Two Dead In Knife Attack At Lisbon Islamic Centre

Lisbon, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Mar, 2023 ) :Portuguese police accused an Afghan refugee of stabbing two women to death on Tuesday at an Islamic centre in Lisbon before being shot by officers in what authorities called an "isolated" incident.

Officers were called to the centre just before 11:00 am (1000 GMT) where they encountered a man "armed with a large knife", a police statement said.

Officers ordered the man to surrender but he disobeyed and advanced towards the officers "knife in hand," it added.

"Faced with the serious and ongoing threat, the policemen used firearms against the person, hitting and neutralising the aggressor", the statement said of the man who was taken to hospital for treatment.

Interior Minister Jose Luis Carneiro said two female employees of the centre were killed in the attack at the Ismaili Muslim centre, and a man was seriously injured.

"The Ismaili Muslim community, known for its principles of humanity, peace and mutual aid, is in mourning and shocked by these tragic events," Faizal Ali, a community leader, told journalists in a brief statement.

The attacker is an Afghan who had lost his wife "in difficult circumstances" at a refugee camp in Greece before relocating to Portugal with his three children aged four, seven and nine, Carneiro added.

"There is every reason to believe that this was an isolated act. The circumstances and motives of this act are being investigated by police," he told reporters.