Two days after bomb attacks in Brussels killed at least 30 people and injured hundreds, a security guard who worked at a Belgian nuclear plant has been murdered and his pass stolen, Belgian media reports.

The French language Derniere Heure (DH) newspaper reported the security guard’s badge was de-activated as soon as it was discovered he had been shot dead in the Charleroi region of Belgium and his badge stolen.

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A police spokeswoman said on Saturday she could not comment because an investigation was ongoing.

In a nation on high alert following this week’s attacks at the airport and on a packed metro, the report stokes fears about the possibility militants are seeking to get hold of nuclear material or planning to attack a nuclear site.

On Thursday, DH had reported the suicide bombers who blew themselves up on Tuesday originally considered targeting a nuclear site, but a series of arrests of suspect militants forced them to speed up their plans and instead switch focus to the Belgian capital.

Late last year, investigators found a video tracking the movements of a man linked to the country’s nuclear industry during a search of a flat as part of investigations into the Islamist militant attack on Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.

The video, lasting several hours, showed footage of the entrance to a home in northern Belgium and the arrival and departure of the director of Belgium’s nuclear research program.