Belgium raises alert level after raid on terror suspects

Belgium has raised its national terror threat alert level following a raid on suspected terrorists on Thursday.

The government body for threat analysis has reassessed the level of vigilance in the country as a result of the sudden raid.

It has decided to upgrade the threat level to 3 on a scale of 4 after the raid in the eastern town of Verviers, in which two suspects were killed and another one detained, as well as a series of anti-terror actions in and around the capital of Brussels on Thursday

An official from the Verviers mayor office said special anti-terror units stormed a house that was suspected of containing three jihadist sympathizers, who had recently returned to Belgium from Syria.

Eyewitnesses said gunfire and explosions were heard at the scene of the raid, which took place in the center of Verviers, a city with a large Muslim population some 125 km southeast of Brussels.

A witness told La Libre newspaper: "I heard two explosions. I left and saw two young men run. They were 25 to 30 years, looked Arabic and were dressed in black and wore a hat. They walked toward the Pakistani and Afghan district."

Speaking after the armed raid in Verviers near the German border, Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutors office, confirmed reports that two people had been killed and a third injured. No civilians were wounded, he said.

According to the spokesman, the raid was part of a well-planned response to information that a terrorist cell in the country was plotting "major terrorist attacks." The cell is believed to comprise mainly people who had recently returned from Syria.

The men targeted in Verviers had been under surveillance since their return from Syria a week ago and were believed to be about to launch an attack, prosecutors said, adding that they had yet to find links between the killed and the Paris attacks last week.

Meanwhile, raids were also carried out in other areas in and around Brussels, like Zaventem, Schaerbeek and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, said Van Der Sypt.

"Specialized Belgian terrorism units have conducted a total of a dozen raids in the districts of Verviers, Brussels and Halle-Vilvoorde."

An armed man was arrested in the Brussels underground on the same day. According to media reports, the man was shouting "Allahu akbar!" ("God is great!") at the time of his arrest. Another man was arrested at Zaventem Airport in a suburb of Brussels.

The police said that search operations were still under way after the raids and that new arrests are expected.

Leaders of the country's Jewish community decided to cancel classes and close schools Friday in Antwerp and Brussels after they were informed by the authorities that they were potential targets.

The government has said that as many as 325 people have left the country to fight with the Islamic State and other groups in Iraq and Syria, giving Belgium the highest per capita number of residents becoming jihadists in Europe.

In May 2014, a suspected Islamist shot four people dead at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. The killer, who had been in Syria, has been charged with murder. 
  Xinhua - china.org.cn
16/1/15
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