Two men suspected of plotting attack arrested in Belgium

The Belgian authorities have arrested two men suspected of plotting a terrorist attack and charged them with terrorism offences, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The main suspect was arrested in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek while his alleged accomplice was arrested near the northern Dutch-speaking city of Bruges, prosecutors said.

The men were charged with “participating in the activities of a terrorist group and preparing to commit a terrorist offence,” spokesman Eric Van Duyse said.

Van Duyse added that the pair were not believed to have been plotting a “mass attack,” but did not elaborate.

The prosecutors office said the pair were not Belgian nationals but did not give their nationalities.

It said the main suspect lived in the eastern French-speaking city of Liege, although he was arrested in the Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek.

Molenbeek has been linked to terror activities in the past two decades, including to members of the cell that carried out the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Police detained a third suspect in the eastern city of Leuven but released the individual after questioning.

Belgium has been on alert for extremist violence since the March 22, 2016 attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station left 32 dead and wounded hundreds of others.

Since January 10, Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche has been on trial in Brussels on charges he murdered four people in a jihadist shooting spree at the Jewish museum in the Belgian capital.