Incident in Strépy-Bracquegnies in which 10 others were seriously injured does not appear to be militant attack
A car drove at high speed into a group of Belgian carnival performers who were preparing a parade early on Sunday
killing six people and seriously injuring 10 others
adding that the incident did not appear to be a militant attack
there are no elements to suggest that the attack had a terrorist motive,” the prosecutor Damien Verheyen told a news conference
Police denied media reports that the car was involved in a high-speed chase
The incident occurred in the southern Belgium village of Strépy-Bracquegnies at about 4am GMT
the mayor of the neighbouring town of La Louvière
said between 150 and 200 people were gathered in preparation for the annual folklore parade
The driver then continued on his way,” said Gobert
Police said they were local people in their 30s and were not previously known to them
Belgium has sought to root out people suspected of militant links over the past seven years
A Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and on Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died
Ramming vehicles into crowds has become more common as a weapon used by militants in Europe and white supremacists in the US because such attacks are inexpensive
easy to organise and hard for authorities to prevent
The Judicial Authorities are hoping that an examination of the car that was driven into a group of people in the Hainaut village of Stépy-Bracquenies early on Sunday morning will help shed light on the circumstances surrounding the tragedy
The Mons Chief Prosecutor Ignacio de la Serna told VRT News that experts will examine the car with a fine toothcomb
The examination of the vehicle got under way on Monday morning
The experts examining the vehicle will be particularly interested to learn whether it is fitted with an anti-collision device and if this is the case whether the device had been deactivated
Mr De la Serna told the Francophone commercial broadcaster RTL that "It's a fairly new vehicle and it (an anti-collision device) would be able to explain a lot of things”
Given the speed and the apparent failure to brake
Prosecutors have asked the Examining Magistrate to treat the case as a murder investigation
If this request is upheld the accused will face a trial by jury at the Court of Assizes and if convicted “very heavy penalties” the Mons Public Prosecutor says
"The two men arrested were returning from a night club"
“We have information that these are people who like cars
one of them had his driving licence withdrawn but he took a second driving test afterwards
We have a precise idea of who was driving
but we are checking if there was not a last-minute switch
as the vehicle stopped a little further on"
The Public Prosecutor says that one of the two men tested positive for alcohol
this was not the person claiming to be the driver
The results of blood tests on samples taken from the suspects will also look for the presence of other drugs
They are reported to have been returning from a nightclub and had dropped off a young woman at her home just before the collision with the members of the carnival group