Lisbon (EFE).- Two Portuguese women have died in an attack on an Ismaili center in Lisbon perpetrated by a man armed with a knife, who was reduced by police shots,
According to official sources, there are also “several injuries”, but they have not specified the number or severity.
For its part, the public channel RTP has reported that the two fatalities were working in the center when the attack took place and that the alleged attacker is of Afghan origin.
The prime minister speaks of an “isolated act”
The Portuguese police received the first notice of the attack minutes before 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and the agents found a man armed with a large knife.
“Orders were given to the attacker to stop the attack, he disobeyed and advanced with the knife in his hand in the direction of the police” who “resorted to the firearm, reaching and neutralizing the attacker,” said an official statement.
The Ismaili center is located on Avenida Lusiadas in Lisbon, close to two hospitals and also close to a large shopping center, and it opened its doors in 1996.
In a first assessment, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, pointed out that “everything indicates that it was an isolated act.”
“It is premature to make any interpretation about the motivations for this criminal act,” Costa said in his first statements after learning of the attack.