Only Six Of 14 Belgian Terror Suspects Charged

Belgian prosecutors have charged six of the 14 terror suspects arrested Thursday, but had to release the other eight.

Five suspects are men between 20 and 30 years old. The only woman, Malika el Aroud, is the widow of the al Qaeda operative who died in the 2001 suicide attack that killed anti-Taliban warlord Ahmed Shah Masood. All are Belgian nationals.

Investigating magistrates decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed against the remaining eight.

At the center of the arrested group is 20-year-old Hicham Beyoyo, a small-time criminal with a long police record from a run-down district of Brussels. His older brother, Hakim, 28, is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for his role in a tiger-kidnapping operation.

With three others, all now under arrest, he left early in 2008 for al Qaeda training camps, and possibly combat in Afghanistan. He returned to Brussels on Dec. 4, and three days later made what police say is a martyrdom tape.

Belgian federal prosecutors say they do not doubt that a suicide attack was being planned, and was perhaps even imminent. They ordered police to carry out raids Wednesday night as they could not be certain that the would-be attackers would not target the European summit, held in Brussels Thursday and Friday.

However, raids in 16 locations failed to turn up any explosives or other weapons. Prosecutors say it is very possible the suicide plot they interrupted was to be aimed at European, including Belgian, forces operating in Afghanistan.

A message intercepted on Sunday included instructions such as evacuating women and children first, reports CBS News terrorism analyst Khaled Wassef.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme told Belgian broadcaster RTL this morning that Belgian authorities were looking into cancelling the European Summit in Brussels because of the threat, reports Wassef.

Malika el Aroud has had a very high profile in jihadi circles. She writes online, most often in French, in jihadi and Islamist chat rooms under the name "Umm Obeyda" (Mother of Obeyda). Her current husband, Moez Garsalloui, believed by Belgian authorities to still be in Afghanistan, is an important link between European-based recruits and al Qaeda.

In 2007, el Aroud and Garsalloui were convicted by a Swiss court for operating pro-al Qaeda Web sites, Switzerland's first Internet-related criminal case, and she has been a prominent suspect in other al-Qaeda-linked plots in Belgium.

European intelligence sources describe her as "the most radical Muslim in Belgium." One said: "She's radical and she's very, very dangerous."