Thread: Belgium has placed Brussels at the highest terror alert level

BREAKING NEWS

Belgium has placed Brussels at the highest terror alert level, citing a "serious and imminent threat."

Belgium warns of 'serious and imminent threat' to Brussels

By Michael Martinez, Ed Payne, Catherine E. Shoichet and Margot Haddad, CNN
Updated 9:00 PM ET, Fri November 20, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Paris (CNN)Belgium has placed Brussels at the highest terror alert level, citing a "serious and imminent threat that requires taking specific security measures as well as specific recommendations for the population."

The announcement by the Crisis Centre of the Belgian Interior Ministry is advising the public to avoid places where large groups gather -- such as concerts, sporting events, airports and train stations -- and comply with security checks. The rest of the nation will maintain its current terror level.

The increase in alert level for Brussels comes as authorities investigating last week's terror attacks in Paris conduct raids in Belgium as they work to identify and take down the network of terrorists behind the carnage.

Salah Abdeslam, 26, is the subject of an international search warrant. He was last seen driving toward the Belgian border when police stopped and questioned him a few hours after the attacks, not knowing that he was allegedly involved. His whereabouts are unknown.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks.

Abdeslam is one of two brothers allegedly involved in last week's coordinated attacks at the Bataclan concert hall, outside the French national soccer stadium and at restaurants in Paris.

Though he's a French national, he was born in Belgium.

That's one of several connections between this latest attack and Belgium, a country seen as fertile ground for jihadist recruiters. It's where members of a suspected terror cell waged a deadly gun battle in January with police and where three Americans in August overpowered a radical Islamist gunman on a Paris-bound train.

It was also home to suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud. He was killed during a dramatic raid that shook the Saint-Denis neighborhood outside Paris and collapsed an entire floor of an apartment building.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Abaaoud "played a decisive role" in the Paris attacks and played a part in four of six terror attacks foiled since spring, with one alleged jihadist claiming Abaaoud had trained him personally.

He was once allegedly involved in gangs in Molenbeek.

Belgian special operations forces raided that impoverished Brussels suburb, which has a history of links to terror plots, on Monday.

Thursday, Belgian authorities detained nine in raids around that country, the federal prosecutor's office said. Seven of those people were questioned after six raids around Brussels related to Bilal Hadfi, one of those who blew himself up outside the Stade de France.

http://blog.tsa.gov/2015/11/tsa-week...earms-ten.html

BRUSSELS LOCKDOWN: City cites precise info on Paris-like attack threat



BELGIAN SOLDIERS CHECK documents of a woman shopping in central Brussels after the country raises its terror alert to the highest level, prompting the US Embassy in the country to warn American citizens to 'shelter in place,' after officials warn threat of Paris-like terror attack serious and imminent.

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US embassy warns Americans to stay home as Belgium raises terror alert to highest level

Published November 21, 2015 FoxNews.com

Americans in Belgium were ordered “to shelter in place” Saturday after local authorities warned that the threat of a terrorist attack in the country’s capital is serious and imminent.

The U.S. Embassy in Brussels also ordered American citizens to remain at home as the city was placed on lockdown in response to the terrorist threat. The national crisis center raised its terrorism alert Saturday to its highest level as Belgian police continued to search for a suspect in the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

In a statement on its website Saturday the embassy informed Americans that “if you must go out, avoid large crowds.”

The warning also urged U.S. citizens to “exercise caution in public transportation systems, sporting events, residential areas, business offices, shopping malls and other tourist destinations.”

Belgian leaders raised the terrorism alert to Level 4, which indicates a “serious and immediate threat.”

Prime Minister Charles Michel said the decision to raise the alert level was taken "based on quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris...where several individuals with arms and explosives launch actions, perhaps even in several places at the same time."

Authorities across Europe, the Middle East and Washington are trying to determine how a network of French and Belgian nationalists with links to Islamic extremists in Syria plotted and carried out the deadliest violence in France since World War II – and how many may still be on the loose.

Brussels was home to the suspected organizer of the Nov. 13 terror attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and Belgium has filed charges of “participation in terrorist attacks and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization” against three suspects relating to the Paris attacks.

