Belgium Arrests 2 It Says Plotted 'End-of-Year' Terror

Alleged plan was to attack 'emblematic' places
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 29, 2015 4:42 AM CST
Belgium: NYE Terror Plot Foiled
Police officers stand guard at the Grand Place in Brussels.   (AP Photo/Thierry Charlier)

Two people have been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of planning attacks in Brussels during the holidays, the federal prosecutor's office said Tuesday. The investigation revealed "the threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays," the prosecutor's office said. A source close to the investigation says the Belgian capital's main square, thronged this time of year with holiday shoppers and strollers, was one of the suspected targets. "On the Grand Place, there are a lot of people, as well as soldiers and police who are patrolling, as well as a police station nearby," the source says.

The two suspects were arrested following searches Sunday and Monday in the Brussels area, the Liege region, and Flemish Brabant, the prosecutor's office said. It did not disclose their names or further information about them. One was charged with acting as the leader and recruiter of a terrorist group planning to commit terrorist offenses, the other with participating in a terrorist group's activities as a principal actor or co-actor, the prosecutor's office said. During the searches, military-type training uniforms, ISIS propaganda, and computer materials were seized and are being examined. However, no weapons or explosives were found, according to the prosecutor's office, which says the probe was not connected to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. (More Belgium stories.)

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