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The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for 'God is Great') twice before attempting to murder to the two soldiers, according to the Belgian federal prosecutors.

He was taken to hospital after being shot but he has since died.

A spokeswoman for the prosecution service said earlier: "With the identity that we currently have it is a 30-year-old man who is not known for terrorist activities.”

The incident is now being treated as an attempted terrorist murder.

ISIS later claimed the attacker was one of their soldiers.

A statement by ISIS propaganda outlet Amaq claimed: “The perpetrator of the stabbing operation in Brussels is one of the soldiers of the Islamic State, and he carried out the operation in response to appeals to target countries of the (US-led) coalition.”

The statement, which did not name the man – who security services said was from Somalia – cited a “security source”.