Suspicious powder found at Brussels Grand Mosque

“A parcel was found at the entrance to the mosque and found to contain white powder”.

A fire service spokesperson said someone at the mosque had called them to alert them to the suspicious substance.

A number of envelopes containing white powder were found and a public health laboratory is now analysing them to see if they are anthrax, it’s reported.

The mosque is located just a few hundred yards from the European Union institutions in the Schuman area of the city.

Wibin says eleven people, including two police offers, were being decontaminated as precautionary measure.

Since the Paris attacks on 13 November, the Belgian city has been placed on a state of high alert. “We put in place a plan to isolate two rooms in the mosque, as well as about 17 people who were in direct and indirect contact with the powder”.

“There is absolutely no danger to anyone”, she added.

One of the suspected Paris attackers who is still at large, Salah Abdeslam, is believed to have returned to the scene of the massacres in the French capital while the chaos was still unfolding, authorities have said.

“I’ve been speaking to the staff on the telephone and was told the imam found the package”, said Mohamed Dahmichi, standing across the street. “With everything that is happening in Brussels at the moment, I’m afraid to leave the house”, he told AFP.

The mosque and the Saudi-established centre lie about 200 metres from the European Commission.

Some of these have come from a group calling itself Christian State.