Terror Suspect Apprehended by Authorities in Brussels
Residents in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek reported hearing gunshots and at least three explosions on Friday afternoon, amid reports that Belgian police were carrying out an anti-terror operation and had arrested a suspect.
Videos showed police with rifles drawn as they approached a man, who was wearing black and lying injured on a bus platform amid broken glass. Officers appear to escort a young child away from the man, then back away.
Moments later, an explosives-detecting robot slowly approaches the man.
In a third video, police are seen grabbing him by the arms and dragging him away behind a waiting car.
Later, a policeman wearing a protective suit was seen by The Associated Press inspecting the scene.
Leila, a 14-year-old Belgian girl was getting her hair cut in a shop across the street from the metro station when she saw police activity outside. Leila, who was there with her older cousin, told Mashable that the customers in Mes Haires Coiffure hid in the basement when they heard gunshots and remained there for an hour.
“We were super scared and went to the basement.”
“First we saw the police coming with a big shot gun,” Leila said. “Then we heard shots so we were super scared and went to the basement.”
When the customers came back upstairs, they saw what Leila described as man on the tram tracks who was holding a bag. She added that she couldn’t see him very well.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was said to be a “big fish,” according to unnamed sources speaking to the Belgian broadcaster RTL.
One witness who watched the operation said police ordered the man to remove his jacket, “probably to see if it had or not an explosive belt,” and that several loud pops were then heard. The man then dropped to the ground.
RTL said the man had been under police surveillance “for some time.”
“One person has been caught in a police operation has been slightly wounded in the leg,” the town’s mayor said.
It is unknown if his arrest was related to Tuesday’s Brussels bombings or November’s attacks in Paris, or both, but at least one suspect in the airport bombing is believed to be on the run.
The Associated Press also reported that three people who had been arrested in Brussels Friday — including one in Schaerbeek — were linked to the arrest on Thursday of a man in Paris believed to be plotting a new attack.
Schaerbeek was home to at least one apartment used by the men who plotted the Brussels attacks. A taxi driver who drove two of the suspected bombers to the airport directed police to their home earlier this week, where they found leftover explosives and a will, believed to be Ibrahim El Bakraoui’s, that was left on a computer found in a trash can.
At least six others reported linked to the attacks were detained in raids by the Brussels authorities on Thursday night.
Authorities have lowered Belgium’s terror-threat level by one notch, although they said the situation remained grave and another attack is “likely and possible.”
“The danger,” said Paul Van Tigchelt, the head of the terror assessment authority, “has not gone away.”