No explosives found in Brussels bomb alert

BRUSSELS (AA) - Belgian police detained one suspect following a bomb alert at a shopping center in Brussels on Tuesday.

No explosives were found on the man detained in the operation, according to the city’s public prosecutor’s office.

Belgian media reported that the man called the police and said he was wearing explosives.

Authorities sealed off the streets around Reu Neueve and City2 shopping centers amid the bomb alert, prompting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel to cancel a planned appearance on a daily show and attend a meeting at the country’s crisis center.

The terror-threat level in Brussels remains at three, with four being the highest, after the police carried out 40 raids on Friday night and Saturday morning in 16 municipalities in Brussels.

Three Belgian nationals were charged on Saturday with attempted terrorist murder, according to the federal public prosecutor’s office.

Belgian media reported that the three men were planning to carry out a terror attack on Euro 2016 game between Belgium and Ireland on June 18.

In March 2016, a total of 32 people were killed and 270 others wounded in bomb attacks that targeted a metro station and an airport in Brussels, for which later Daesh claimed responsibility.

According to figures by Belgian Interior Ministry, more than 610 Belgian citizens have left for Syria to fight in the civil war.

*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Servet Gunerigok contributed to this report from Ankara.