Belgium: Police shoot man at Ghent station Jan. 23

Event

Belgian police shot an unidentified man armed with a knife at Ghent Sint-Pieters railway station on the evening of Tuesday, January 23. The station remains partially closed as of 21:00 (local time). No further details have been released by authorities, however the situation appears to have been contained.

Context

Belgian authorities reclassified the national terror threat level to two (medium risk) out of a possible four on January 22. The alert had been at level three (serious risk) since March 2016, when two terrorist bombings claimed by the Islamic State (IS) left 32 civilians dead and 300 more injured in central Brussels and at Brussels Airport.

Advice

Individuals traveling via rail to or from Ghent are advised to expect increased security measures and potential transportation delays and to obey all instructions issued by the local authorities.