Soldiers to remain on streets until at least October

Soldiers will continue to patrol Belgium's streets for at least a month longer than planned, after their mission was extended until October.

The public patrols, known as Operation Vigilant Guardian, began in January 2015 following the shootings at Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris and have cost more than €200 million to date.

In May it was announced that the military would no longer patrol the streets from September - but Belgium's council of ministers decided on Friday to prolong the operation.

Senior military figures had asked for the patrols to come to an end, faced with a growing problem of short-staffing.

The operation allows for up to 550 soldiers to be present on the streets and outside sensitive buildings, such as embassies and nuclear power plants.

Defence minister Philippe Goffin said that, in reality, only about 200 military are used for the patrols, with a reserve of another 100 ready to deployed immediately if required.

Belgium's coordinating body for threat analysis, Ocam, carried out a new analysis in mid-August, maintaining the threat level at two out of four.

At the height of the terror threat, after the Paris attacks of November 2015 and the Brussels attacks of March 2016, as many as 1,800 soldiers patrolled public areas in Brussels alone. That figure has gradually decreased over time.