Seven people arrested in Belgium terror investigation

People held over 'possible terrorist attacks', federal prosecutors say

Armed policemen patrol the Boulevard Anspach on November 23, 2015 in Brussels, Belgium. Getty

Seven people were arrested in Belgium over "possible terrorist attacks", federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The arrests came a day after prosecutors said they had detained eight people on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack after raids in Belgium.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday that four people had been charged with taking part in the activities of a terrorist group, preparing a terrorist offence, attempted assassination and intending to spread a message to incite the commission of a terrorist offence.

The four — three Belgians and a Turk — were all linked to a case in the city of Antwerp, the prosecutors said. They will appear before a court there on April 3.

Another three people, two Belgians and a Bulgarian, were charged in a case in Brussels.

Two of them have been charged with taking part in the activities of a terrorist group.

The third has been charged with taking part in the activities of a terrorist group, preparing a terrorist offence and spreading a message with the intention of inciting the commission of a terrorist offence, prosecutors said.

All three people charged in the Brussels case will appear before a court in the Belgian capital on April 3.

In their previous statement, prosecutors said police carried out raids late on Monday at five addresses in Brussels, Antwerp and in Eupen, a city near the German border, and detained five men, at least two of them suspected of planning an attack.

In a separate but linked investigation, police raided three other addresses in and near Brussels and detained three people, also on suspicion of planning an attack.

Belgium was the home some of the perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people, and Brussels was the target of twin bomb attacks at its airport and on its metro in March 2016, when 32 people were killed.

The country's biggest ever criminal trial of nine suspects accused of taking part in the March 2016 suicide bombings is under way in Brussels.

Brussels is home to EU institutions and Nato.