Belgian
police capture Paris attack suspect
Peter
Spiegel and Jim Brunsden in Brussels
Last updated:
November 24, 2015
Belgian authorities
captured a man suspected of involvement in the November 13 terrorist
attacks in Paris during a series of raids on Sunday night, the
federal prosecutor announced.
The prosecutor
stated that the man, whom he declined to identify, was charged with
“participating in activities of a terrorist group” and with
executing the Paris plot.
Despite the break,
which occurred as Brussels was in the midst of a security lockdown
ordered by the Belgian government on Saturday, Charles Michel, the
prime minister, said that the city would remain at the highest
terrorism alert until Monday.
“The Belgian
government and the Belgian people are confronted with a difficult
situation,” Mr Michel said. “We are doing everything possible
with the security services to return to normal as quickly as
possible.”
Separately late on
Monday, the US state department issued a global travel alert, citing
“increased terrorist threats” from militant groups in various
regions around the world. Potential attackers could target private or
government interests, it said in a statement, noting that “the
likelihood of terror attacks will continue as members of (Islamic
State) return from Syria and Iraq”, and additionally it warned of a
“continuing threat from unaffiliated persons” planning attacks on
an individual basis.
The Belgian alert
level, which signals that authorities believe there is a “serious
and imminent” threat of an attack, has led to closed schools,
cancelled sporting and culture events and the shutting down of all
underground public transport.
Belgian security
services are still in the midst of a nationwide manhunt for Salah
Abdeslam, who was long believed to be the only alleged Paris plotter
to have survived the attack. But Belgian investigators announced that
Mr Abdeslam had not been found in the Sunday raids, meaning that the
man charged on Monday was an additional suspect.
The sprawling
investigation into the Paris attacks also continued in France, where
investigators found what one intelligence official said was an
explosive belt like the ones used in the atrocity in a rubbish bin in
Montrouge, in the south of the French capital.
Two men who drove Mr
Abdeslam back to Brussels in the hours after the Paris attacks have
told Belgian investigators that they believed he may have intended to
blow himself up in Paris but ultimately decided against it.
Authorities said
that 15 others detained in the Sunday raids, which were carried out
across Brussels and in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi, had
been released.
Seven follow-up
raids were carried out in Brussels and Liège on Monday morning and
led to an additional five detentions, though police immediately
released two of the people.
Media had reported
on Sunday night that Mr Abdeslam was seen in a BMW car near Liège on
a motorway that leads into Germany, raising suspicion that he had
escaped the Belgian dragnet. But in its Monday statement, the
prosecutor’s office said that the BMW had no connection to the
terrorism alert.
“Last night in the
Liège region, a BMW vehicle rushed off when pulled over by police
for a routine check,” the prosecutor’s office said in the
statement. “The vehicle was identified. Further inquiries showed
that there is no link at all with the ongoing operation.”
Mr Michel said that
despite keeping the Belgian capital at the highest alert level,
schools and public transport would reopen on Wednesday.
“The potential
targets are the same as outlined yesterday,” Mr Michel said. “They
include busy areas such as shopping centres, high streets and the
public transport system.”
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