Belgium maintains security alert level despite threat report

Belgian intelligence services sent a note to French counterparts about the possible groups, and it was sent to police across France on Tuesday, a French security official said Wednesday.

The group was planning to travel from Syria into Europe via boat from Turkey to Greece, without passports, according to the alert.

It was not immediately clear how seriously French and Belgian authorities were treating the threat.

France remains “very cautious” due to the fact such notes are received fairly regularly, though recent terrorist events in Orlando and Paris have authorities on edge.

France was already on high alert because of the attacks in Paris a year ago.

DH said the fighters were armed and aimed to split into two units, one aiming to carry out attacks in Belgium, the other in France.

Three targets – a large shopping centre in Brussels, a restaurant and an American fast food chain, as well as a police station, have been cited by ISIS terrorists.

The government’s overall understanding of the threat had not changed, the official said.

The message read: “Something is on the move in France” (quelque chose bouge en France).Belgium’s terror alert is now at the second-highest level of three, which means a threat is possible and likely.

– Belgium’s crisis center is keeping the security alert status at its current level despite reports that fighters from Syria could pose an imminent threat.

The Belgian crisis centre in charge of coordinating security responses said an alert had been circulated to all police forces in the country but there were no immediate plans to raise the security level to the maximum that would indicate an imminent threat of an attack.

“The information regarding the possibility of a threat emanating from Syria … has not yet been verified”, said the official, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the investigation.

A band of mainly Belgian and French militants murdered 130 people in a series of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris on November 13 2015.

Assaults on Brussels Airport, and a metro station, led to the deaths of 32 people in March. Recently, there had been significant concerns ISIS would attempt to engage in an attack during the European Championship soccer tournament.