Belgian police detains 14-year-old for possessing explosives

A 14-year-old boy has been detained here after the police found a bottle of explosives in his backpack, the Brussels public persecutor's office said on Wednesday.

The boy, and three of his peers, were found playing with fire at a construction site in the Brussels district of Molenbeek around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and were taken in for questioning by the police, according to Ine Van Wymersch, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

In addition to the bottle, the police later found similar explosive materials in the boy's bedroom, and learned that he had been watching online videos on how to make bombs.

The boy explained to the prosecutor that he was trying to reenact something that he saw in video games.

The spokeswoman denied that the incident had any terrorist link.

"These are products that are freely available on the market in any do-it-yourself store. The young man shows no sign of radicalisation and had, in his own words, no terrorist intentions," she said.

The boy, however, will be placed in a juvenile detention facility, while the investigation continues. The three other teenagers have been released. Enditem