A machete-wielding man yelling "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) injured two female police officers before being shot outside the main police station in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi on Saturday, police in the city said.
The attacker, who was shot by a third officer, subsequently died of his wounds, but the police officers were out of danger, they added.
Prime Minister Charles Michel took to Twitter to condemn the attack, while Interior Minister Jan Jambon called it cowardly.
Islamist bombers killed 32 people in suicide attacks at Brussels airport and a metro station in March, and many of the jihadists who carried out attacks on Paris last November in which 130 people died were based in Belgium.
Brussels, home to European Union institutions and the headquarters of NATO, and the rest of Belgium are currently on a security alert level of three out of a maximum of four, a "serious" status with a "possible and probable" threat.