Police in Europe discuss suspected terrorist plot

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Police investigators and magistrates from four European countries met in Brussels Monday to exchange information about possible terrorist attacks planned by radical Muslim extremists against U.S. facilities in Europe.

Last Thursday, six suspects -- two in Belgium and four in the Netherlands -- were arrested on charges that included attempting to destroy property with explosives.

Belgian federal police said the suspects in the two countries were connected and were affiliated with radical Muslim organizations. Police said the men were possibly trained in Pakistan, and documents recovered in raids on their homes in Europe indicated that they were planning a series of terrorist attacks on U.S. targets in Europe.

Police officials said they had the suspected terrorists under surveillance for some time.

On Monday, two French magistrates, who are specialists in terrorism, joined colleagues from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium at federal police headquarters in Brussels.

"I think this meeting today has helped European police carry out their investigations of cases beyond their own jurisdictions, so they can gain better perspective and gain better information," said prosecutor Bernard Michel. "It's like a puzzle, and, in a case like this, national frontiers are a very real problem."

"Terrorism is by definition international, and we need to piece together as much as possible of the puzzle," he said.

On Tuesday, the leaders and foreign ministers of all 15 European Union countries are scheduled to met in Brussels to discuss the international situation in the wake of last week's attacks in the United States.

EU leaders are expected to consider what measures they can take, both domestically and internationally, to fight terrorism, as well as discussing arrest procedures for terrorist suspects.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Belgian Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Arab men believed responsible for the recent assassination of Afghan rebel leader Ahmed Shah Massoud in a suicide attack traveled on Belgian passports.

Massoud led the Northern Alliance, a rebel group fighting the Taliban faction that controls most of Afghanistan. The prime suspect in the U.S. attacks, Osama bin Laden, has been living in Afghanistan as a "guest" of the Taliban. -- From CNN Correspondent Diana Muriel in Brussels