Belgium says van ramming not ‘terrorist’

Belgium has charged a van driver who ploughed through a crowded cafe terrace in the capital, slightly wounding six people, with attempted murder but has ruled out a “terrorist” motive, prosecutors said Saturday.

The driver escaped the scene after the incident in Brussels city centre on Friday.

A suspect was later arrested in the northern port city of Antwerp.

“The terrorist lead has been ruled out. The suspect detained yesterday has been interrogated over attempted murder, and charged for those facts,” a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecution said.

He had been remanded in custody, she said, without providing more details.

Belgium’s terrorism tracking Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (OCAM) briefly raised the threat level in the capital from “medium” to “serious” on Friday, but the level was dropped back to medium a few hours later.