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2 People Suspected Of Plotting Attacks Are Arrested In Belgium

Soldiers patrol outside the Grand Place in Brussels on Tuesday. Police arrested two people on suspicion of planning attacks at tourist spots in the city over the holidays.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
/
AP
Soldiers patrol outside the Grand Place in Brussels on Tuesday. Police arrested two people on suspicion of planning attacks at tourist spots in the city over the holidays.

Belgian police have arrested two people suspected of planning to attack popular tourist spots during New Year's celebrations.

The Brussels public prosecutor says the suspects posed a "serious threat of attack," Teri Schultz, reporting from Brussels, tells our Newscast unit. Here's more from Teri:

"The two men under arrest are charged with terrorism-related offenses, suspected of plotting to attack popular tourist destinations during the holidays. Four other people were detained and released after two days of raids in the Brussels region and the city of Liege. The Brussels public prosecutor says among the items authorities seized were military uniforms and propaganda material for ISIS. ... There were no weapons or bombs found in the searches but concerns that attacks were also planned against police and the military have led to increased security around police stations."

The Belgian prosecutor's office says authorities so far don't believe there's a link to the Paris attacks last month, Teri reported.

Prosecutors say one suspect "was charged with acting as the leader and recruiter of a terrorist group planning to commit terrorist offenses, the other with participating in a terrorist group's activities as a principal actor or co-actor," The Associated Press reported.

Following the attacks in Paris, Brussels was on high alert for several days as authorities detained more than a dozen people in a series of raids, as the Two-Way previously reported.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Merrit Kennedy is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers a broad range of issues, from the latest developments out of the Middle East to science research news.
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