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Belgian authorities have arrested three individuals suspected of conspiring to carry out an assault on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities labeled the alleged scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and additional politicians.

During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the prime minister's personal dwelling, authorities uncovered a potential homemade bomb and evidence that the suspects were intending to employ a UAV.

While the prospective targets of the assault were not officially named by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was among them.

"Information of a planned strike aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot stated in a update on X on Thursday.

"This underscores that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.

The three people taken into custody on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all are based in Antwerp, as stated by the legal authorities. They were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007.

On the evening of the arrests, one suspect was let go, while two others were under interrogation and likely to appear in court on Friday.

Federal prosecutors revealed that the suspects were taken into custody after a magistrate authorized raids of their residences in the location by police officers backed by explosives-trained dogs.

It was during these investigations that they found a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on that day.

Searches also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she noted.

The prosecutor disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the nation so far this year - surpassing the overall count of cases in last year.

During the spring, five people were sentenced for a previous year's plan to target Belgium's leader while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.