Belgium probes detained Islamic fundamentalists for ties to al-Qaida

BRUSSELS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Belgium is investigating a group of Islamic fundamentalists detained last year for possible ties to al-Qaida, VRT news reported Friday.

Belgian detectives traveled to the United States this year after a witness there said that the fundamentalists detained in Brussels and Liege have ties to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.

The witness, a suspect detained in the U.S. last year, has confessed that he attended training camps on the Afghan-Pakistani border together with members of the Belgian group. The trainees reportedly learned how to handle explosives and met al-Qaida leaders.

Belgian police last year detained 14 suspects in Brussels and Liege in an anti-terror operation.

The detainees included Malika El Aroud, the widow of a man involved in killing anti-Taliban warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud two days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. El Aroud and five others are still in custody.

The six have been in custody since their arrest in December and are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization, which Belgian officials say is part of an al-Qaida group plotting new attacks either in Europe or elsewhere.