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Belgium's law enforcement have detained three people suspected of plotting an strike on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors described the suspected plot as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and fellow politicians.

During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the prime minister's home, authorities uncovered a alleged improvised explosive device and proof that the suspects were intending to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the intended targets of the strike were not officially named by the legal authorities, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was one of them.

"Information of a premeditated attack aimed at PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the official declared in a update on X on the day of the arrests.

"This underscores that we are confronting a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he added.

The three people arrested on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a extremist organization all live in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.

By late Thursday, one suspect was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and expected to appear in court on the following day.

Federal prosecutors said that the individuals were detained after a judge authorized raids of their homes in the urban area by police officers backed by explosives-trained dogs.

In the course of these searches that they discovered a device which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on the day of the events.

Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she added.

Fransen said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in the country this year - more than the total number of investigations in last year.

During the spring, five people were sentenced for a 2023 plot to attack the prime minister while he was serving as the city's chief executive.