Belgium

Six Al-Qaeda suspects charged following raid

Article published on the 2008-12-12 Latest update 2008-12-12 12:07 TU

Nizar Trabelsi at a hearing in 2004.
(Photo : AFP)

The five men and one woman who were charged and placed in preventative detention constituted the group's core and included a man accused of preparing a suicide attack, the prosecutor’s spokesperson said.

A judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to hold the other eight people arrested in Thursday’s raids.

On the eve of the last EU summit under the French presidency, 242 Belgian police officers carried out 16 raids on different locations in Brussels and Liege.

Authorities claim that one of the men arrested was a suicide bomber in what was trumpeted as the biggest anti-terrorism operation in Belgian history,

The man accused of preparing a suicide attack had “received the green light” to go ahead with his attack, federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said, claiming that the suspect had already filmed a video saying goodbye to his family.

Belgian authorities couldn’t confirm the location of the alleged attack, saying that “it could have been an operation in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but it can’t be ruled out that Belgium or Europe could have been the target.”

The investigation was sparked last year after information surfaced about a plan to break Nizar Trabelsi out of prison, who was convicted in 2003 for plotting an attack on a Belgian military base.