Brussels fears Paris-like strike, New Year’s fireworks canned

The Belgian police on Thursday detained six more people over an alleged New Year attack plot in Brussels and arrested a tenth suspect over last month’s jihadist massacre in Paris.

Both Brussels and Paris have cancelled annual New Year’s Eve fireworks displays as soldiers and police ramped up security not only in those and other European capitals but also in the Turkish capital Ankara over perceived terror threats. “It’s better not to take any risks,” Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said when he announced the showpiece event’s cancellation late Wednesday. Officials said two men, Said S. and Moh-ammed K., had already been formally charged with terrorism-related offences and the police detained six more people Thursday for questioning over an alleged plot to strike “emblematic sites” in the Belgian capital.

A source close to the investigation said that officials were trying to determine whether members of a motorcycle gang called the “Kamikaze Riders” were involved. Six other people were detained following seven police raids in and around the Belgian capital in which computer equipment, mobile phones and “airsoft material” were seized, it added. Airsoft is a type of airgun.

An investigating judge will decide later Thursday whether to keep the six in custody or release them, the prosecutor’s office added. Brussels has been on high alert since it emerged that several of the attackers involved in the Paris carnage had links to the Belgian capital.