Portugal’s Muslim ismailite community does not know why a man entered their facilities in Lisbon on Tuesday morning with a knife, killed two people and wounded others, the organisation said today.
The victims are two women, according to a police source, and at least one was an employee of the centre.
According to another police source, one of the women was “in her 20s” and the other in her 40s.
The attack occurred while classes and other activities were taking place at the Ismailite Centre, the president of the National Council of the Ismailite Muslim Community, Rahim Firozali, said.
The police and the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) were immediately called to the scene, and the attacker was removed from inside the centre.
“The Muslim Ismailite community is providing all the support to the families of the victims, to whom it presents the deepest condolences,” the official added in a statement sent to Lusa.
The attacker was taken to São José Hospital (Lisbon), where he is being treated for injuries caused by the PSP intervention.
The National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) said the alert was given at 10:53 am: “There are two dead and two seriously injured, one of whom was sent to Hospital São José and another went to Santa Maria by temselves.
A source from the Lisboa Norte Hospital Centre confirmed that Santa Maria Hospital had received a man who arrived by himself. The victim is “in his 30s” and has “minor chest injuries” after being stabbed.
According to a note from the national directorate of the Public Security Police (PSP), the knife attack at the Ishmaelite centre on Avenida Lusíada was reported to police at 10:57 am, with the first officers responding to the occurrence arriving on the scene a minute later.
“The police officers found a man armed with a large knife. Orders were given to cease the attack, which he disobeyed, advancing towards the police officers, knife in hand,” the police said.
Faced with this “serious threat”, the officers fired at the attacker, “hitting and neutralising the aggressor”, the statement added.
Also according to the police, the attack resulted in “several injuries and, so far, two fatalities”, and the attacker was taken to a hospital unit, “alive, but detained” in police custody.
The police are appealing for serenity and tranquillity among citizens, stressing that “the necessary personnel have been mobilised for appropriate and urgent security measures”.
