Belgium raised its terrorism alert in its capital of Brussels to the maximum level early Saturday citing a “serious and immediate threat”. “What I can say is that there’s a real threat and that’s why we raised the level to 4, and why we’ve taken security measures”.
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Belgian security officials meet Sunday to decide whether to extend a lockdown in Brussels over fears jihadists are plotting a Paris-style attack, as police stepped up their hunt for key suspects behind the carnage in the French capital.
Officials across Europe, the Mideast and in Washington are trying to determine how a network of primarily French and Belgian attackers with links to Islamic extremists in Syria plotted and carried out the deadliest violence in France in decades – and how many may still be on the run.
“The advice for the population is to avoid places where a lot of people come together like shopping centers, concerts, events or public transport stations wherever possible”, said a spokesman for the crisis center, whose name was not mentioned in reports.
The U.S. State Department advised Americans to be cautious.
Seven of the Paris attackers died on the same night as the attacks.
Boulahcen, 26, was a relative of Abaaoud, official sources in France told CNN.
“We’re getting daily updates on what’s happening there and that’s as much as we can do”.
Brussels resident Abdeslam, whose brother Brahim blew himself up at a Paris bar, is believed to be in Belgium and is the subject of a huge manhunt. His whereabouts are unknown.
In Italy, foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni said law enforcement was searching for five people flagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in response to a United States warning about potential targets following the Paris attacks. Although he is a French national, he was born in Belgium.
That is one of several connections between the Paris attacks and Belgium, a country seen as fertile ground for jihadist recruiters. Members of a suspected terrorist cell waged a deadly gunbattle in January with police in Belgium. The 28-year-old was killed in the siege of an apartment in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on November 18.
“For jihadis who return, their place is in prison”, said Michel.
Abaaoud was once allegedly involved in gangs in Molenbeek.
Molins said that authorities know Abaaoud and wanted fugitive Salah Abdeslam were not among those detained in the police operation Wednesday but he did not eliminate the possibility that they were killed, saying the identities of those slain in the raid in the town of Saint-Denis are still being investigated.
Authorities in Belgium have launched six raids in the Brussels region linked to Paris suicide bomber Bilal Hadfi.
Prosecutors said Friday that two of the three men who blew themselves up near the Stade de France stadium – the first of the wave of attacks – may have entered Europe through Greece, posing as refugees fleeing the Syrian war.
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Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.