Heavily armed police and soldiers patrolled key intersections of the Belgian capital Saturday morning, a city of more than 1 million that is home to the headquarters of the European Union, the NATO alliance and officers of many multinational corporations. Residents were recommended to avoid gatherings, train stations, airports and commercial districts.

Service was halted on the Brussels Metro, as well as on streetcar lines that run underground, and residents were urged to stay indoors.

A new potential link emerged Saturday in Turkey, where authorities detained a suspected ISIS militant from Belgium who was believed in contact with the Paris attackers.

Ahmet Dahmani, 26, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, was detained with two other suspected ISIS militants. A senior Turkish government official told the Associated Press Dahmani was believed to have been in contact with the Paris attackers but the official did not say when. Dahmani arrived in Turkey Nov. 14 from Amsterdam and the three were preparing to cross into Syria, the official said.

Parisians across the French capital honored the 130 victims Friday night with candles and dancing, marking one week since attackers opened fire on sidewalk cafes and exploded suicide vests at the national stadium and an iconic rock venue.

Prosecutors said Friday that they had determined through fingerprint checks that two of the seven attackers who died in the bloodshed Nov. 13 had entered Europe through Greece, an entry point for many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in Europe.

The five other attackers who died had links to France and Belgium. One of the seven dead has not been identified, while a manhunt is underway for one suspect who escaped, Salah Abdeslam, 26. French police stopped Abdeslam the morning after Friday's attacks at the Belgian border but then let him go.

French officials said Saturday they could not ascertain for certain whether Abdeslam might be in France or Belgium. His brother Brahim, blew himself up in the Paris attacks.

The suspected ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a raid early Wednesday on an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, along with Hasna Aitboulahcen, a 26-year-old woman who officials said had described herself as Abaaoud's cousin. Prosecutors said Friday that a third person was killed in the raid but did not release the identity.

They also said Aitboulahcen had not blown herself up with a suicide vest, as it was initially believed, which suggests the body parts collected in the rubble after Wednesday’s anti-terror raid belonged to a third person who has yet to be identified.

Marking a week since the carnage, some Parisians lit candles and paid tribute to the victims with silent reflection. Others decided that enjoying themselves was the best way to defy the extremists. They sang and danced on Place de la Republique, in the heart of a trendy neighborhood where scores of people were killed, most of them in the attack on the Bataclan concert hall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_..._United_States

Poor Belgium. Poor France. Poor Germany. Poor Sweden. Poor Stupid EU. Pathetic.

Breaking News: 4 suicide bombers hit Fotokol, Cameroon

Nov 21 2015 - 2:50pm

Fotokol: a medic attends to an injured victim. Photo: L’oeil du Sahel

Boko Haram sent four suicide bombers to Fotokol, northern Cameroon today and after exploding themselves, they killed 10 people, injuring scores of others.

The usually reliable L’Oeil du Sahel said the incident happened at mid-day.

Fotokol, which has often been targeted by the militants, lies near the Nigerian border.

In Nigeria, there have been suicide bombings this week in Yola and Kano, with over 60 people killed.

http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2015/11...okol-cameroon/

Paris fears water supply contamination...

Paris gripped by water poison fear after chemical clothing is stolen from hospital as Brussels turns into a ghost town

• The French Army was last night protecting water facilities around Paris
  
• There were fears of a chemical attack by Islamic State terrorists
• Scientists were carrying out tests on the city’s water supply
• Equipment to guard against chemical products was stolen from a hospital

By Peter Allen In Paris For The Mail On Sunday
Published: 18:05 EST, 21 November 2015 | Updated: 19:28 EST, 21 November 201

The French Army was last night protecting water facilities around Paris amid fears of a chemical attack by Islamic State terrorists.

Scientists were carrying out tests on the city’s water supply after equipment used to guard against chemical products, including protective suits, was stolen from a Paris hospital.

