He perpetrator of the Brussels attackwho on Monday killed two Swedish citizens and injured a third, landed on the island of Lampedusa (south and Italy) in 2011 and was identified as a radicalized individual years later by the Italian authorities, local media reported today.
The attacker arrived on European soil after crossing the Mediterranean aboard a small boat that docked in the Lampedusa islandthe Italian enclave closest to the African coast, according to ministerial sources cited by the media.
(Also read: They announce the death of a suspect in the Brussels attack, after a shooting).
The information was later replicated by the Italian Foreign Minister and vice president, the far-right Matteo Salvini, to defend his anti-immigration policy and the blockade of the landing of humanitarian ships for which he is currently being tried.
After a stay in Italy, the man – a Tunisian, currently about 45 years old – moved to Sweden, from where he was allegedly expelled.
He later returned to Italy, where he was identified in 2016 as a subject “radicalized“by the General Investigations and Special Operations Division of the Italian State Police (Digos), focused on the anti-terrorist fightwhich confirmed his interest in jihadist movements.
After passing through northern Italian cities such as Bologna, Genoa and Trento, as he himself indicated on his social networks through videos and photographs, he went to Belgium.
Killed by the police early this Tuesday in a cafe in Brussels, the Tunisian remained illegally in Belgium, where he unsuccessfully requested asylum in 2019, and was booked by the police for various crimes, but not for violent extremismBelgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reported today.
“So far we see no indication that this man has cooperated, that he was part of a network” of terrorists, the Belgian liberal politician told VRT.
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the attacker, who was traveling on a scooter, followed some Swedish football fans late yesterday afternoon who got into a taxi and then opened fire with a large-caliber automatic weapon against these people when they got out of the vehicle.
“We have to see if we have made the correct assessment. That man actively sought out the Swedes who were in Brussels and committed an absolutely cowardly and insane“said De Croo, who regretted that these types of attacks are being regularly recorded in Europe.
“We have seen in recent years throughout Europe that, unfortunately, people are never immune to these types of actions of ‘lone wolves’“, he claimed.
EFE
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