Brussels placed on maximum alert due to terror threat
BRUSSELS — Belgium raised the alert status for its capital to the highest level yesterday, warning the public to avoid crowds because of a “serious and imminent” threat of an attack, a government official said.
Brussels was placed on the top level “four” in the government’s threat scale after a meeting of top ministers, police and security services.
“The advice for the population is to avoid places where a lot of people come together like shopping centers, concerts, events or public transport stations wherever possible,” a spokesman for the government’s crisis center said.
The level for the whole country was raised a week ago following the Paris attacks to level three out of four, implying a “possible or probable” threat. Previously, only certain sites, such as the US embassy, were at level three.
Belgium, and its capital in particular, have been at the center of investigations into the Paris attacks after it emerged that two of the suicide bombers had been living in the country. Three people detained in Brussels are facing terrorism charges.
The brother of one of the suicide bombers, who was also living in Brussels, is still on the run. Salah Abdeslam was briefly pulled over by French police near the Belgian border last week along with two of those in custody.
Some Belgian media speculated that the heightened state of alert is related to the continued search for him.
The crisis center spokesman declined to say what had led to the status change because investigations were proceeding.
“We cannot give more information... The work of federal prosecutors is still going on,” he said, adding the government was assessing what extra security measures to take. Soldiers are already on guard in certain parts of Brussels.