Two children and an adult were killed on Friday when a man armed with a knife went on a rampage through a child day-care centre north-west of Brussels, a local prosecutor said.
About 10 children were injured ”some of them seriously”, according to local prosecutor Christian Du Four, when the man, who had his face painted black and white, ran amok in the crèche in the town of Dendermonde.
One of those who was seriously hurt later died from the wounds.
Officials said the suspect, aged about 30, rang the doorbell at the day-care centre at about 10am local time, and when staff opened the door he ran up stairs and began attacking three of the children.
Eighteen children aged three to six were there at the time, they added.
The suspect fled the scene on a bicycle but was later picked up by police.
Previously the Interior Ministry had said that two children and one adult had been killed, and earlier the VTM regional television channel had reported that three children and two adults were feared dead.
A woman at the day-care centre said that the man, whom various media reported may have been a patient at a psychiatric institute in the area, was not known to staff.
”The victims are being cared for and those who were not injured have been brought to a centre were they are receiving counselling. They are in shock,” Het Laatse Nieuws reported the mayor of Dendermonde Piet Buys as saying.
”We still don’t know who the attacker is,” the mayor added. — AFP
