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Man Attacks Portugal Muslim Centre With Knife, Kills Two Women, Injures One Other

File
March 28, 2023

The UK Telegraph reports that the third victim who is reportedly an employee of the Ismaeli Centre is also receiving treatment in the hospital.

A man believed to be an Afghanistan national on Tuesday reportedly attacked a Lisbon Muslim Centre with a knife, killed two Portuguese women and injured another.

 

The UK Telegraph reports that the third victim who is reportedly an employee of the Ismaeli Centre is also receiving treatment in the hospital.

 

The leader of the Ismaeli community, Nazim Ahmad, reportedly told the SIC television station that the two Portuguese women killed during the attack were reportedly aged approximately 20 and 40.

 

The injured victim who was stabbed in the neck was said to be a teacher from the centre.

 

Meanwhile, the suspect was reportedly shot by police, detained and taken to Lisbon’s Santa Maria Hospital.

 

Confirming the incident, the Public Security Police force (PSP) said it was alerted to the attack at the Muslim Centre at 10.57 am on Tuesday morning, adding that officers arrived at the scene of the incident a minute later and encountered a “man armed with a large knife”.  

 

The PSP further said “orders were given to the attacker to cease the attack, which he disobeyed, advancing towards the police, knife in hand,” and that faced with a “serious and ongoing threat, the policemen resorted to the use of a firearm against the person, hitting and neutralizing the aggressor”.

 

The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, was quoted as saying, “I want to express my solidarity and regret to the Ismaili community and to the families of the victims.”

 

Costa, however, urged people not to jump to conclusions, saying that everything indicates that it was “an isolated act”, and that it was “premature” to make any interpretation about the crime.

 

Costa also extolled the police for their “rapid intervention”.