Belgium: New Year fireworks cancelled over attack fears

An official close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, told The Associated Press both suspects belong to a motorcycle club, the Kamikaze Riders, which is known for illegal stunts on public roads.

Authorities said celebrations would not be held after a plot to attack Brussels by militants during the holiday was disclosed.

Belgian police have detained six people during house searches in Brussels in an investigation into a plot to carry out an attack in the city on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Some Belgian media say the group harbours Islamic State sympathisers and that the search for other group members had led Brussels to cancel Thursday night’s planned firework display.

Authorities were investigating an alleged plot that was to target several prominent sites in Brussels during “the end of the year/New Year’s celebrations”, according to the prosecutor’s office, which released no further details about the plan. But the counterterrorism official said they were based in the Brussels and Vilvoorde areas, had easy access to weapons and had been involved in robberies and other criminal activity.

Mayeur said Wednesday that fireworks and related events in the central square of Place de Brouckere had been cancelled because it was not possible to “guarantee that we can check everyone coming to the event” in the current circumstances.

The man, named as 22-year-old Ayoub B., was charged with terrorist murder and participation in a terrorist organisation, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Vandoren told CNN that Belgian extremists began traveling to Syria very early in the Syrian civil war and that the latest official estimate was that 272 had traveled to Syria and Iraq, with at least 121 back in Belgium.

Molenbeek is home to the Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam and has emerged as a European hotbed of Islamist extremism. The phone in Belgium was deactivated right after the Samsung’s final message was sent, the sources said.

Ayoub. B, a suspect in the November 13 attacks in the French capital that killed 130, will appear before a judge within five days to decide whether he should be held in preventive detention.