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Suspected al-Qaeda militants targeted Belgian nuclear base
Brussels, May 26: Alleged supporters of the al-Qaeda network plotted to target US troops at a Belgian military base housing nuclear missiles in 2001, a trial in Brussels heard today.
Brussels, May 26: Alleged supporters of the al-Qaeda network plotted to target US troops at a Belgian military base housing nuclear missiles in 2001, a trial in Brussels heard today.
Former Tunisian professional footballer Nizar Trabelsi, a key suspect among 23 defendants on trial, told investigators of the plans for the Kleine Brogel military base in northeastern Belgium.
"The attack was due to happen between midday and one o'clock and target the canteen of the base," said presiding judge Claire De Gryse, citing testimony.
Trabelsi said in a broadcast interview last November that he had planned to attack the base, but did not say if he had targetted the nuclear missiles housed there.
The military base, built during the Cold War near the Dutch border, houses US soldiers tasked with "equipping planes with nuclear means in the event of an attack," said a Belgian army spokesman.
Trabelsi was arrested in an apartment in the Belgian capital on September 13, 2001, two days after the attacks in New York and Washington, in possession of a list of bomb-making chemicals.
He told investigators the Belgian base was "considered an easy target," adding that the would-be attackers had not prepared an alternative if problems occurred.
Trabelsi's name has been cited in an investigation opened in France on a plot to attack the US embassy in Paris, an allegation he has denied.
Bureau Report
"The attack was due to happen between midday and one o'clock and target the canteen of the base," said presiding judge Claire De Gryse, citing testimony.
Trabelsi said in a broadcast interview last November that he had planned to attack the base, but did not say if he had targetted the nuclear missiles housed there.
The military base, built during the Cold War near the Dutch border, houses US soldiers tasked with "equipping planes with nuclear means in the event of an attack," said a Belgian army spokesman.
Trabelsi was arrested in an apartment in the Belgian capital on September 13, 2001, two days after the attacks in New York and Washington, in possession of a list of bomb-making chemicals.
He told investigators the Belgian base was "considered an easy target," adding that the would-be attackers had not prepared an alternative if problems occurred.
Trabelsi's name has been cited in an investigation opened in France on a plot to attack the US embassy in Paris, an allegation he has denied.
Bureau Report