Al-Qaida trial opens in Belgium

BELGIUM opened the trial yesterday of 23 suspected al-Qaida collaborators, including a professional footballer who has confessed to knowing Osama bin Laden and plotting to attack a Belgian air force base.

Other accused in Europe’s latest high-profile trial of suspected Islamic militants face charges linking them to the killing of an Afghan commander days before the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Belgian authorities were taking no chances as the trial started at a tightly guarded Brussels courthouse a day after al-Qaida called for more attacks on the West.