“What we fear are similar attacks, with several individuals in several places”, Michel told reporters.
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Armed officers and troops have been patrolling the near deserted streets of the tense Belgian capital all weekend after the government raised the terror alert to the highest level of four in the city.
Belgian prosecutors announced early Monday that they have detained 16 people in raids linked to possible attacks in Belgium but said Paris fugitive Salah Abdeslam was not among them.
Officials had been working to quash the threat, with 19 raids conducted across Brussels on Sunday night netting at least 16 arrests.
Speaking at a news conference late Sunday night in Brussels, Thierry Werts, from the Belgian prosecutor’s office, and Eric van der Sypt, a federal magistrate, said the operation was ongoing as they continued to hunt for Abdeslam, the Guardian reported on its live blog.
A Brussels hotel has been sealed off as schools and transport networks are shut down.
France has also extended a state of emergency – which allows police raids, searches and house arrest without permission from a judge, for three months.
Brussels is home to 1 million people and the headquarters of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance. Abdeslam, however, remains at large, said Van Der Sypt.
Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris attacks after links to Brussels, and the poor district of Molenbeek in particular, emerged.
He said the imminent threat remained, adding that there were concerns that suspects could launch assaults in several places at the same time and that likely targets would be crowded areas such as shopping malls or public transportation.
Mr Michel said a new evaluation of the situation would be made on Monday afternoon and everything was being done to return the city to normal as quickly as possible.
Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old suspect from Brussels who has been on the run since he left Paris hours after his elder brother blew himself up at a cafe there, continues to elude a Europe-wide manhunt.
“Apart from the closed metro and schools, life goes on in Brussels”, Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon told RTL Radio on Monday.
The city’s subway system will remain closed.
What do the Belgian authorities say?
The public AP-HP authority said Sunday a “limited number” of suits were missing but wouldn’t confirm media reports saying a dozen hermetic protective overalls, three dozen pairs of special boots resistant to chemical agents, gloves and anti-bacterial masks have disappeared.
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The State Department declined comment on whether it is taking extra security precautions at its facilities around the world, but said it is “already operating at a high level of security based on recent events”.
