9th suspect in Paris terror attacks arrested in Belgium

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Belgian authorities have announced the arrest of a ninth suspect linked to last month's Paris attacks, a man they said had been in contact with the suspected ringleader's cousin.

The Belgian federal prosecutor's office said the suspect, whose full name was not disclosed but who was referred to as Abdoullah C, was being held on charges of taking part in a terrorist group and terrorist murders.

His arrest took place Tuesday, the prosecutor's office said.

It said the suspect, a Belgian citizen born in 1985, had been in contact several times with Hasna Ait Boulahcen following the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, in which 130 people died.

Both Ait Boulahcen and her cousin Abdelhamid Abaooud, the attacks' suspected ringleader, were killed when French police besieged their hideout north of Paris.

On Monday, five people were held by Belgian police in several searches around Brussels, but all of them were released the same day, according to the Reuters news agency.