BRUSSELS: A fourth shooting incident in Brussels this week killed one person, Belgian authorities said on Friday, with a district mayor blaming a “gang war” for the spike in violence.
The Brussels prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP the overnight killing in the working-class, southwestern district of Anderlecht that was first reported by local mayor Fabrice Cumps.
“These are probably reprisals,“ Cumps told public broadcaster RTBF, pointing the finger at “mafias” waging “turf wars”.
Brussels has seen an increase in gun crime linked to disputes between rival drug gangs.
The Anderlecht shooting came hot on the heels of three other incidents this week.
One person was wounded in the leg on Thursday in a shooting near the Clemenceau metro station, also in Anderlecht.
A day earlier two gunmen had set off a manhunt near Clemenceau after shooting off automatic rifles as daybreak commuters headed to work.
And a first shooting incident broke out overnight Tuesday to Wednesday in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, north of the city centre, injuring two people.
No arrests have been made so far.
Earlier this week, Brussels prosecutor Julien Moinil told local radio that the spate of gun violence appeared linked to turf wars between rival drug gangs.
One of the incidents had left a bullet hole in a nearby child’s bedroom, he said.
Local media citing police figures say that there were 89 shooting incidents, killing nine people, in Brussels last year.
Perched on the northwestern coast of the European mainland, Belgium has become a key hub for criminal gangs smuggling narcotics into the continent.
