Terrorism, false bomb alarm in four stations in Belgium

BRUSSELS – A vast bomb alarm, fortunately unfounded, was triggered tonight in four of Belgium’s most important railway stations, in Brussels, Ghent, Leuven and Amberes. After a few phone calls to the police, the facilities were immediately evacuated and connections from north to south were interrupted. In Brussels and Ghent, the bomb technicians have also scoured the stations for explosives, but the search has given a negative result by returning the alarm.

It is since 21 December last that the whole of Belgium is in a state of maximum terrorism alert. Triggering security measures before Christmas was the police ‘s discovery of a plan to escape the Tunisian linked to Al Qaeda Nizar Trabelsi. Following security authorities’ checks, 14 people had been stopped and released the next day due to lack of evidence.

January 4, 2008