ISIS has claimed responsibility for a machete attack on two Belgian policewomen carried out by an Algerian who shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before being shot dead by officers, reports Daily Mail.

The 33-year-old went on the rampage with a knife outside a police station in Charleroi, south of Brussels yesterday, before he was shot by a third officer.

Today, he was identified by authorities as K.B. who has lived in Belgium since 2012 and has a criminal record.

The announcement came as ISIS claimed one of its 'soldiers' carried out the savage attack.

Quoting an unidentified source, the ISIS-linked Amaq Agency said Saturday's attack came 'in response to calls to target citizens' belonging to countries in a US-led coalition bombing the extremists in Syria and Iraq.

Prime Minister Michel cut short his holiday in the south of France and was due to return to Belgium for a meeting on Sunday with the National Security Council. 

The machete attack took place at a wooden hut that had been erected outside the Charleroi police station.

Paul Magnette, mayor of the city in southern Belgium, said the checkpoint succeeded in preventing the attacker from reaching the building and causing more havoc.

The mayor added that in the wake of the attack, Belgian authorities are discussing whether security for police facilities and officers should be beefed up further.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said it wasn't immediately clear if the assault, which he called an 'act of barbarism' was the deed of a single person or something more elaborate.

Charleroi has often been associated with extremist gangs, especially as a place where weapons are kept.

The ISIS unit which attacked Paris last November, killing 130 people in one night, is said to have picked up its AK47 and explosives in the city before heading for the French capital. 

Belgium has a large Muslim minority and was the scene of an attack in March by a group swearing allegiance to ISIS. 

The Belgian district of Molenbeek was also the home of several of the Paris attackers. 

Charleroi is an industrial city in Wallonia which has fallen on hard times economically after the closure of coal mines and steel works. 

It was also the home of Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux.