Paris
11 December 2008
Belgium police detained Thursday 14 people suspected of having ties to
al-Qaida. Reports suggest they may have been planning a terrorist
attack - possibly timed to coincide with an EU summit in Brussels.
The 14
suspected extremists were arrested in raids in the Belgium capital in
an the eastern part of the country. Wire services report that one of
those arrested may have been plotting a suicide attack. Federal
prosecutor Johan Delmulle told reporters there was no choice but to
intervene and arrest the suspects on Thursday.
During the raids
police confiscated computer, data storage equipment and a pistol among
other material. But details of the raids and the possible attacks
remain sketchy. According to some news reports, the attacks may have
been timed to coincide with a two-day European Union summit in Brussels
which started on Thursday.
The suspects reportedly traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and may have drawn up plans to stage an attack in either place.
Bob
Ayers, an international security and intelligence expert based in
London, said that Belgium is an obvious target for potential
terrorists.
"The obvious explanation is that Belgium houses the
seat of the EU," said Ayers. "It is the capital of the EU government. And if you can strike against the capital, you send a message to all
the members of the European Union."
Still, Ayers cautions against immediately assuming the arrests are linked with the EU summit taking place.
What's
clear is that this is hardly the first time Belgian authorities have
cracked down on suspected extremists. Police made similar arrests last
year, and stepped up security at the Brussels airport and other key
hubs.
In 2003, a Belgian court sentenced Tunisian soccer
player Nizar Trabelsi to 10 years for plotting to drive a car bomb into
the cafeteria of a Belgian air base where roughly 100 American security
personnel were stationed. Trabelsi was found to have links to al-Qaida.