If only Hercule Poirot were here to solve mystery of murderer who cried Allahu Akbar!
Mystery motive. Cryptic clue. BBC News, yesterday:
A man has shot dead two female police officers and a civilian in the eastern Belgian city of Liege. The gunman also took a female cleaner hostage at a school before being killed by police. Four other police officers were also injured. The man’s motive is not yet clear … Police sources quoted in local media said the man was heard shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic).
Not such a mystery. Agence France Presse, yesterday:
Belgium shooter was on police watchlist for Islamist contacts … a source close to the investigation tells AFP. “He is suspected of having been radicalised (in prison) … He has been reported or presumed to (belong) to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter,” the source says on condition of anonymity.
Jihad capital of Europe. Pieter Van Ostaeyen, BBC News, March 25, 2016:
The most active networks in Belgium were Sharia4Belgium (with 79 ex-members in Syria or Iraq) and the Islamist cell around Khalid Zerkani (45 recruits including some of the Paris attackers). Their networks worked as catalysts and … Belgium now has per capita the highest number of jihadists from Western Europe.
Close the mosque! Agence France Presse, May 12:
Teaching manuals in Gulf Arab-financed mosques … including the Brussels Grand Mosque (near EU headquarters) call for gays to be … thrown off buildings … describe Jews as (a “corrupt, evil and treacherous people”) and call for “war” on all people who do not follow Sunni Islam … The Belgian government said in March that it would terminate Saudi Arabia’s … lease of the Grand Mosque … One manual says, “Armed jihad becomes an individual duty for every Muslim” … such manuals are widely available “thanks to the unlimited financial and technological means of … Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states” … “There is an urgency to … close this scholarly institution,” centrist opposition lawmaker Georges Dallemagne said.
Mosque to close — in 2019! Christopher Vincent, The Brussels Times, May 18:
The letter of intent ending the concession granted to Saudi Arabia for the management of the Grand Mosque … was sent on March 29th. The formal withdrawal will consequently happen on March 31st, 2019.
Qanta Ahmed, sputniknews.com, May 15:
The Belgium mosque (was funded by) Saudi Arabia. At the moment the current crown prince … is on the charm offensive — women are going to be driving, women can go to football matches … What we’re waiting to see is how will he really tackle this … ideology that his kingdom is known to export … in the Indian subcontinent … over 300,000 medreses are … financed by this … money … (and) until you tackle the financing you’re not going to be able to strangle the ideology.
Meanwhile in Australia. Nick Butterly, The West Australian, August 11, 2017:
A Perth imam … (Feizel Chothia said) … “I was sitting very close to a Federal police senior official … And I said to him, well you do know that the centres that promote these extremist ideologies are … primarily financed by the Saudi government …” (and) asked why Australia could not simply … cut off the funding. “He said, ‘Well, the answer to that question is above my pay grade.’ ”