Belgium: Was the Roeselare Triple Murder Planned?
A year after three people were stabbed to death in Roeselare, Belgium, important questions remain about what drove Mohammad K., a 47-year-old Afghan man, to carry out the attacks.
On September 21, 2025, three people were killed in Roeselare within roughly 11 hours. The victims were his wife, a former acquaintance and a former neighbor.
The first victim was Zahra Rahimi, 43, the mother of Mohammad K.’s four children. She was stabbed at the couple’s home on Meiboomlaan.
Mohammad K. then went to the nearby Kleine Weg, where he killed 45-year-old Sher Hussain Haidari, a former acquaintance of the family. Later that evening, he attacked his former neighbor Jan Lanssens, 67, at his home on Hoogleedsesteenweg.
After the third attack, a large police search was launched. Mohammad K. was eventually arrested near Izegem railway station at around 11 p.m.
The case has raised questions about whether the three killings were planned rather than being a series of unrelated attacks.
According to reporting from Belgian media, one possible explanation being examined is that Mohammad K. wanted to target people with whom he had serious conflicts.
Lawyer Kris Vincke, who represents relatives of one of the victims, has questioned whether the killings were a coincidence. The possibility that the victims were deliberately selected is therefore an important part of the questions surrounding the case.
The investigation has also looked at Mohammad K.’s earlier history of domestic violence. Belgian parliamentary records state that he had previously been convicted over violence within his family and had received a one-year prison sentence, with half of the sentence suspended. At the time of the killings, the earlier judgment was not yet final because the appeal period was still running.
The case also became a subject of political debate in Belgium because of questions about how Mohammad K. was able to remain free after the earlier conviction. However, the judicial investigation into the three deaths remains separate from the political debate surrounding the case.
A year after the killings, the exact motive has still not been fully established publicly. Belgian reporting in September 2026 said that many questions remain, even after a reconstruction of the events was carried out in June.
The case continues to be investigated, while Mohammad K. remains in custody.
