A “significant” number of Belgian Muslim population celebrate terrorist attacks, the country's Interior Minister has claimed.
Speaking to the Flemish-language newspaper De Standaard, Jan Jambon did not specifically refer to the attacks on Brussels Airport and a metro station last month which left 32 people dead but said there is a “cancer” of extremism running through Belgian society that the government is struggling to fight.
He accused Muslim residents of the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek of attacking police during an operation last month to arrest Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.
“They threw stones and bottles at police and press during the arrest of Salah Abdeslam. This is the real problem," he said, according to AFP.
“Terrorists we can pick up, remove from society. But they are just a boil. Underneath is a cancer that is much more difficult to treat. We can do it, but it won't be overnight".
Mr Jambon, a member of the right-wing Flemish party N-VA, offered to resign in response to criticism over the government’s handling of the extremist threat in the wake of the attacks.
He said the country had “for many years ignored the warning signs” of extremism.
It comes after the only suspect still at large following the attacks, Mohamed Abrini, was arrested in Brussels last week.
He was detained by police in the Anderlect area of Brussels along with several other men who are suspected of having links to the Paris attacks.
He has reportedly admitted to being the “man in the hat” spotted on CCTV fleeing the scene after his bomb failed to detonate at Brussels Airport.
