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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Brussels On Lockdown Fearing Terror Attack - Metro Closed - Citizens Warned To Avoid Crowds

Brussels On Lockdown Fearing Terror Attack - Metro Closed - Citizens Warned To Avoid Crowds

November 21, 2015

Brussels on lockdown for fear of 'Paris-style attack'
Prime Minister warns: 'several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack... perhaps even in several places.'

Matt Wanderman

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has announced that the capital is on its highest level of alert after receiving information about being targeted for a possible attack like the one in Paris last week.

Prime Minister Michel explained that the warning suggested "several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack... perhaps even in several places."

As part of the increased security measures, the metro is closed until tomorrow and citizens are warned to stay away from crowds, including at concerts and shopping centers. The government has also recommended canceling soccer games and other large events.

The rest of the country is at a "serious" level of security alert. The conditions will be reexamined on Sunday.

Several of the terrorists who attacked Paris previously lived in Brussels and authorities believe that the prime surviving suspect, Salah Abdeslam, returned to Belgium.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203716

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Brussels shutdown as manhunt for Paris fugitive Abdeslam continues

Central Brussels is almost empty after restaurants and bars shut early amid fears of a Paris-style attack, hours after Belgium raised its terror alert.

Soldiers patrolled the streets as a manhunt continued for the fugitive Salah Abdeslam, who was thought to be armed with a suicide belt.

Reports said he was in the Brussels area and trying to get to Syria.

The city was a base for the attackers - Islamic State militants - who killed 130 people in Paris.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said there was "quite precise information" that "several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack... perhaps even in several places".

Abdeslam appeared to have a large jacket and may have been ready to blow himself up, one of the men who drove him to Belgium has told his lawyer.

Day's developments as they unfolded

Brussels terror threat: 'Everyone is on edge'

Belgium's jihadist networks

Carine Couquelet told Belgian TV this raised questions, including the possibility that Salah Abdeslam may have been supposed to blow himself up in Paris but had had second thoughts.

Friends of Abdeslam told ABC News they had spoken to him on Skype and said he was hiding in Brussels and desperately trying to get to Syria.

They said he was caught between European authorities hunting him and so-called Islamic State members who were "watching him" and were unhappy that he had not detonated his suicide belt.

The Belgian authorities responded by placing Brussels on its highest level of alert.

Residents were told to avoid crowds, the metro was closed along with cinemas and shopping malls, cafes and restaurants were asked to shut at 6pm and soldiers deployed on the streets.

The US embassy told Americans in the country to stay indoors and the US European Command issued a 72-hour restriction on travel to the city by all military personnel and contractors.

The government would review the security situation in Brussels on Sunday afternoon, Mr Michel said...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34892680

      Paris attacks: Brussels alert stays at highest level

      Brussels will remain on the highest level of terror alert, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel says, amid a manhunt for suspects linked to the 13 November attacks in Paris.

      Schools, universities and the metro in the Belgian capital will remain closed on Monday, Mr Michel said.

      Brussels has been on lockdown all weekend, as police search for suspected Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam.

      http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34896125

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