Explosive belt found in town south of Paris

The materials used contained the same type of explosives as the ones that were utilized for the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, which resulted in the deaths of over 125 people and wounded hundreds more.

Since the killings, France has moved its flagship Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean to step up its bombardments of Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.

French President Francois Hollande has blamed the attack on Daesh, which later claimed responsibility. Seeking a unified strategy on Syria, Hollande meets Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, before travelling to Moscow on Thursday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In addition, the vest was found in the same zone where the mobile phone of a man sought by police was located. The city has been locked down since the weekend.

Belgium, the institutional capital of Europe, has been at the center of probes into the Paris attacks since it emerged that two of the incident’s bombers had been living there.

The unnamed suspect was charged with participating in activities of a terrorist group and a terrorist attack.

Michel added, however, that schools and the subway system in Brussels will re-open on Wednesday. On the Grand Place, a historic central square that usually draws crowds of tourists and local people, an armoured military vehicle was parked under an illuminated Christmas tree. “We are scared to take public transport”, said Cathery Frederic, who work in Brussels and spoke to The Telegraph. Forensic experts are working to establish its composition and whether it was linked to the attacks in the French capital.

Belgium-based terrorism expert Claude Moniquet, who has been in contact with both Belgian and French investigators since the attacks, laid out two possibilities: that Abdeslam became afraid of carrying out a suicide mission or, more likely he says, that he simply ditched a defective explosive vest.

Abdelsalam also travelled through Italy in August with a companion, but his presence did not arouse suspicion because he was not a wanted man at the time.

The federal prosecutor said a fourth person among the 21 detained following raids on Sunday and Monday had been charged with terrorism offences related to the Paris attacks.

A third brother, Mohamed Abdeslam, told Belgian RTBF television on Sunday he thought Salah decided at the very last moment not to go through with his attack.

Thus, this explosive belt could’ve belonged to Abdeslam.

Police sources told news agencies it resembled those used in the 13 November attacks.

On Sunday, police carried out 19 raids in Brussels and three in the industrial town of Charleroi.

Bielefeld police said that they had been given a specific address in the nearby Minden-Luebbecke area where the fugitive was alleged to have been hiding, but so far after “an intensive investigation” have not found any sign that he had been there.