In other developments yesterday:

• Brussels was in lockdown over the threat of an imminent Paris-style attack. The country terror threat level was raised over ‘precise information of possible multiple gun and bomb attacks’. Armed police and soldiers patrolled the streets, shops were closed, sporting events cancelled and the underground metro system closed.
• Six British men of Pakistani origin were arrested last night while travelling through Belgium in three old ambulances. They were thought to be travelling on an aid convoy – possibly destined for Syria – and police searched the vehicles. One of the men is known to British police, it was reported.
• Police raided a property in the Brussels suburb of Moolenbeek, described as the ‘jihadi capital of Europe’ and home to three of the Paris gunmen. Officers confiscated three guns.
• Police commandos arrested four people in a suspicious vehicle at the Place du Grand Sablon in Brussels.
• Turkish authorities detained a Belgian man of Moroccan origin on suspicion he scouted out the target sites for the Paris attacks. Paris Water president Célia Blauel confirmed that water samples were being analysed and six vital sites were under armed guard.

‘Checks are continuing,’ she said, adding that the chlorine in the water had been increased to limit the risk of contamination. The water is always chlorinated for health reasons, but the dose has been raised.
‘When the chlorine level drops, it means there is biological contamination,’ she added.

'The chlorine level is controlled throughout the network. This allows us – if necessary – to precisely isolate the affected area without disrupting the entire network.’

Twelve protective suits used to guard against chemical products and viruses such as Ebola were stolen from the city’s Necker hospital complex. More than 30 protective boots were also taken, along with gloves and masks. A hospital spokesman said: ‘The disappearance was noticed on Wednesday and a complaint has been filed.’

British chemical expert John Large said the UK was ‘very vulnerable’ to an attack on its water systems, adding: ‘Either by injecting a toxin into a pipe system, or by putting a large quantity of a toxic into a reservoir, the terrorists could pose a major threat.

‘IS’s chemical knowledge is improving fast and it would be a nightmare for the British Army or police to protect every reservoir or treatment works in this country.’

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls last week predicted a chemical attack on his country. He said: ‘We must not rule anything out. We know and bear in mind that there is a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons. The macabre imagination of the masterminds is limitless.’

Police dealing with the aftermath of the Paris attacks have been searching for supplies of chemical weapons in Paris and Brussels. It came as soldiers and paramilitary police continued their manhunt for Salah Abdeslam, the only known attacker from the Paris attacks who escaped alive. There have been several unconfirmed sightings of him in Brussels, but ‘he could be anywhere now,’ said a source.

Turkish authorities, meanwhile, arrested three people with suspected ties to IS.


Soccer cancelled, shops and tubes shut... Belgium grinds to a halt
By Simon Murphy and Paul Cahalan in Brussels for The Mail on Sunday

Brussels went into lockdown yesterday over the ‘imminent threat’ of another Paris-style terrorist atrocity.

Unprecedented security saw shops and public transport closed, sporting events cancelled and people urged to stay indoors as heavily armed soldiers and police patrolled the streets of the Belgian capital.
The country’s prime minister, Charles Michel, raised the terror alert level to the maximum ‘Level Four’ after fears of a ‘serious and imminent’ terror threat involving ‘weapons and explosives’.

Brussels went into lockdown yesterday over the ‘imminent threat’ of another Paris-style terrorist atrocity

The decision was taken because of ‘quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris’, Mr Michel said, referring to the massacre of 130 people eight days before.
The fear was that ‘several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack … perhaps even in several places’, Mr Michel said.
Belgium’s interior minister Jan Jambon told reporters as he arrived for a special security cabinet meeting yesterday: ‘The situation is serious, otherwise we would not go to Level Four, but the situation is under control.’
The terror alert came as authorities across Europe tried to determine how a network of primarily French and Belgian terrorists carried out the deadly attacks in Paris.
The Brussels subway system was suspended until further notice ‘by order of the police’, as the authorities warned people to avoid busy areas including train stations and the airport. The Foreign Office warned Britons in city, home to the European Parliament and the HQ of Nato, to avoid large gatherings, while the US Embassy in Belgium urged Americans ‘to shelter in place and remain at home’.

