Police break up terrorist cell before 'imminent attack'

Police have broken up a new terrorist cell who were planning an attack in Brussels, thought to be aimed at crowds watching the European Championship football matches. Among the men arrested are two relatives of the Bakraoui brothers, who were responsible for the suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station on 22 March.

Late on Friday evening, police in 16 municipalities in Brussels and elsewhere carried out a co-ordinated raid on 40 addresses. The targets were names that had come up in a series of wire-taps suspected of planning another terrorist attack in Belgium.

Homes and garages were searched, but no explosives or weapons were found; 12 men were taken in for questioning with three held in custody.

One of the three, 29-year-old Jawad Benhattal, took part in a bungled robbery of a Western Union branch in Brussels in 2010 in which shots were fired on police. Ibrahim Bakraoui, one of the airport suicide bombers, was also part of that robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in 2010 and was paroled in 2014. Benhattal and Bakraoui are cousins.

Also arrested was Moustafa Benhattal, Jawad’s 40-year-old brother. Both men are known to police as dangerous criminals, and their names came up during an investigation into the source of the weapons used in the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Wire-taps revealed that the men were planning an imminent attack in Brussels, specifically at the fan zone on Place Rogier in the city centre, where European Championships matches are being shown. The Belgian team’s next match was on Saturday afternoon, so police moved in on Friday.

After the arrests, a meeting of the national security council decided not to raise the terrorist alert level, which is not at three (out of four), though additional measures are being taken.

Brussels Central Station (photo), meanhwhile, was evacuated and closed on Sunday after a report of a two suitcases left beside the lockers. Train services were suspended between North and South stations for an hour, but the suitcases turned out to be harmless.

Brussels’ public transport authority Stib has announced the closure of a number of metro entrances “for safety reasons”. The stations affected are Beurs, De Brouckère, IJzer, Kruidtuin and Rogier. All lines are running as usual.

Photo: Hendrik Devriendt/BELGA