ISIS claims deadly attack on Belgium police

The terror group's propaganda agency called the attacker one of its "soldiers"

epaselect epa06772575 Mother of the police officer Soraya who was shot during the attack, Bernadette Hennart pays tribute to her daughter in front of the Cafe 'Les Augustins', in Liege, Belgium, 30 May 2018. On 29 May, a gunman was shot dead by anti-terrorist police after reportedly killing two police officers and a passerby and injuring two others in the center of the Belgian city of Liege. During a shootout the man was said to have entered a high school where he took a female cleaner hostage before being shot by the police.  EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ
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ISIS on Wednesday claimed one of its "soldiers" killed two policewomen and a student in the Belgian city of Liege this week, the terror group's Amaq propaganda agency said.

"The author of the attack on the city of Liege in Belgium is a soldier of the Islamic State," the group said in a statement published on Amaq's Telegram account a day after the attack.

ISIS said "he led the attack in response to calls to target the countries of the US-led international coalition", which is fighting the terror group mainly in Syria.

The attacker, identified as Benjamin Herman, repeatedly stabbed two policewomen in Liege on Tuesday before using their own firearms to kill them, according to investigators in Belgium.

The 31-year-old also shot dead a student sitting in a parked car in the centre of the industrial city.

Belgian police have identified Herman as a drifter who spent a decade in and out of prison for acts of violence and petty crimes.

Prosecutors said his method of attack was a known "modus operandi" of ISIS, which claimed deadly attacks in Brussels in 2016.

Amateur footage obtained by AFP showed the gunman shouting "Allahu akbar" (Arabic for "God is greatest") as he walked through the streets during the rampage.

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