Cairo:

A man suspected of shooting dead two Swedish football fans and wounding another in Brussels was a 45-year-old Tunisian who had an asylum application rejected in 2020 but continued to live in Belgium illegally, according to Belgian officials.

After an overnight manhunt, police fatally shot the suspect at a cafe in the Schaerbeek district of northern Brussels on Tuesday morning, a day after his deadly attack, which prosecutors are treating as an act of terrorism.

Authorities said initial indications were that the suspect, who they have not named, was working as a lone wolf, rather than as part of a broad network.

In a video claiming responsibility for the attack, he said he was a member of the Islamic State group and gave his name as Abdesalem Al Guilani. Belgian state broadcaster RTBF named him as Abdesalem Lassoued.

At the yellow-brick apartment block in Schaerbeek overlooking a small park where the suspect lived, uniformed police stood guard on Tuesday morning while investigators searched for evidence inside.

The suspect had lived with a partner and their daughter in an apartment one floor up from the ground floor, neighbours said. The partner worked in a women’s hair salon, according to one neighbour, who declined to be named.

“He was the sort of person you would say said hello to, but not much more. He kept himself to himself,” said one woman, standing opposite a door smashed in by police in the apartment above the suspect’s.

“He was polite, there was no indication that something like this might happen,” said a male neighbour.

At a news briefing earlier on Tuesday, as police searched for the suspect, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said the man was known to police and suspected of offences including human trafficking and illegal residence.

In 2016, a foreign police service passed on an unconfirmed report that the man had a “radicalised profile” and wanted to go to a war zone to wage jihad, Van Quickenborne said.

It later emerged that his identification as a subject at risk of radicalisation came from Italy, where he had arrived in 2011. He also moved to Sweden, from where he was later expelled.

But the Belgian minister said that there had been “no concrete indication” that the man had been radicalised in the time he was known to the Belgian security services, so he was not on any watchlist.

After his asylum application was denied in October 2020, Belgian authorities said he “disappeared from the radar” before an expulsion order in March 2021 that was not carried out.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said he was not among some 700 people on Belgium’s terror watch list and had not stayed at an asylum-seekers centre, making it more difficult to track and expel him.

“The illegal Tunisian man lived here below the water line and yesterday he struck in a cowardly way towards our society from below the water line,” De Croo said, adding that an expulsion order must be carried out more urgently.

The shooting came at a time of heightened security concerns across much of Europe linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

This year, Belgian authorities received a tip that the man had been convicted of terrorism in Tunisia but the information proved to be false as the man had only been convicted of common law offences, Van Quickenborne said.

Nevertheless, apparently out of an abundance of caution, security authorities had convened a meeting to discuss his case, the minister said.

The meeting had been due to take place on Tuesday – the day he was fatally shot by police.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary was hit with a pie in the face by environmental protesters in Brussels on Thursday. According to the BBC, the airline chief was preparing to speak outside European Union headquarters when two female protesters dressed in black smeared him with two cream pies. 

A video going viral online captured the exact moment of the incident. “Stop the pollution,” shouted one of the women just before she smashed Mr O’Leary in the face. “Welcome in Belgium,” said another while hitting the airline chief in the back of the head with another pie. 

Watch the video below: 

“stop the pollution” is what the environmental activist shouted after she hit Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary with a pie during a press conference in Brussels. pic.twitter.com/nbHva1sA30

— FL360aero (@fl360aero) September 7, 2023

At the end of the video, while both of the women were seen walking away after the attack, Mr O’Leary appeared unfazed. “Well done,” he responded before wiping cream from his face and continuing with the planned press briefing. 

Also Read | 12-Foot Python Roaming Around Street Captured By Police In UK

Following the incident, Ryanair’s official account jokingly wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that Mr O’Leary had received a “warm welcome in Brussels”. “Passengers so happy with our routes and petition that they’re celebrating with cake,” the post read. 

Warm welcome in Brussels today to celebrate RYR’s 7 new routes for Winter 23. Passengers so happy with our routes and petition that they’re celebrating with cake. We’ve got tasty low fares! pic.twitter.com/MpT6ssSX6a

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 7, 2023

“Instead of buying cream pies, could have bought a flight from Belgium for the same price,” the airline wrote in a subsequent post. 

Instead of buying cream pies, could have bought a flight from Belgium for the same price pic.twitter.com/8jruYI3ZxE

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 7, 2023

According to the BBC, Mr O’Leary was set to speak to the media about a petition he was presenting to Ursula Von Der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. “My only complaint was that the cream was artificial and not tasty,” the airline chief later joked at a news conference.

Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, the activists’ pie protest came as Ryanair pilots in Belgium announced a new strike on September 14 and 15 – their fourth stoppage in two months – over pay and working conditions. Mr O’Leary was outside EU headquarters reportedly with 1.5 million signatures demanding that flights be allowed to cross French airspace during air traffic control strikes there.