Coincidentally, Belgium lowered its terror alert level yesterday.
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A delegation of American FBI and CIA agents have been in Morocco since last week to scrutinize the terrorist network of the Belgian-Moroccan terrorist and informant of the Belgian intelligence service AbdelKader Belliraj, according to what De Morgen calls a good source.
The US interest in Belliraj shows a connection between the terrorist and al-Qaeda. A police source says that it shows a link between Belliraj's organization and al-Qaeda and the Hizbullah. The goal of the American mission is to compare DNA samples which were collected at al-Qaeda attacks in previous years.
The Belgian police delegation which has meanwhile returned back from Morocco is convinced that rounding up Belliraj's network is of great importance. He functioned as 'head of the military wing' of the terror organization and was also responsible for international contacts with other organizations. The police source asks himself how it is possible that Belliraj could travel undisturbed from Belgium to just about all the terrorism hotbeds around the world since the 1980s. There are two possibilities: either he did it all on assignment from a secret service or the Belgian Intelligence Service are all naive.
The much tormented head of the Belgian Intelligence Service, Alain Winants, spoke publicly for the first time yesterday about the Belliraj case. He is very indignant about the leaking of the connection between Abdelkader Belliraj and the Intelligence Service. He said that it was a totally thoughtless and irresponsibly act that will endanger the service and the lives of Belliraj and the people who were in contact with him.
Winants denied that he should have made it known Belliraj was an informant. The law only requires them to inform of elements who form a threat to Belgium. He says it's not coincidental that the names of his informants - Belliraj's landlord was also revealed as an informant - were leaded out now. The parliament has to decide soon if the intelligence service will get more power, such as being allowed to hack computers.
Source: De Morgen (Dutch)
See also: Belgium: Terrorist suspect had Al-Qaeda links, Belgium: The Saudi murders
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