Belgium’s terrorist threat level remains at 3 after IS calls for attacks
There is no reason to raise the threat level in Belgium from 3 to 4, Interior minister Annelies Verlinden said on Friday, following an announcement from terrorist group IS that called for attacks around the world.
Based on current intelligence from the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis, Verlinden said there was no cause to raise the threat level. Level 3 represents a “serious” situation where the threat is “possible and probable”. Level 4 is the highest, meaning there is a “serious and very close” threat.
On Thursday night, IS broadcast a message calling for its supporters to carry out attacks targeting Christians and Jews especially in Europe, the US, Jerusalem and Palestine. “It goes without saying that the services are closely monitoring the situation with their foreign colleagues. The situation is continuously monitored,” Verlinden said.
In its broadcast, the group again claimed responsibility for the attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed 143 people on 22 March.
France raised its threat alert to the highest level in the wake of the Moscow attack. In its latest travel advice, Belgium’s Foreign Affairs ministry has asked Belgians in France to avoid large gatherings and busy public places.
Flowers in front of the Russian embassy in Paris to commemorate the victims of the Moscow terrorist attack on 22 March, which was claimed by IS © PHOTO HANS LUCAS
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