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Police officer mum's terror death second tragedy to hit twin daughters

Teenage twins have been orphaned after their police officer mother was killed by a gunman in a terror attack in Belgium.

Soraya Belkacemi, 53, was one of two female officers shot dead on Tuesday during the shooting in Liege by a gunman, a prison inmate on 48-hour leave, who grabbed the service weapons of the officers, Police Chief Christian Beaupere revealed.

Officer Lucile Garcia, 45, was also killed alongside a passer-by while two other police officers were injured, Belga news agency said.

Soraya Belkacemi, 53, (left) was one of two female officers shot dead during the shooting in Liege. Lucile Garcia (right) is understood to be the second officer killed. Source: Sunrise
Soraya Belkacemi, 53, (left) was one of two female officers shot dead during the shooting in Liege. Lucile Garcia (right) is understood to be the second officer killed. Source: Sunrise

Belkacemi’s death means her 13-year-old twin daughters have been orphaned, after they previously lost their father who was also a police officer.

Belgian media have identified the suspect in Tuesday’s attack as Benjamin Herman, a Belgian national born in 1982, though in keeping with standard procedure authorities declined to confirm his identity.

Prime Minister Charles Michel says Herman was indirectly mentioned in state security reports on radicalisation, but did not have his name on a list maintained by an anti-terror assessment group. The suspect was shot dead by police.

Prime Minister Charles Michel says the suspect had been indirectly mentioned in security reports. Source: AFP via Getty
Prime Minister Charles Michel says the suspect had been indirectly mentioned in security reports. Source: AFP via Getty
Emergency services cordon off the scene of the shooting in the Belgian city of Liege. Source: AFP via Getty
Emergency services cordon off the scene of the shooting in the Belgian city of Liege. Source: AFP via Getty

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege’s central boulevard d’Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background.

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in a French-speaking region, was the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100 others before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

With AP