Belgium charges man with attempted 'terrorist murder'

Belgian authorities charged a man on Saturday with attempting to commit "terrorist murder" after police uncovered an alleged plot to launch an attack in Belgium.

An investigating judge charged Nourredine H., 33, with attempting to commit terrorist murder and taking part in the activities of a terrorist group, the federal prosecutor's office said. He was arrested along with his brother Hamza H. following raids in Belgium's French-speaking areas of Mons and Liege, but Hamza was released Saturday without charge, the office said in a statement.

Nourredine was placed in custody. The prosecutor's office said there was for now no connection with the bombings on March 22 at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters that left 32 people dead.

Those attacks were claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group which is waging war in Syria and Iraq. No weapons or explosives were found in Friday's raids ordered by a judge specialising in counter-terror cases, the prosecutor's office said.