Belgium: Jihadist Plot to Assassinate PM Foiled

Belgian federal authorities have arrested three young suspects in connection with what prosecutors said was an attempted terrorist attack on the country’s politicians, including Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

Federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said the suspects — born in 2001, 2002 and 2007 — were detained in Antwerp Thursday morning on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. Two remain in custody and will appear before an investigating judge, while the third has been released.

“There are indications that the intention was to carry out a jihadist-inspired terrorist attack targeting politicians,” Fransen said during a press conference. Authorities carried out four house searches with assistance from bomb squads and federal police units.

According to the Gazet van Antwerpen newspaper and sources cited by the VRT broadcaster, among the intended targets was De Wever, who leads the Flemish nationalist party New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). Contacted by POLITICO, De Wever’s spokesperson Philippe Kerckaert declined to comment.

Later Thursday, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot confirmed on X that the planned attack had targeted De Wever, calling it “deeply shocking.”

“Belgium is actively strengthening its capabilities to deal with new forms of terrorism, particularly through the fight against the malicious use of drones,” he said.

Investigators are examining evidence of plans to use a drone to deploy a device found during raids in the Antwerp district of Deurne, a mechanism that the prosecutor’s office said resembled an improvised explosive device. Investigators also found a bag of steel balls and seized a 3D printer from a second suspect, which was allegedly used to produce bomb components.

Fransen warned that the case highlights the ongoing risk of terrorism in Belgium. “This file shows that all security services must remain vigilant against the risk of terrorist attacks,” she said.

Belgian prosecutors have opened around 80 new terrorism cases so far this year — already more than the total number of cases in 2024. Thursday’s arrests come nearly a decade after the March 2016 Brussels terror attacks that killed 32 people.

“Terrorism has never disappeared. It remains an enemy of our democracy that we must continue to fight,” said Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet on X. Bihet is from the center-right Reformist Movement party, a francophone member of De Wever’s coalition government.

This isn’t the first time De Wever has been targeted. In April the Antwerp Court of Appeal sentenced five men to prison, including a six-year term for the group’s leader, over a foiled 2023 plot to assassinate De Wever, the former mayor of Antwerp.