4 killed, scores hurt in Belgium gun attack

A lone gunman armed with grenades opened fire on a square packed with children and Christmas shoppers in the eastern Belgian city of Liege today, killing three people and wounding 75.

Officials named the gunman -- who was himself also killed in circumstances that are not yet clear -- as Nordine Amrani, 33, a known criminal who had been summoned by police that morning but who never showed up.

Among the three passers-by killed when Amrani went on his shooting spree near the city's courthouse was a 15-year-old boy who died instantly and a 17-year-old boy and 75-year-old woman who died later in hospital.

The lunchtime attack sent terrified residents running through the streets for their lives, fleeing into churches and shops as the gunman fired on a crowded square.

"We heard two huge deafening noises and then lots of explosions, people were running everywhere," a baker named only as Patricia said on RTL-TV.

"We closed the door, turned off the lights and hid behind the counter with the customers."

The country's federal crisis centre said it was neither a terrorist incident nor linked to a pending criminal trial.

"It's very difficult to determine the reasons for the attack, but we're investigating all avenues," the centre's Benoit Ramacker told AFP.

King Albert II and Queen Paola rushed to the scene as did newly-named Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and Belgium's Home Affairs Minister Joelle Milquet broke off European Union talks and too was headed for Liege.

"It's uncertain yet whether he (Amrani) killed himself or whether his weapons exploded," public prosecutor Danielle Reynders told a news conference.

"He left his home this morning with his backpack and his arms," she said, adding that he climbed on to the roof of a bakery shop "and fired and then threw three grenades".

Hours later groups of people sat weeping on sidewalks amid the screech of ambulance sirens and the roar of helicopters. Pools of blood lay on the streets.

The shooting took place around noon on Saint-Lambert square, home to the courthouse and located near a busy Christmas market in the town of 196,000 people.

Some initial reports said it was a foiled bid to rescue a suspect from the courthouse.