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Belgium Arrests 1 Man, Releases Brother Suspected of Plotting Attack

He was charged by the judge Saturday with attempt of committing a terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization.
Image: Belgium police officers secure the access during a police operation in Etterbeek
Belgium police officers secure the access during a police operation in Etterbeek, near Brussels, Belgium,on April 9, 2016.YVES HERMAN / Reuters

BRUSSELS — A man was arrested in Belgium on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced Saturday.

Nourredine H., 33, was taken in for questioning following police searches Friday evening in the city of Liege and the Mons region. He was charged by the investigating judge with attempt of committing a terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, and placed into custody.

His brother, earlier identified as Hamza H., was also questioned but released without charges.

No additional information or further details were given regarding the results of the house search.

The police searches were carried out at the request of a magistrate specializing in terrorism investigations, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. It said that according to preliminary information, the brothers may have been involved in plans to commit an attack in Belgium.

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In the search of seven houses in the Mons area and Liege, no weapons or explosives were found, officials said.

There was also no indication the brothers were connected to the March 22 suicide bombings that killed 32 people at Brussels Airport and in the Brussels subway, the prosecutor's office said. That attack, claimed by ISIS, was carried out by the same cell that killed 130 people in attacks in Paris on Nov. 13.