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brussels lockdown

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Metro and schools in Belgian capital Brussels are due to reopen after they were shut four days ago in a security lockdown following the Paris attacks.

However, Brussels remains on the highest alert level, with hundreds of armed police and soldiers on patrol.

Authorities fear Paris-style attacks may be carried out, as at least one Paris gunman had lived in Brussels.

France says 130 people died in a series of attacks in Paris. At least one suspected attacker is still at large.

ISIS says it carried out the attacks.Brussels lockdown Paris attacks

Five people have been charged in Belgium with terrorism offences in connection with the attacks in Paris.

In Brussels, public transport was due to start running again from Wednesday morning though some metro lines will remain closed.

Yesterday, an arrest warrant was issued in Belgium for a man named Mohamed Abrini over the attacks.

French prosecutors say that two days before the attacks, he was seen driving a car with suspect Salah Abdeslam at a petrol station on the motorway to Paris.

Mohamed Abrini is described as “dangerous and probably armed”.

Salah Abdeslam is currently the subject of an international manhunt after the attacks.

The Renault Clio that Mohamed Abrini was seen driving was later used in the attacks, prosecutors say. Police say he should not be approached by the public.

Belgian prosecutors also said on November 24 that they had partially identified two other men taken into custody.

The men, named as Ali O and Lazez A, are both from the Brussels district of Molenbeek, and both will appear separately in court during the course of this week.

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A fourth suspect has been charged in Belgium with terrorism offences related to November 13 deadly attacks on Paris, the federal prosecutor said.

The unnamed man was one of 16 people arrested in raids on November 22. The rest have been released without charge.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said he would maintain the highest security threat level in Brussels, warning of an imminent threat.

However, authorities plan to reopen schools and the metro on November 25.

The multiple attacks in Paris – claimed by ISIS – left 130 people dead.

A statement from the federal prosecutor’s office said the man had been charged with “participating in activities of a terrorist group and with [a] terrorist attack”.

Of a further five people arrested on November 23, two have been released, while “further enquiries” are under way regarding the others, the prosecutor said.

Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 20, have already been charged with aiding Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, who remains at large. A third, unnamed suspect has also been charged.

In a separate development, French police said an object that appeared to be an explosives belt was found in a bin in the Paris suburb of Montrouge on November 23. The item is being examined.

Photo Getty Images

Photo Getty Images

Mobile phone data suggest that Salah Abdeslam – whose brother died in the attacks – was in that area late on the night of the attack.

Universities, schools, large stores, shopping centers and the metro system were closed in Brussels on Monday as the highest security alert remained in place for a third day.

Armed police patrolled the normally bustling streets of the capital.

Announcing that the state of alert would remain at level four for another week, Charles Michel stressed “we must all progressively get back to a normal life”.

The rest of Belgium remains on alert level three, meaning an attack is seen as possible and credible.

France has stepped up security in schools, imposing a series of measures including compulsory safety drills and banning parking outside school premises.

Also on November 23, France carried out its first strikes against ISIS from its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, newly deployed in the eastern Mediterranean.

French jets bombed ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria, including Raqqa, ISIS’ key Syrian stronghold, the defense ministry said.