Brussels shooting targeting Swedish soccer fans

On the evening of 16 October 2023, a gunman opened fire on Swedish football supporters in central Brussels, near Square Sainctelette, ahead of a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier between Belgium and Sweden. Two Swedish nationals were shot dead, and a third Swedish man was wounded. The victims had travelled to Brussels for the match at the King Baudouin Stadium. The game, already under way, was suspended at half-time and never resumed after news of the attack reached the stadium, where thousands of fans were held inside for their safety.

The attacker was identified as Abdesalem Lassoued, a 45-year-old Tunisian national who was living in Belgium without legal residence. In a video posted online after the shooting, he claimed to have acted in the name of the Islamic State and said he had targeted Swedish people. On 17 October, the Islamic State claimed responsibility through its Amaq agency. The same morning, Belgian police located Lassoued at a cafe in the Schaerbeek district and shot him during the arrest; he died of his wounds. Belgian authorities investigated the attack as terrorist murder, and the case prompted scrutiny of why an earlier Tunisian extradition request had gone unaddressed, leading to the resignation of the justice minister.

This was an act of jihadist terrorism, not foreign-state hybrid activity. The attacker claimed allegiance to the Islamic State, which in turn claimed the attack, and Belgian authorities treated it as Islamist-motivated terrorism. The targeting of Swedish nationals was linked to anti-Sweden sentiment following Quran burnings in Sweden. There is no indication of direction or sponsorship by Russia or any other state. The incident reflects the threat of lone, ideologically motivated extremists, compounded in this case by failures in immigration and judicial follow-up on a known individual.