BRUSSELS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- A court in Brussels has sentenced five members of an Islamic extremist group to up to ten years in prison, Belgian newspapers reported Friday.

    The court ruled on Thursday that the men were members of a terrorist organization that recruits candidates for suicide attacks in Iraq. It was responsible for sending a Belgian woman to carry out a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2005.

    The stiffest sentence was given to the ring leader Bilal Soughir, a Belgian of Tunisian descent. He received a ten-year sentence. The other suspects were sentenced in absentia for 28 months to five years in prison.

    The five were believed to have aided and abetted Muriel Degauque, 38, who on Nov. 9, 2005 became the first Western woman ever to carry out a suicide bombing in Iraq.

    A day later Degauque's husband was killed by American troops in Iraq while he was allegedly wearing a suicide belt.

    The trial was subject to strict security measures, which were tightened even further following a terrorism alert in Brussels.

    Belgium has been on high alert since the end of last month when14 people were briefly detained on suspicion of planning to free an al-Qaeda supporter from prison.