Friday’s detentions come after police detained six people late Thursday during several house searches in Brussels, including in the districts of Schaerbeek and Jette.
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In this frame made from video, armed officers point their weapons in the direction of an injured man, in Brussels, Belgium, Friday March 25, 2016.
Belgian police believe one of the seven people arrested was a suspected accomplice of the suicide bomber who killed about 20 people on the Brussels metro on Tuesday, a person familiar with the investigation said.
Salah Abdeslam is suspected of being among the assailants who killed about 130 people in Paris on Friday 13 November.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from the Schaerbeek, said the explosions he heard during the raid were consistent with the sound of stun grenades, usually used by police during raids.
Belgium authorities on Thursday lowered the terror threat level one notch, but said the situation is “exceptional” and “grave” and that another attack is “likely and possible”. Najim and Khalid are believed to have been involved in last year’s Paris attacks.
Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui were seen on a CCTV with a third man, dubbed “the man in white” and still on the run, before they blew themselves up.
RTBF said Mr Clerfayt said the arrested person was linked to the attacks in Brussels this week and an arrest in France.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the arrest in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil was not linked “at this stage” to the Brussels attacks, but the man, who was not identified, was in the “advanced stages” of a terrorist plot. He also payed his respects to the 31 people who were killed and dozens wounded in this week’s attacks. The responsibility for the attacks was claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group, outlawed in many countries, including Russian Federation and the United States.
Another suspect, detained in the Giessen area on Wednesday, had suspicious text messages on his phone on the day of the Brussels bombings.
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The chief suspect in last year’s deadly Paris attacks is facing a hearing in Brussels, amid increasing signs that the same Islamic State cell was behind attacks in both cities.
