Belgian police have arrested several people planning a terrorist attack on the European Commission seat in Brussels, according to media reports.
Belgian authorities confirmed they had made several arrests as they sought to prevent jihadist fighters or sympathisers with the Islamic State group (IS) from carrying out attacks.
The European Commission said Sunday it has not been told of any specific threat against it and there was no visible increase in external security around the Commission buiding in the EU area.
"The Commission has not received any information about specific threats," a Commission spokesman said, adding that all further enquiries should be directed to the local authorities.
The arrests and seizure of arms resulted from simultaneous home raids in Brussels and The Hague, capital of The Netherlands.
Two of those arrested were from the The Hague, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported. “They were planning an attack. One of the targets was the European Commission building. Individual commissioners were not particularly targeted. It would be more like the Jewish museum attack… with the aim to kill as many people as possible,” NOS reported citing an informed source.
The Commission building, known as the Berlaymont, is one of the most high-profile buildings in Brussels, housing several thousand officials who are in charge of the daily running of the European Union’s executive arm.
NOS reported that a man and woman of Turkish descent were arrested early last month when they arrived in Brussels on a flight from Turkey. Both had allegedly been in Syria.
Reportedly, there are 400 Belgians fighting in Syria on the side of the extremists and around 90 of them have returned home.
In May, four people were killed in a gun attack on the Jewish museum in central Brussels. The suspect in the attack, Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, is believed to have spent over a year fighting for IS militants in Syria.