Suspected Plan to Strike Belgian PM Prevented

Belgian police have detained three suspects suspected of plotting an strike on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors labeled the reported scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and fellow elected representatives.

During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the PM's home, investigators discovered a suspected IED and evidence that the suspects were planning to employ a drone.

While the planned victims of the attack were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was included in the targets.

"The news of a planned attack targeting Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot stated in a post on social media on the investigation day.

"It emphasizes that we are confronting a very real terrorism risk and that we have to remain vigilant," he concluded.

The three suspects detained on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the operations of a jihadist network all reside in the city of Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were born in the early 2000s.

By late Thursday, one person was let go, while the remaining two were under interrogation and expected to be presented before a court on Friday.

The prosecution said that the accused were taken into custody after a judge directed searches of their homes in the urban area by officials supported by explosive sniffer dogs.

In the course of these raids that they discovered a device which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on that day.

Searches also found a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.

Fransen said that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the country in the current year - surpassing the full amount of investigations in last year.

During the spring, five people were convicted for a previous year's plan to attack Belgium's leader while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.