Turkey arrests ‘scout’ for Paris attacks, local media says

Turkey’s state-run news agency said Saturday that authorities have detained three suspected Islamic State militants, including a 26-year-old Belgian of Moroccan descent believed to have scouted out the locations for the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

The Anadolu Agency said early Saturday that the two Syrians and the Belgian national — identified as Ahmet D. — were detained near the Turkish coastal city of Antalya. It says they were detained on suspicion of “aiding and abetting” the Islamic State group.

The private Dogan news agency identified the Belgian as Ahmet Dahmani, said he is suspected of having explored areas in Paris that were attacked last week.

Dogan said Dahmani was detained in a police raid at his hotel. Officials could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Belgium’s national Crisis Center has raised its terrorism alert to its highest level in the Brussels region. The center announced on its website it had elevated the threat to Level 4, which indicates a “serious and immediate threat.”

The Belgian capital was home to the suspected organizer of the Paris terror attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. It also is the seat of the Belgian federal government and the headquarters of two major international institutions, the European Union and NATO.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.