Two women are stabbed to death in an attack at a Lisbon Islamic center

MADRID, 28 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Two women were stabbed to death on Tuesday after an Afghan man burst in armed with a knife and stabbed them into an Islamic center in Lisbon, in an incident that the authorities preliminarily treat as "an isolated act."

The Police have reported that they arrived in the area shortly before 11:00 a.m., upon receiving notices of a possible attack at the Ismaili Center, representative of a current within Shiite Islam and which is especially frequent in countries such as India or Pakistan.

Upon arrival, the agents met "a man armed with a large knife" who they urged to stop. Faced with the attacker's refusal, the policemen opened fire, which made it possible to "neutralize" him, the police explained in a statement.

It would be a man of Afghan nationality and who is injured, admitted to the San José Hospital in Lisbon, according to sources consulted by the RTP chain. The Police have confirmed that the attack resulted in "several injuries" and "two fatalities", identified by RTP as two women.

The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, has avoided drawing hasty conclusions while waiting for the investigations to progress, although "everything indicates that it was an isolated act." The president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, also expressed his condolences for the attack in a statement in which he said he was "permanently" informed.

The National Council of the Ismaili Muslim Community has indicated in a note that "the motivations of the attacker are not known", who broke into the center at a time when "classes and other activities that are carried out normally" were taking place.