Object ‘resembling’ explosives belt found in Paris suburb: police source

French media reports the auto was later pulled over by police and it is not clear why Abdeslam was not taken into custody.

The source said there was now a “strong suspicion” he had been driving the Clio rather than being in the Seat.

Furthermore, when Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, it said it had targeted the Stade de France soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall, the 10th and 11th districts – as well as the 18th district.

FRENCH police have discovered what they believe to be a suicide bomb belt in a bin in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge.

Overnight, police carried out a series of raids across Belgium and detained 21 people, but failed to capture Abdeslam, whose whereabouts remain unknown, authorities said.

France and Belgium have both raised terror alert levels in the wake of the attacks. But we don’t know why.

“It looks like a belt of explosives”, the source told Reuters on Monday, adding that checks were underway.

Meanwhile, Belgian prime minister Charles Michel has said that the alert level in Brussels will remain at the highest rating for the time being, although schools and the capital’s subway will begin to reopen on Wednesday.

Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, said the operation neutralised a “new terrorist threat”, and that “everything led us to believe that, considering their armaments, the structured organisation and their determination, they were ready to act”. But he also wanted the city, home to the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, to get back to normal.

Authorities in Belgium cuffed one suspect on terrorism charges Monday after detaining 21 people in raids between Sunday night and Monday afternoon.

Authorities charged three others with similar offences last week.

Links to Salah Abdeslam?

The federal prosecutor said in a statement that the suspect, who was not identified, was charged with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group and a terrorist attack”, referring to the November 13 assault on Paris.

An official said the belt – without a detonator – was found by a street cleaner in a pile of rubble.

With the underground rail system shut since Friday night, Brussels has been unusually quiet, reinforced by cancellations of many public events and, on Monday, by the closure of schools.