Belgium raises terror alert to highest level in Brussels: Statement

The OCAM’s statement further said, “Following our latest evaluation… the centre has raised its terror alert to level 4, signifying a very serious threat, for the Brussels region”.

Abdeslam is one of two brothers allegedly involved in last week’s coordinated attacks at the Bataclan concert hall, outside the French national soccer stadium and at restaurants in Paris. Unlike the Paris terror attacks, which had Brussels ties and were perpetrated by ISIS, an Al Qaeda-affiliate group has claimed responsibility for the Mali attacks. “The work of federal prosecutors is still going on”, he said, adding the government was assessing what extra security measures to take.

Paris prosecutors said Friday that they had determined through fingerprint checks that two of the seven attackers who died in the bloodshed November 13 had entered Europe through Greece, an entry point for numerous hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in Europe.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday, drafted by France in the wake of the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people. One of the seven dead has not been identified, while a manhunt is underway for one suspect who escaped, 26-year-old Abdeslam. Citizens have been given the best advice their government can offer them to protect their safety, which ultimately seems to amount to the Brussels equivalent of the USA phrase “shelter in place”. Belgian newspapers Het Laatste Nieuws and La Libre Belgique reported that Abdeslam had been seen in the Brussels neighborhood of Anderlecht on Thursday night, but police officials would not confirm those accounts.

Prosecution spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told the Belga news agency that the raids are not directly connected to the Paris attacks, stemming instead from an investigation launched earlier this year after Hadfi left Syria. Three people detained in Brussels are facing terrorism charges.

France’s senate on Friday voted to extend for three months a state of emergency, which expands police powers to carry out arrests and searches and allows authorities to forbid the movement of persons and vehicles at specific times and places.

Belgium deployed police and soldiers on the iconic Brussels Grand Place and searched visitors at the entrance of the square.