The Daesh terrorist group on Wednesday claimed one of its militants killed two policewomen and a student in the Belgian city of Liege this week, the Amaq propaganda agency linked to the group said.

"The author of the attack on the city of Liege in Belgium is a soldier," the group said in a statement published on Amaq's Telegram account a day after the attack, referring to the terrorist as a "soldier."

The attacker, who was later killed by police, was an inmate who had been granted a few hours release Monday but failed to return to prison, officials said. It wasn't immediately clear why he was imprisoned, but media reports say that he's a known drug offender.

Liege prosecutors' spokesman Philippe Dulieu said the man approached two police officers from behind carrying a knife and stabbed them several times.

"He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died," Dulieu told reporters.

Dulieu said the attacker then shot dead a 22-year-old man in a vehicle that was just leaving a parking place outside a nearby high school. The attacker then took a woman hostage inside the school.

"Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead," the spokesman said.

Belgian police and military have been on alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and subway system in 2016.

It's not the first time Liege has been hit by a similarly violent attack. In December 2011, a man with a history of weapons and drug offenses left home with hand grenades and guns before he lobbed the grenades into a square filled with Christmas shoppers and fired on those who escaped. Five were killed, including the assailant.