IED event in Belgium on Tue 30th July 2024

Two explosions took place at around the same time on Tuesday night. One of the explosions was in the Antwerp district of Borgerhout, the other in the municipality of Hove around 10km south of Antwerp. The front doors and windows of houses and some cars were damaged in the blasts. It is still unclear whether the explosions are linked to the trade in illegal narcotics. A forensics team and the bomb disposal service DOVO attended the scene.The police say that Tuesday night’s explosion took place in the Kwekerijstraat in Borgerhout and the Jan Frans Gellyncklaan in Hove. Both of them happened at around 3am. In Borgerhut the front door of a house was badly damaged ad several vehicles that were parked nearby were damaged too. This was also the case in Hove.Suzy is a neighbour of the family that lives in the house that was targeted in Hove. Although she doesn’t know the family, she told VRT News that she is shocked by what has happened. "There was a huge bang. I was asleep and was awakened by it. I open ed my window straight away and saw that there was a lot of smoke. Then I went downstairs. All the neighbours came out at the same time, and we called the police. It was all very scary. You hear about things like this on the news, but it shocks you when it happens in your own street”. The forensics officers and a bomb disposal team went to the scene. Regularly there are attacks of this nature in the Antwerp area that are linked to the trade in illegal drugs. Whether this was the case with the regard to Tuesday’s attacks is currently being investigated. The Antwerp Police spokeswoman Kim Bastiaens told VRT News that all avenues of investigation are being kept open.