A man wielding a machete and shouting "Allahu Akbar" injured two female police officers Saturday outside a police station in southe Belgium before being shot and killed, police said.
Police reported that the injured officers were “out of danger.”
The attack took place around 4 p.m. local time near the main police station in Charleroi.
According to RTBF state broadcasting, one officer suffered severe injuries to her face while her colleague was slightly injured. It said a third officer shot the assailant.
Charleroi police spokesman David Quinaux said the attacker carried the machete in a sports bag and pulled it out as he arrived at a security checkpoint outside police headquarters.
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said it wasn't immediately clear if the assault, which he called an "act of barbarism" was the deed of a single person or something more elaborate.
"We don't know if this is the action of a lone wolf," Jambon told RTF television.
Islamist bombers killed 32 people in suicide attacks in Brussels in March, and many of the jihadists who carried out attacks on Paris last November in which 130 people died were based in Belgium, according to Reuters.
Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel said in a tweet in French that he “strongly” condemned the attack.
“Our thoughts go to the victims, their relatives and the police services,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.