The Belgian public prosecutor's office has announced that "three people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, the organization's branch in Afghanistan, were arrested during raids in Belgium and have been charged today, Friday, with planning a terrorist attack." It was added that four other individuals were arrested during house searches across Belgium on Thursday but were released afterward, with three of them released after being questioned by an investigating judge.
The prosecution stated that "the seven arrested in the Brussels area and in cities including Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent are Chechen nationals, while the three charged are suspected members of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province." Prosecutors noted that "there are no indications that the suspects had actually chosen a specific target." They refused to provide further information.
The perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 130 people and injured 368 others, largely planned and coordinated the attacks from neighboring Belgium, with many of the attackers being Belgian citizens or residents of Belgium.
