If it is less visible, the terrorist threat is still high. In Belgium, seven people presented as "fervent supporters" of the Islamic State group (IS) and suspected of preparing an attack in Belgium were arrested Thursday, announced the Belgian federal prosecutor's office. Nine searches were carried out in the west of the country, including Roeselare, Ostend, Ghent and Menin, a municipality bordering the France, leading to these arrests.

The suspects are "mostly of Chechen origin", and "suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Belgium". "Several scenarios have been mentioned, the target of the planned attack has not yet been determined precisely," the prosecutor's office added in a statement.

Women among suspects

The police operation, carried out with the reinforcement of special units of the federal police, is part of an investigation led by an anti-terrorist judge in West Flanders, who could decide to place the suspects in preventive detention after their hearing.

"The potential charges are attempted terrorist assassination, participation in the activities of a terrorist group and preparation of a terrorist attack," the prosecutor's office said. "Almost all" of the suspects - including women, according to a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office - are of Chechen origin and three of them "also have Belgian nationality". They "belong to a group of fervent supporters of IS," the same source said.

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