Knife-wielding man arrested at Israeli embassy in Brussels

Belgian police have arrested a man whom they suspect of planning an attack against Israeli diplomats in Brussels.

The police department of Uccle, the Brussels suburb where the Israeli embassy is located, on Tuesday confirmed the Oct. 17 arrest of one man who is thought to have tried to enter the embassy while carrying a concealed knife, RTL reported.

Security personnel from the embassy handed over the suspect to local police after discovering the knife in a security check. The suspect was not named but the French-language Jewish news site lemondejuif.info reported he had converted to Islam.

He was placed in a psychiatric institution for observation after displaying erratic behavior while in custody, the RTL network also reported.

A second man, an Iranian national who also was not named, was detained by police later that day on suspicion that he gathered intelligence on the embassy. He was released shortly after police officers detained him, RTL reported. Police told RTL there was no evidence linking the Iranian to the man who allegedly tried to conceal the knife.