seven “Islamic State supporters”, suspected of planning an attack, arrested in the west of the country

The Belgian police arrested Thursday, May 4 seven people presented as “strong supporters” of the Islamic State (IS) group and suspected of preparing an attack in Belgium, announced the federal prosecutor’s office. Nine searches were carried out in the west of the country, in particular in Roeselare, Ostend, Ghent and Menin, a town bordering France, leading to these arrests.

The suspects are “mostly of Chechen origin”And “suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Belgium”. “Several scenarios have been mentioned, the target of the planned attack has not yet been precisely determined”, added the prosecution in a press release. Questioned by AFP, Eric Van Duyse, spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office, specified that the group was engaged in “an active search for weapons” with the aim of hitting “an institution located in Belgium”.

Several potential charges

The police operation, carried out with the reinforcement of special units of the federal police, is part of an investigation led by an anti-terrorism judge from West Flanders, who could decide to place the suspects in preventive detention after their hearing. . “The potential charges are attempted terrorist assassination, participation in the activities of a terrorist group and preparation of a terrorist attack”says the prosecution.

Belgium has already been the target of the Islamic State group, which in 2016 claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks perpetrated at the airport and in the metro in the Belgian capital, which killed 32 people on March 22, 2016. These attacks were committed by the jihadist cell of the IS, already at the origin of those committed on November 13, 2015 in France.