Belgium: 2 arrested for plotting terror attack
The Belgian police arrested two men suspected of plotting a terror attack in Belgium as Europe remained on edge on Saturday following a rising wave of jihadist bloodshed on the continent.
The police arrested two men, identified as Noureddine H. And his brother Hamza H., after house searches late on Friday in Belgium’s French- speaking areas of Mons and Liege, federal prosecutors said.
“Both are suspected of planning a terrorist attack somewhere in Belgium,” a spokesman said in an English version of the statement.
The French version referred to “planning attacks” in the plural.
The prosecutor’s office said there was for now no connection with the bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a Metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 32 people dead.
Those attacks were claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group which is waging war in Syria and Iraq. No weapons or explosives were found in Friday’s raids ordered by a judge specialising in counterterror cases, it said.
A judge will review the arrests of the brothers later on Saturday and decide whether to keep them in custody.
Several of those involved in the Brussels bloodshed were directly linked to the November 13 bombing and gun attacks in Paris which left 130 dead and were also claimed by the Islamic State. Belgian authorities in June charged two men with terrorist offences.