An American-born al-Qaida recruit has become one of the counter-terrorism world’s most valuable informants, giving investigators a rare look at al-Qaida’s day-to-day operations in a lawless region bordering Pakistan which US officials have struggled to infiltrate, investigators said.

POLICE detained 14 suspected al-Qaida-linked extremists in raids in Brussels and eastern Belgium, including one militant who allegedly was plotting a suicide attack.

Authorities in Belgium stepped up security after police detained 14 suspected Islamic extremists who the government said were plotting a jailbreak to free an al-Qaida prisoner convicted of planning to attack US military personnel.