Belgian government lowers terror alert level for Brussels
Belgian authorities have lowered their terror threat alert to the second-highest level in the capital Brussels, calling a threat “possible and likely”.
Peter Mertens of the Belgian crisis centre said that the threat assessment now stood at the same level throughout the country.
Since Saturday morning, Brussels – home to the European Union and Nato headquarters – had been wary of a threat that was considered “serious and imminent”.
The lowering of the threat level came as a surprise, since the government had said that it would likely keep the highest threat level in the capital through the weekend.
On Sunday night, Belgian police carried out a series of raids that the government said were linked to a possible imminent attack like those in Paris on November 13, which killed 130 people.
No firearms or explosives were found and 15 of the 16 detainees had to be released the following day.
