hospital with injuries to her face, while her colleague was not seriously wounded.

“Two police have been injured with a machete in front of the police headquarters by a man shouting ‘Allah Akhbah’,” a spokesperson for Charleroi police said.

The incident came after a string of terror attacks by Isis supporters across Europe, including the murder of a priest in France and a machete attack on a train and suicide bombing in Germany.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from terror groups.

Jan Jambon, the Belgian Interior Minister, condemned the attack in the town, around 30 miles south of Brussels.

"Despicable act in Charleroi. All my thoughts with the two injured officers and their colleagues and families. Ocam [the Belgian anti-terrorism agency] is investigating," he wrote in a tweet.

Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said “preliminary indications” suggested the attack against two female officers in the city of Charleroi was an act of terrorism, but that authorities are still collecting information, according to Associated Press.

The prime minister has cut short his vacation in the south of France and will return to Belgium for a meeting on Sunday of the National Security Council.

The machete attack took place at a wooden hut that had been erected outside the Charleroi police station to provide an additional layer of security.

Paul Magnette, mayor of the city in southern Belgium, said the checkpoint succeeded in preventing the attacker from reaching the building and causing more havoc.

The mayor said that in the wake of the attack, Belgian authorities are discussing whether security for police facilities and officers should be beefed up further.

Belgium has been on a high state of alert since the attacks in Paris on 13 November that killed 130 victims. Many of the attackers, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, lived in Belgium.