Belgian police have arrested an Iraqi immigrant suspected of belonging to an al-Qaeda cell that carried out deadly car bombings in Baghdad in 2009-2010, prosecutors said Friday.

The prosecution said in a statement that the man, identified by the initials OYT and born in 1979, was arrested on Wednesday when police raided a house in the eastern Belgian town of Hasselt, on the order of an anti-terrorism judge.

Al-Jumaa will appear before the court on charges related to “homicide with the intent of terrorism, participation in the activities of a terrorist group, war crimes and crimes against humanity” to determine whether he will remain in detention.

The statement said he was believed to be part of an al-Qaeda cell "partially responsible for several bombings in the Green Zone in Baghdad (Iraq) in 2009 and 2010, killing at least 376 people and wounding more than 2,300 others."

He added that among the targets of the car bombs were Iraqi government buildings.

Prosecutors said that the Iraqi man had been living in Belgium since 2015 as a refugee and the investigation began in 2020.

His arrest followed the arrest on March 28 of a 38-year-old Syrian man suspected of committing "war crimes" in Syria on behalf of the Islamic State group.
The young Syrian also obtained refugee status in Belgium.