Belgium to honor two police officers killed in attack

World
Europe

Police from across Belgium will pay tribute on Tuesday to two female officers killed in a shooting claimed by the ISIL group in Liege last week.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will attend the funerals for Lucile Garcia, 54, and Soraya Belkacemi, 44, who were posthumously awarded Belgium's highest civilian decoration.

Flowers are laid in front of Liege police headquarters in tribute for the vicitms of a shooting in Liege May 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Beyond Liege there is a whole integrated police force that is bruised. No words are sufficient enough to describe the emotion of all our colleagues," the Liege police force said.

On Monday, several hundred people turned out for the funeral of attacker Benjamin Herman's third victim, student Cyril Vangriecken.

Friends and family of the 22-year-old walked behind the hearse dressed in white through the streets of Vottem near Liege ahead of the funeral, also attended by Michel.

The funerals follow Sunday's procession of nearly 3,000 people who marched to the scene of the attack and laid white roses in memory of the three victims.

The ISIL group claimed one of its "soldiers" was responsible for the latest attack, through its Amaq propaganda agency.

Prosecutors confirmed that Herman's method of assault was a known "modus operandi" of ISIL, which also claimed deadly attacks in Brussels in 2016.

Source(s): AFP