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Belgium, 7 people are arrested, suspected of planning a terrorist attack

2023-05-05 14:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Belgium, 7 people are arrested, suspected of planning a terrorist attack

Belgian police on Thursday arrested seven people suspected of being supporters of the Islamic State group and of conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack. The announcement was made by Belgian prosecutors.

Almost all the suspects are Chechen and three of them have Belgian nationality, the prosecutors' statement said.

"The exact target of the planned attack has not yet been determined," they said.

Police, backed by special forces units, raided nine homes in several towns in western Belgium in an operation led by a prosecutor specializing in terrorism cases.

He is expected to decide later whether there is enough evidence to charge the suspects. "The possible charges relate to attempted terrorist attack, participation in the activities of a terrorist group and preparation for a terrorist attack," the statement said.

Prosecutors added that the seven arrested "are suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Belgium", and that they all "belong to a group of strong supporters of ISIS".

A spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office, Eric Van Duyse, told AFP that "it is suspected that those arrested were targeting an institution located in Belgium" and that they were "actively looking for weapons".

Police raids took place in Ghent and several other smaller towns, such as Roeselare, Menen, Ostend and Wevelgem.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks in Belgium on March 22, 2016, which targeted the Brussels airport and the capital's metro. As a result, 32 people were killed and hundreds more were injured.

The incident came months after the November 2015 attacks in Paris, planned by the same ISIS cell, in which 130 people were killed.

Chechnya, a republic in Russia's North Caucasus region, has a predominantly Muslim population.

It is led by strong-arm, pro-Kremlin leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who supports Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and has sent militia troops there to fight./ Voa





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