A Belgian police officer received a knife wound to the head and his alleged attacker was shot and seriously wounded on Monday, Brussels police said. The city prosecutor's office said the attacker was a Belgian national "of Egyptian origin" who was born in 1975 and appears to be homeless.
The incident took place near Parc Maximilien, an area known as a gathering point for mainly North African immigrants hoping to head on to Britain, police spokeswoman Ilse Van Der Keere said. According to prosecutors, an officer had found the suspect resting on a pavement and had asked him to move on, whereupon the individual drew a knife.