The capital of Belgium entered the third day of a siegelike lockdown on Monday: Schools, shopping malls, public transit and food markets remained closed, and hotels and bars were desolate, as the total number of arrests in a sweeping counterterrorism operation rose to 21.
The authorities searched five homes in the Brussels area and two in the Liège region overnight, seized 26,000 euros, or about $27,600, and arrested five people, in addition to the 16 who were detained on Sunday, according to Eric Van der Sijpt, a magistrate and a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office.
But one of the chief targets of the raids — Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Frenchman who is believed to have taken part in the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 — remained at large. A BMW that was pulled over on Sunday night around Liège, which was seized upon by some on the Internet, has “no link at all with the ongoing operation,” Mr. Van der Sijpt said in a statement.
Some of the rhythms of daily life resumed on Monday, the first weekday since the authorities put the Brussels region on the highest level of alert — Level 4 — out of fear of a “serious and imminent” attack like the one in Paris. At least four of the attackers in Paris had lived in Belgium, including Mr. Abdeslam and the suspected organizer, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed in a police raid outside Paris last week.
In Brussels, security was tightened around the buildings that house the European Commission, while NATO advised some employees to work from home. The central square, known as the Grand Place or the Grote Markt, usually bustling with shoppers preparing for Christmas, was relatively empty. Many large stores were closed.
Source: BRUSSELS
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