Belgian authorities investigating Tuesday’s attempted bomb attack on Brussels’ Central Station detained four people after a series of house searches in the Belgian capital late on Wednesday.
A judge ordered four house searches in different Brussels districts, including the Molenbeek district where bomber Oussama Zariouh lived, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspected attacker, who was shot dead by soldiers patrolling the station, was reportedly a 37-year-old man from Molenbeek. The inner city borough has a large immigrant population and was home to some of those involved in Islamic State attacks on Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016.
Although no one was hurt, smoke billowing through Central Station sent commuters racing for cover. Police halted rail traffic, evacuated the site and cleared streets crowded with tourists and residents enjoying a hot summer’s evening in the city center between the station and nearby Grand Place, Brussels’ landmark Renaissance town square.
“Such isolated acts will continue in Brussels, in Paris and elsewhere. It’s inevitable,” Brussels security consultant Claude Moniquet told broadcaster RTL on Tuesday.
He compared Tuesday’s incident to that on Paris’ Champs-Elysees avenue a day earlier, when a man rammed his armed car into a French police convoy.
The judge will determine on Thursday whether to extend the detainees’ detention.
