An anti-terror operation in Belgium results in the arrests of two brothers suspected of plotting attacks in the country.
ADVERTISEMENTProsecutors in Belgium say two brothers have been detained during an anti-terror operation. Identified simply as 33-year-old Nourredine H and Hamza, the pair are suspected of plotting attacks in the country.
The federal prosecutor’s office issued a statement about the arrests, saying:
“Based on provisional results from the investigation, it appears that there were plans to carry out attacks in Belgium.”
House searches in the cities of Liege and Mons did not turn up any weapons or explosives.
Belgium has been on a state of high alert since coordinated, ISIL-claimed, bombings in the capital in March. Thirty two people were killed and many more wounded in the explosions at Brussels airport and on a metro train.
The prosecutor’s office said no link had been found between the brothers and those explosions.
Neighbouring France recently extended its state of emergency following a spate of deadly attacks. Two men were extradited there from Austria on Friday on suspicion of belonging to an ISIL cell which carried out a series of coordinated assaults on Paris in November, 2015.
Algerian Adel Haddadi, 29 and Pakistani Mohamed Usman, 35, were reportedly turned over by Austrian authorities after being charged with “criminal conspiracy with terrorists.”