Belgium on alert after latest blast
Soldiers shoot suspect at Brussels station in week of terror attacks across Europe
Security around Brussels’ rail network remains high after Belgian authorities said they foiled a “terror attack” yesterday. Soldiers shot and killed a suspect after a small explosion at a busy Brussels train station that continued a week of attacks in the capitals of Europe.
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told VRT broadcaster that it was important to address security concerns but avoid over-reacting.
“If you protect yourself everywhere against anything, in the end we will end up in a police state,” Jambon said.
Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers “neutralised” a male suspect at the Central Station immediately after the explosion there. The man lay still for several hours while a bomb squad checked whether he was armed with more explosives.
Prosecutor’s spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch confirmed his death and said no other explosives were found on his body. Some Belgian media had reported earlier that the suspect was wearing a bomb belt.
Belgium’s Crisis Centre, which monitors security threats in the country, said based on initial information it did not see a need to raise the country’s terror threat to the highest level and kept it at the second-highest level.
Van der Sypt said no one else was injured besides the suspect and the damage from the explosion was limited.
Nicolas Van Herreweghen, who works for Belgium’s national rail company, said the male suspect was very agitated, yelling about jihadists and then “Allahu akbar”, Arabic for “God is great”, before blowing up something on a baggage trolley.
He said the man appeared to be 30 to 35 years of age.
The Government agency that owns Belgium’s railways was warned by a train driver who saw people running across the rail lines inside the station, spokesman Arnaud Reymann told broadcaster RTL.
National newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying the suspect was wearing a backpack and an explosive belt.
The Central Station is one of the busiest in the nation and soldiers could be seen patrolling there after the explosion.
Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March 2016. Extra police and soldiers in camouflage gear have become a common sight in crowded areas.
There have been attacks in Paris and London in recent days, including the attack by a van driver who tried to run down worshippers outside a London mosque. — AP