Blast at Brussels crime lab, no casualties: officials

Brussels, Aug 29 (AFP) A explosion "of criminal origin"at Belgium’s national criminology institute in Brussels todaycaused a fire and major damage but no casualties, officialssaid. Belgian media said the blast was caused by a car whichrammed the building. It comes as Belgium remains on high alert following thedevastating Islamic State-claimed suicide attacks on thecity’s airport and metro in March. "There was no one at the site" in the northern Brusselssuburb of Neder-Over-Heembeek, a spokesman for theprosecutor’s office told AFP, refusing to comment on the causeexcept to say the explosion had a "criminal origin". The prosecutor has set up a "crisis centre", thespokesman said. Fire service spokesman Pierre Meys said "it was probablynot accidental." "The explosion was extremely powerful," said Meys."Windows of the lab were blown out dozens of metres away." He said about 30 firefighters were at the scene at around3:00am fighting the blaze. RTBF television said two suspects rammed a car into theinstitute grounds and threw an incendiary device at it. The institute is part of Belgium’s federal justicesystem. Among its tasks is to carry out scientific analyseslinked to criminal cases and to study the functioning of thepenal system. Belgium has been high alert after suicide bombers struckBrussels airport and a metro station near the European Unionheadquarters on March 22, killing 32 people. Those attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group,which controls large areas of territory in Iraq and Syria andhas claimed numerous terror attacks in Europe in recentmonths. The jihadist cell responsible for the Brussels attackswas also heavily involved in the November Paris attacks inwhich 130 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. The bombmaker for the Paris attacks, Najim Laachraoui,blew himself up at Brussels airport. Earlier this month it emerged that Belgian authoritieswere also hunting a cousin of the El Bakraoui brothers whoalso blew themselves up in the Brussels attacks. Belgium has caught several people linked to the Brusselsand Paris atrocities including Salah Abdeslam, the lastsurviving member of the Paris IS cell, who has since beenextradited to France. In June Belgian authorities approved a French extraditionrequest for Mohamed Abrini, the "man in the hat" seen on CCTVfootage with Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui at Brusselsairport. Abrini has not yet been handed over pending furtherinvestigation into the Brussels attacks.(AFP)AMS