Belgian authorities charge fourth suspect with Paris attacks

CNN affiliate BFMTV reported that the item, which resembled a suicide vest, contained bolts and TATP, the same explosive found in the suicide belts used by Paris attackers. “We are talking of a threat of several individuals with weapons and explosives, to launch acts, maybe even in several places at once”.

A police source fears Abdeslam could be “trapped and desperate” in the city.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said the city of 1.2 million will remain on Belgium’s fourth and highest level of security threat, meaning the threat of an attack was “serious and imminent”.

The device was found Monday in the same area where a cellphone belonging to fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam was located on the day of the Paris attacks but the vest has not been formally linked to him, said two police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. Three others were charged with similar offenses last week.

BRUSSELS-Brussels began a third consecutive day in lockdown under a maximum terror alert Monday after Belgian police staged a series of raids but failed to find key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. “He is charged with participating in activities of a terrorist group and with terrorist attack (Paris)”, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Of a further five people arrested on Monday morning, two have been released, while “further enquiries” are under way regarding the others, the prosecutor said.

The European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which both have their headquarters in Brussels, said they would bolster security and urged non-essential staff to work from home.

On the Grand Place, a historic central square that usually draws crowds of tourists, an armoured military vehicle was parked under an illuminated Christmas tree.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel said the decision to raise the alert was taken “based on quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris”.

But authorities plan to reopen schools and the metro on Wednesday. The city’s buses are running but there are few passengers. His elder brother Brahim blew himself up outside a Paris bar in the Nov 13 attacks claimed by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants. Hollande is also due to visit Washington and Moscow this week.

He added that there were 10,200 police and 6,400 soldiers deployed across the region that includes the capital – prioritising stations, airports, large public spaces, government buildings, cultural sites, media companies and hospitals.

The British premier will make his case to parliament on Thursday for Britain to join sorties into Syria, in his latest bid to get lawmakers’ approval for the move.

The Defense Ministry said the strikes had hit IS targets in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Mosul.

In the evening, a raid was carried out on Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, where the French armed forces said planes destroyed several facilities including a command centre.