Belgian Official Fears ISIS Terrorists May Have Been Trying to Make Dirty Bomb
Belgian authorities have suspended the credentials of 11 nuclear workers amid fear that ISIS terrorists operating in the country may have been trying to create a radioactive dirty bomb.
The fears stem from footage found in during a search of an apartment in February belonging to a man suspected of being involved with the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130. Authorities found hours of footage of what appears to be surveillance of the senior nuclear official.
“When you start filming someone in the way they did, the logical conclusion is that they wanted to abduct that person and to obtain radioactive material,” a top official from Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control told The Times of England.
Belgian media reported Monday that certain staff from the Tihange nuclear facility were evacuated during the terrorist attacks on Brussels. In response to security concerns, 11 workers at the facility had their passes revoked after vetting from Belgian security and intelligence officials.
While not as lethal or destructive as a true to form nuclear weapon, a dirty bomb is still a dangerous threat. Rather than creating a nuclear reaction, a dirty bomb is far more rudimentary and involves combining radioactive material with a traditional explosive, thus dispersing radioactive material over an area. Dirty bombs do not create the same kind of radioactive destruction as a nuclear weapon, instead the fear and panic caused by a dirty bomb is what concerns security experts.
At least 30 people were killed during Monday’s attacks in Belgium, with over 230 being injured. The Islamic State took credit for the attacks shortly after they occurred. Belgian authorities have arrested 6 people suspected of being involved in the bombings.
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