Belgian Arrests – 16 Individuals Tied To ISIS Apprehended In Brussels

The capital city of Brussels, Belgium, was on high alert all day Sunday as security teams swept the streets in search of individuals suspected of being tied to the deadly Paris attacks amidst fears of new attacks in the capital. Late on Sunday evening, residents of Brussels reported hearing sporadic gunfire and the boot steps of soldiers in the streets. As Monday morning came to Brussels, officials reported that 16 people had been apprehended in the joint operation between the Belgian capital’s police force and the military. Officials in Brussels had been worried about a Paris-like attack that the Belgian prime minister described as a “serious and imminent” threat.

Sunday marked the second day in Brussels of the highest possible alert level the government there can issue. The highly visible military activity in the usually tranquil Belgian capital was partly used as a deterrent to any would-be terrorist activity, as well as to legitimately seek out those who might be planning an attack.

At a news conference on Sunday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel spoke about the possible attacks being planned for Brussels.

“We fear an attack similar to the one in Paris. A number of individuals could launch an attack on several locations in Brussels simultaneously.”

In the midst of the military raids in Brussels, the search continues for Salah Abdeslam. Abdeslam has been named by French authorities as one of the gunman in the November 13th, Paris attacks. After the attacks, Abdeslam managed to cross the border into Belgium, and still remains at large. Authorities said early Monday morning in Brussels that Abdeslam wasn’t one of the 16 individuals apprehended in the Sunday evening raids.

During the military raids in Brussels, key government facilities and buildings were either cordoned off or surrounded by soldiers and police officers. Key roads near and around the Brussels police headquarters were closed off. Schools in Brussels have been closed, and authorities have announced that the schools will remain closed on Monday. All metro lines and stations have been closed down, and soldiers carrying rifles and machine guns have made their presence well known in large commercial areas and shopping malls.

The worry from the Belgian officials wasn’t just in response to the Paris attacks. The Belgian interior minister, Jan Jambon, indicated that the government in Brussels was concerned that the attacks in Paris were just the tip of the iceberg in a much more broad, far reaching terrorist plot that would spread throughout Europe, and they may have been right.

Anonymous, the hacktivist groups that declared war on ISIS the day after the Paris attacks – and who has since claimed to have shut down over 5,500 Twitter accounts associated with members of Islamic State – claims that it warned several governments about imminent attack possibilities in several countries around the world last week. France, Belgium, the United States and Italy were among the countries that Anonymous indicated might be attacked on Sunday, November 22nd. It’s possible that the highly visible military activity in Brussels on Sunday may have been – in part – a response to that information or information like it. The prime minister said that the raids and the escalated alert level in Brussels were because of “information, relatively precise, of a risk of an attack similar to the one that unfolded in Paris.” Another official from a smaller city outside of Brussels told the media that there had been confirmation of two terrorists on the ground in Brussels, and that information had led to the heightened security measures.

On Saturday evening, news outlets in Brussels said that the police there had arrested four people, one of whom was wearing a suicide belt, however, authorities in Brussels would neither “confirm or deny” those reports.

[Photo by Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images]