Belgium under scrutiny over release of "radicalized" convict before attack

Belgian authorities sought to deflect questions on Wednesday over the furlough of a convicted criminal, known to have been radicalized in jail, who killed three people in the Belgian city of Liege.

Just hours after his release, the man named by Belgian media as Benjamin Herman killed two policewomen and a bystander on Tuesday before being gunned down in what officials say was a terrorist attack. Police also suspect the 36-year-old of the murder of a former associate found dead at his home.

In and out of jail for a variety of crimes since 2003, Herman found a path to violence that has heightened concerns Europe's prisons are incubators for radicalism.

He converted to Islam while in detention, a Belgian security source told Reuters, and was under suspicion of radicalization.

In Belgium, a prisoner's inclusion on a state security list as a suspected radical is not automatically communicated to all police or the prison service, experts say.

It was the fourteenth time since his detention that he was granted temporary leave, intended to help him prepare for eventual reintegration into society in 2020, Justice Minister Koen Geens told reporters.