Islamic State claims responsibility for knife attack on Brussels soldiers

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a knife attack on soldiers in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Friday, the group’s Amaq news agency said on Saturday.

“The executor of the stabbing operation in Brussels is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for attacks against coalition states,” Amaq said, referring to a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Sunni militant group.

Belgian soldiers shot dead a man in the center of Brussels on Friday evening after he came at them with a knife shouting Allahu Akbar (God is great).

READ MORE: Belgian knife attacker shot dead, police treating incident as terrorism

The man, a 30-year-old Belgian of Somali origin, died after being rushed to hospital. The soldiers were not seriously hurt in the attack; one had a facial wound and the other’s hand was wounded.

Prosecutors said the man, who was not known for terrorist activities, had twice shouted Allahu Akbar during the attack, which occurred at around 8:15 p.m. local time (1815 GMT) just outside the city’s central pedestrian zone while the soldiers were on patrol.

WATCH: Brussels metro station explosion witness says attacker yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’

0:46 Brussels metro station explosion witness says attacker yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’

Soldiers routinely patrol the streets of the Belgian capital due to a heightened security alert level after Islamist shooting and bomb attacks in Paris in 2015 and Brussels in 2016.

In June, troops shot dead a suspected suicide bomber at Brussels‘ central train station. There were no other casualties. Authorities treated the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.