France, Belgium on high alert for attacks by ISIS
Brussels. The Belgian police have received an anti-terror alert warning that a group of Islamic State fighters recently left Syria en route for Europe, planning attacks in Belgium and France, a Belgian security source said on Wednesday.
The Belgian crisis centre in charge of coordinating security responses said an alert had been circulated to all police forces in the country but there were no immediate plans to raise the security level to the maximum that would indicate an imminent threat of an attack.
A source at France’s interior ministry said Belgian authorities had transmitted a note to their French counterparts, who were currently reviewing the information in the alert. “We know the threat is very high,” the source said. “We’re reviewing all the elements (in the alert).”
Newspaper DH quoted the alert from Belgium’s anti-terror cell as saying the group “left Syria about a week and a half ago, aiming to reach Europe via Turkey and Greece by boat without passports”, without giving an exact departure date.
The Belgian security source confirmed the contents of the alert. The Belgian federal police declined to comment and the French source could not confirm the content.
DH said the fighters were armed and aimed to split into two units, one aiming to carry out attacks in Belgium, the other in France. Potential targets in Belgium included a shopping centre, a fast-food restaurant and a police station. It mentioned no specific targets in France, which is hosting the Euro 2016 soccer championships.
Meanwhile, a top US senator with access to intelligence information said Wednesday that the ISIS has created a global battlefield.
“America is an open society. We value our freedom and diversity. ISIS has leveraged those freedoms to their advantage to attract misguided individuals who carry out acts of hate. ISIS has created a global battlefield,” Senator Richard Burr, chairman of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said at a press conference.
