Brussels: Eight Belgian police motorcycle escorts were injured on Tuesday, five seriously, after a car plowed into them outside the royal palace in what officials described as an attempted suicide.
The policemen were waiting to escort the Qatari ambassador back from the palace when a car with Belgian tags drove into them, said a palace official who could not be identified under standing rules.
She added that the envoy was presenting his credentials
to King Albert II at the time.
Police spokesman Christian De Coninck said the
unidentified driver told officials he wanted to commit
suicide.
Brussels Mayor Freddy Thielemans said the incident was
not terrorism-related.
The policemen and their motorcycles were parked outside
the gates of the Laeken palace, a sprawling wooded compound on
the outskirts of Brussels, when they were hit.
Officials said eight officers were injured, five of them
seriously. One was reported in critical condition.
PTI
