Prosecutors: Man with knife attacks Brussels police officers

BRUSSELS – Prosecutors say a man carrying a knife attacked two police officers in the neighbourhood of Brussels, but the officers were wearing bulletproof vests and suffered only bruises.

Brussels prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said the motives of the suspect arrested in Wednesday’s attack, a 24-year-old Moroccan known for having committing several thefts and residing in Belgium illegally, were not immediately known.

Van Wymersch says the officers approached the man around 2:45 p.m. after a woman walking with her children in a park told them she’d spotted a man holding a knife.

She says the man allegedly then attacked the officers without saying a word. The knife struck one officer one seven times and the other once, but protective vests prevented the weapon from penetrating their skin.