A man who attacked two soldiers in Brussels, Belgium, with a knife was shot and killed on Friday, the Brussels prosecutor's spokeswoman told CNN.

The incident is being treated as a terror attack, she said. The soldiers were slightly wounded.

The assailant yelled "Allahu akbar" (God is great) while pulling a knife on the soldiers who were on patrol in the center of the capital, the spokeswoman said.

The man was known to police for petty crimes but not for terror links, authorities said. He has not been identified.

Belgium has been alert to terror attacks for years.

In March 2016, coordinated attacks at the Brussels airport and a metro station left 31 people dead and more than 300 injured. Last June, a suspect was fatally shot at Brussels transit station after a failed bombing that authorities called a terrorist attack.

Belgium has been a focus for counterterrorism officials for years because of the large number of Belgians who have traveled to join ISIS and other terror groups in Syria and Iraq -- more per capita than any other European Union country.

Prime Minister Charles Micheltweeted late Friday: "All support for our military. Our security forces stay on alert. With crisis centre we follow situation closely."

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