“Five people were arrested in the immediate neighborhood”, Van Wymersch told reporters.
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The incident happened in the early hours Monday at the national criminology institute in Neder-Over-Hembeek, a northern suburb of Brussels, and near the famed Atomium tourist attraction. There have been no casualties reported so far, said Pierre Meys, spokesman of the Brussels fire brigade. According to prosecutors, the coroner is leading the case under the article “deliberate arson and causing damage to a building by means of an explosion”, the statement reads.
A bomb went off at the Brussels Institute of Criminology in the Belgian capital early on Monday, local media reported.
Ms Van Wymersch said the likely aim of the fire – believed to have been started deliberately – was to destroy “several files” inside.
No one was injured, but the state broadcaster RTBF said the damage is significant outside the institute, which advises Belgium’s justice officials in their investigations. “This location was not chosen by accident”, she says.
He said about 30 firefighters were called to the scene.
The area was also home to Bilal Hadfi, one of the suicide bombers who carried out the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.
The duo are then said to have set off the bomb before torching their vehicle.
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Initial reports were of a bomb attack but authorities later said they believed the fire had ignited combustible material in the building causing a blast. As many as 32 people were killed in two suicide bombings at the airport and subway station.
