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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.
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Show all 30 1 /30In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A private security guard helps a wounded women outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Wounded people receive assistance by rescuers outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Rescue workers treat victims outside the Maelbeek underground station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Passengers waiting to be evacuated from the train between Arts-Lois and Maelbeek
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency services and police work around a metro station after an explosion in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Rescue teams evacuate wounded people outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A woman is evacuated in an ambulance by emergency services after a explosion in a main metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A Belgian soldier stands guard outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels after a blast at this station located near the EU institutions
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian police officers stand outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian policemen and a soldier carrying an injured person after an explosion at the Maelbeek Metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A view of the train after the explosion in Maelbeek station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station People receive treatment as emergency services attend the scene after an explosion in a main metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Maelbeek Metro station after an explosion on a train in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Passengers walk on underground metro tracks to be evacuated after an explosion at Maelbeek train station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A victim receives first aid by rescuers, near Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Firefighters arrive at the scene near Maalbeek metro station
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency workers arrive at a security perimeter set near Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency rescue workers stretcher an unidentified person at the site of an explosion at a metro station in Brussels
AP
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Police seal off the area at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels
Reuters
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency personnel are seen at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency personnel are seen at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels
Reuters
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian police and emergency staff arriving in the Wetstraat - Rue de la Loi, which has been evacuated after an explosion at the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Smoke rising from the Maalbeek underground, in Brussels, following a blast at the station close to the capital's European quarter
Getty Images
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station People are evacuated from the Schuman station in Brussels
In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station The scene outside the Maalbeek underground in Brussels after the explosion
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.
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