2015-11-24 14:32:00

France finds suicide vest as Belgium maintains terror alert


(Vatican Radio) French police say they are examining what appears to be a suicide bomb belt dumped on a Paris street, 10 days after the attacks in the French capital killed 130 people. The investigation comes while Belgium maintains its terror alert in Brussels and surrounding areas at the highest level for at least another week.

Listen to Stefan Bos’ report:

French police say the explosive belt, without a detonator, was found Monday by a street cleaner in a pile of rubble in Chatillon-Montrouge, just south of Paris. Police have not ruled out that the explosives were left behind by the fugitive Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the recent Paris attacks.

Security forces have been conducting a manhunt to find him, including in Brussels, where the government has warned of a serious and imminent threat of gun and bomb attacks comparable to those in Paris. 

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel says the highest terror alert in years will be maintained in the capital Brussels and surrounding areas until at least Monday. "The potential targets for attacks are the same as yesterday. They are the commercial centers, the shopping streets, the public transport system," he added.

The announcement has led to anxiety among local residents. "It is alarming and a surprise," a woman said. "I take it that they know what they do.

But I hope it will not last to long. Everything is closed now," she stressed.  

SUBWAY OPEN?

However Prime Minister Michel says schools and the subway system will reopen progressively as of Wednesday.  

The measures in Belgium have also impacted neighboring the Netherlands where security forces are also hunting for possible potential terrorists such as Abdeslam.       

Acting chief of the Dutch national police force Ruud Bik, who supervises security operations in The Netherlands, said riot police and anti-terror forces have been put on alert. "We have had dozens of phone calls during the weekends about people who looked similar as Salah Abdeslam. We are investigating those reports," he told Dutch television.

Amid the security actions, Belgian authorities said they have charged a fourth suspect with terrorism offenses after they detained at least 16 people on Sunday.

Yet, those detentions have done little to end Europe's massive anti-terror operation.








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