The police chief in the Belgian city of Liege has said that a knife-wielding man stabbed two female officers before taking their handguns and shooting them both dead.

Christian Beaupere said the attacker, whom he did not name, also wounded four other officers.

He said: "The goal of the attacker was to target the police."

He said the policewomen were aged 45 and 53, the latter a mother of twins.

The attacker also killed a passer-by before police fatally shot the gunman.