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LIEGE, BELGIUM A man with a history of run-ins with the law lobbed three hand grenades and opened fire at a crowded central bus stop in Liege Tuesday, killing several people, wounding scores and creating a panic before killing himself, officials said. No motive was immediately established, though the Interior Ministry said it was not related to terrorism, for which European cities have long been on alert. Three victims died on the spot and at least one died later at a hospital, Belgian news reports said. The attacker was identified as Norodine Amrani, 33, of Liege, who had received a 58-month prison sentence for drug and gun offences in 2008. He had been summoned to appear before the police Tuesday, suggesting that his attack was some sort of desperate final lashing out. The reason for the questioning was not clear. The attack took place just after noon at a crowded bus stop in Place St.-Lambert, a hub of the Old City that hosts an annual Christmas market and is the site of a main courthouse building. Liege is in eastern Belgium and is the country’s third largest city, after Brussels and Antwerp. The police discovered Amrani’s van nearby and destroyed it, Daniele Reynders, the city prosecutor, said in a televised news conference. Reynders identified three of the people killed as “a 15-year-old — a young boy who died on the spot — a 17-year-old and a 75-year-old woman who died outside the court.” The Belgian news media reported that a 20-year-old man later died in a hospital and that a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition, with some saying she had died. Witnesses told the Belgian news media that the assailant had hurled explosives from a platform above a bakery. A police official told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening that at least 123 people were wounded. By midafternoon, Peter Mertens, an Interior Ministry official, confirmed that there had been only one attacker and that he had died at the scene. The office of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said he would meet with emergency and law enforcement officials. A witness in the square told RTL Television that he had seen a man throw grenades before firing haphazardly at the crowd with an assault rifle. When that weapon appeared out of bullets, “he took a revolver and he shot himself in the head,” the witness, who was not identified, told the broadcaster. New York Times - TheSpec
