Belgium arrests 14 in anti-terrorism sweep
Saturday, 13 December 2008
MADRID, Dec 12 (agencies): In a major anti-terrorism sweep carried out as European leaders arrived in Brussels for a summit, Belgian police Thursday arrested 14 suspects allegedly linked to Al Qaeda, including one who police believe was close to launching a suicide attack.
The arrests were made by 242 officers who conducted 16 searches in Brussels and Liege, while French police arrested two additional suspects tied to the group, anti-terrorism officials said.
The raids came after a yearlong investigation in which police tracked militants, mainly Belgians and French of North African origin, who traveled to Al Qaeda hide-outs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, fought against Western troops and then returned to Europe, investigators said.
Authorities said they grew alarmed during the last week when surveillance showed that a key suspect had returned from South Asia on Dec. 4 and begun making what police believe were preparations for a suicide attack. Investigators feared the attack might target the 27 leaders of the European Union, who began the two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday.
"We don't know where this suicide attack was envisioned," chief federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said at a news conference. "It could concern an operation in Pakistan [or] Afghanistan, but it could not be totally ruled out that Belgium or Europe were a target."
The investigation featured one of the largest recent deployments of anti-terrorism investigators and wiretaps in Belgium. The allegations resemble a pattern detected in Britain and other European countries: Militants travel to the Afghan-Pakistani border zone and return to target their homelands, often directed from afar by Al Qaeda masterminds.
The arrests were made by 242 officers who conducted 16 searches in Brussels and Liege, while French police arrested two additional suspects tied to the group, anti-terrorism officials said.
The raids came after a yearlong investigation in which police tracked militants, mainly Belgians and French of North African origin, who traveled to Al Qaeda hide-outs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, fought against Western troops and then returned to Europe, investigators said.
Authorities said they grew alarmed during the last week when surveillance showed that a key suspect had returned from South Asia on Dec. 4 and begun making what police believe were preparations for a suicide attack. Investigators feared the attack might target the 27 leaders of the European Union, who began the two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday.
"We don't know where this suicide attack was envisioned," chief federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said at a news conference. "It could concern an operation in Pakistan [or] Afghanistan, but it could not be totally ruled out that Belgium or Europe were a target."
The investigation featured one of the largest recent deployments of anti-terrorism investigators and wiretaps in Belgium. The allegations resemble a pattern detected in Britain and other European countries: Militants travel to the Afghan-Pakistani border zone and return to target their homelands, often directed from afar by Al Qaeda masterminds.