The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has issued a short statement claiming that the assailant who conducted the attack in Liège, Belgium yesterday was one of the group’s soldiers. Amaq did not provide any descriptive information about the attacker, whom authorities have identified as a criminal on temporary leave from prison.
The Islamic State’s propagandists have celebrated the terrorist attacks in Brussels with videos, articles and infographics praising the three suicide bombers responsible. One video features two Belgian fighters who say the operation was a “new 9/11” and part of Osama bin Laden’s legacy.
Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the Islamic State, has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Belgium earlier today. Belgium has long been in the Islamic State’s crosshairs.
The Islamic State has sought to execute terrorist attacks in the West for well over a year. Abdelhamid Abaaoud has been featured by the Islamic State in its propaganda for plotting terrorist attacks in Europe in the past. Belgian police raided Abaaoud’s cell and killed two of his accomplices in January during a shootout in Brussels.
Dutch police search house of 18-year-old Belgian raid suspect
Belgians held in France after foiled plot ‘were fleeing to Italy’
As Terrorism Suspects Are Detained in Europe, Scope of Challenge Is Highlighted
Stockpiles of firearms found in European anti-terror raids
Police arrested 15 people in a dozen raids yesterday in Brussels and Vervier who are suspected of planning to attack police stations and kill officers; police uniforms, guns, explosives, and cash were seized during the raids. Terrorism charges were filed against five people. Some of the suspects had fought in Syria, and “most” were said […]
Belgian police foil terror attacks on ‘grand scale’
Belgian authorities launched a series of counterterrorism raids earlier today. Two suspects were killed in a shootout. Early reporting, which has not been confirmed, says that some of the suspects were acting on orders from the Islamic State.
Two or three people are said to have been killed and several others arrested when counterterrorism forces conducted a raid in Vervier against a suspected Islamic State cell. The cell members were said to be planning attacks in Europe at the direction of Islamic State commanders; the jihadists had recently returned from Syria. Other raids […]
Police arrested a 52-year-old man for threatening to bomb a Belgian newspaper because he did not like its coverage of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris; he was previously convicted of arson against a right-wing political party. About 20,000 people marched in Brussels yesterday against extremism and attacks on free speech. Authorities are seeking to […]
‘Hacktivist’ group Anonymous says it will avenge Charlie Hebdo attacks by shutting down jihadist websites
The judges in the Sharia4Belgium case postponed the verdict until Feb. 11; Fouad Belkacem, the chief suspect among 46 defendants, is accused of recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria. A judge extended the detention of Jejoen Bontinck, a defendant and key witness in the case who was recently arrested while trying to fly to Turkey. […]
Police arrested eight people suspected of throwing petrol bombs last night at a police station in the Laken area of Brussels. Prime Minister Michel ordered a security review in the wake of today’s terrorist attack in Paris. A hospital in Antwerp province is purchasing bulletproof vests for its ambulance staff to protect them from “an […]
Former Syrian jihadist Jejoen Bontinck, a defendant and witness in an ongoing trial against Sharia4Belgium, was arrested at the airport in Brussels as he was attempting to fly to Turkey with his girlfriend. Interior Minister Jambon said Belgium is planning to launch a deradicalization program to discourage would-be jihadists, after being asked to do so […]
European Union to set up expert cell to fight jihadi propaganda: report
Authorities in Dendermonde said a drone was seen flying over the Doel nuclear power plant yesterday, a day after one of the plant’s reactors came back online. On Dec. 7, André Vandoren, director of the antiterrorism unit OCAD, said an investigation into damage at the Doel 4 nuclear plant in August pointed to the possibility […]
Nations Ponder How to Handle European Fighters Returning From Jihad
European women convert, join IS
Security was heightened during the trial of 46 members of the terrorist group Sharia4Belgium in Antwerp on Oct. 27 after reports surfaced that defendant Fouad Belcakem was planning to escape. The trial against the terrorist group, which is suspected of sending fighters to Syria, began on Sept. 29. Only eight defendants were present; the other […]
Authorities arrested a man on blackmail charges for last week threatening a Brussels businessman with beheading if he did not come up with 50,000 euros to help jihadists traveling to Syria; the prosecutor’s office said it was unclear whether the incident was terrorism-related. Belgian fighter jets began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in […]
Europe Tries to Stop Flow of Citizens Joining Jihad
Belgium, Netherlands to offer fighter jets for ISIS strikes
5 with suspected terror ties arrested in Europe
A Belgian news report said authorities have foiled several terrorist attacks in Belgium and arrested a number of suspects who had returned from fighting with the Islamic State in Syria. While up to 400 Belgians are reported to have gone to Syria to join the IS, the actual number is thought to be higher, and […]
Europe needs to coordinate its anti-jihadist measures
A 13-year-old Belgian boy is said to have joined the ranks of the Islamic State earlier this year along with his 27-year-old brother. Authorities disclosed that the laptop of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was stolen from his official car on Aug. 18, but they claim it did not contain state secrets. After the Muslim […]
Authorities are investigating the possibility that two explosions in March that put a major power transformer in Hainault out of order may have been caused by sabotage, as reports emerged that sabotage caused a nuclear reactor in Doel to shut down. Four of eight Belgian reactors are out of operation through the end of this […]