Belgian police arrest seven people over terror attack plot

Belgian police have arrested seven people suspected of supporting Islamic State (IS) and plotting a terrorist attack, prosecutors have said.

Almost all the suspects are ethnic Chechens, and three possess Belgian nationality, prosecutors said in a statement.

The police raids took place in the city of Ghent and the smaller towns of Roeselare, Menen, Ostend and Wevelgem.

IS claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Belgium on 22 March 2016 that targeted Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station, killing 32 people and wounding hundreds.

Those bombings occurred months after the November 2015 attacks in Paris which were planned by the same IS cell and killed 130 people.