The fear was that ‘several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack … perhaps even in several places’, Mr Michel said

In streets which would normally be bustling in the run-up to Christmas, more than half the shops were closed, with more closing early throughout the day.
The mayor of Brussels requested that any cafes and restaurants which had remained open close at 6pm. Speaking through a half-closed shutter at a travel agent in the capital, one employee told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are scared. We have never seen soldiers like this out on the streets. It is safer to stay closed.’
But some tourists and locals bravely defied the threat by carrying on as normal. Evelyn Sdoukou, a 29-year-old lawyer visiting from Athens, said she and her friends, Eirimi Diamantopoulou, 39, and Matima Diamantopoulou, 30, would not let their holiday be ruined by terrorists.
‘You cannot let the terrorists win,’ she said, adding: ‘We have not changed our plans.
‘It is weird to see so many soldiers on the streets, but it is better as if something were to happen, they are ready.’



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3328779/Paris-gripped-water-poison-fear-Brussels-turns-ghost-town.html

Claim: Anonymous says ISIS plans to attack 7 cities TOMORRow including Atlanta GA


Started by ALIPAC

It's the saddest thing to see this when it was so unnecessary, just keep these people out of your countries and if they're already there, hunt them down and remove them.

Belgian police arrest six terror suspects after raids across country

Key target Salah Abdeslam not thought to be among those detained after day in which PM announced lockdown in Brussels over fears of Paris-style attack

Jason Burke in Brussels

Sunday 22 November 2015 18.21 EST
Last modified on Sunday 22 November 201518.36 EST

Belgian armed police have mounted raids across the country arresting at least six suspects, after the prime minister announced another day of lockdown in the capital over fears that a Paris-style mass attack may be imminent.

Armed police mounted searches in several parts of the capital on Sunday evening and cordoned off areas close to the main tourist attraction, the Renaissance Grand Place around the town hall. The public broadcaster said there were also raids near Liège in the east and Charleroi, south of Brussels.

Helicopters could be heard flying over the capital. Police evacuated restaurants in the centre, blocked off roads and called on residents to stay away from windows.

Shortly before midnight on Sunday, the public broadcaster announced at least six arrests and said the operations had concluded.

It does not appear that 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam, believed to have played a role in the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris nine days ago, was among those detained. Other raids in Molenbeek, a borough of Brussels where Abdeslam lived, and in Charleroi, where one man was taken into custody. A further operation took place in Liège, 75 miles (120 km) east of Brussels.

Europe’s de facto capital faces an unprecedented security lockdown this week after Belgian authorities imposed a slew of safety-first measures to prevent a “serious and imminent” terrorist attack.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...across-country

Belgian authorities arrest 16 in anti-terror raids

Published November 22, 2015FoxNews.com


Belgian authorities announced 16 more arrests as anti-terror raids continued Sunday.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said that "no firemarms or explosives were discovered," in the 22 raids — 19 in Brussels and the three in Charleroi in the country's south.

"The investigation continues," he said.

A judge will decide Monday whether the 16 people will continue to be detained.

Salah Abdeslam, the only Paris terror attacker who survived, was not among the men captured. Officials believe Abdeslam drove three suicide bombers to the Stade de France for the attacks on Nov. 13 before he fled. One of Abdeslam’s brothers blew himself up as part of the coordinated massacre that killed 130 people and wounded scores of others.

One of the people arrested during Sunday's raids, which targeted 19 houses in Brussels and three houses in another area, was wounded when police fired on the man's car.

Officials announced Sunday that Brussels would remain on the highest state of alert into Monday due to a “serious and imminent” threat. Brussels, the Belgian capital where several of the Paris terrorists had connections, is on a heightened state of alert since the French attacks.

Police and military action in Brussels filtered onto social media on Sunday, prompting authorities to plead with posters to stop tweeting information about the government actions.

Soldiers stood outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Brussels and one soldier inside the hotel lobby told a Channel 4 news producer there was a “real threat of attack.” The same news team was also reportedly advised to “stay inside for your own security.” The Rue du Midi, a street a few blocks from the Radisson Blu, was simultaneously the scene of a police operation. Patrons locked into a café by police were escorted out and allowed to leave after about 45 minutes, according to POLITICO Europe’s Ryan Heath.

The Radisson Blu is the same hotel chain that was attacked by Islamists in Mali on Friday.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/11...-terror-raids/