Belgium Arrests 13 in Anti-terror Raids

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Belgian police officers guard a street in Verviers, Belgium, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015.
Belgian police officers guard a street in Verviers, Belgium, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015.

Belgian prosecutors say they have arrested 13 people in a series of raids across the country, saying the suspects are believed to have been members of an Islamic group planning attacks on police officers.

Officials told reporters Friday there is no apparent link to last week’s terror attacks in Paris. However, two suspects were arrested in France in addition to the 13 in Belgium.

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Prosecutors said they found an assortment of automatic and small firearms, explosives and police uniforms in an apartment in the city of Verviers, close to the German border.

They said two gunmen were killed during the raids Thursday, but their identities have not yet been confirmed.

The suspects opened fire as police closed in. The gunfight lasted several minutes, filling the air with smoke, gunshots and sirens. No police were wounded.

Police carried out other searches in several other locations around Belgium, including Brussels.

Authorities believe some of the extremists had returned to Belgium from Syria.

While the latest arrests do not appear to be linked to the Paris attacks, Belgian police say a man they arrested earlier Thursday is suspected of supplying weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people in a Paris kosher supermarket.

Officials have raised the terror threat in Belgium to the third of four levels.

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20 COMMENTS

  1. I see sen. Ted Cruz is filing a bill to ban Islamic State jihadis from returning to the US after their slaughter fun in Syria. I guess we must legislate common sense.
    I'm really beginning to believe that it's over for Europe. About 10% of France is pining for shariah, ditto the rest of the obsessive multiculturalists.
    However, good for Belgium, for putting aside the opprobrium for the Geert Wilders's, and preemptively rooting the dirt bags out for once.

    • And maybe congress will pass a bill to ban Christian US military personnel fro returning to the US after their slaughter and fun in Syria,Yemen,Ukraine,Iraq,afghanistan,Pakistan. On the same day that those 17 people were killed in Paris,about 50 people were killed in Syria by US bombs.there will be more blowbacks the longer we kill people in the middle east.

      • you just don't get it,Blue. avakian is a communist. there is nothing about communism that appeals to me. truth be told,the original neo-conservatives were disillusioned reds and trotskyites.

  2. Although it should be one of Europe's highlight this week, wonder what our WW2 vets thoughts of watching their sacrifices for democracy dying out now. Hideo Arakawa, Kenji Ego, Isamu Furuya, Hiram Hagiwara, Masayuki Higa, Mitsuo Honda, Michael Ide, Robert Kishinami, Harry Kiyabu, Yoshikatsu Maruo, Blake Mitani, Jack Seitoku Nakamura, Frank Nomura, Ronald Oba, Charles Okazaki, Takashi Okemura, Stanley Sakuma, Ronald Sakai, Takayuki Sasaki, Robert Tomiya Sato, Satoru Shikasho, Kazuto Shimizu, Leighton Goro Sumida, Masaharu Suzuki, Isamu Takayesu, Kiyoshi Denis Teraoka, Yoshio Teruya, Kazuo Tomasa, Ralph Tomei, Rikio Tsuda, Tetsuji Umetsu, Tajiro Uranaka, Shiroku Yamamoto and James Yanagida. received the Légion d’Honneur at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. https://khon2.com/2015/01/23/dozens-of-nisei-veter

  3. Although it should be one of Europe's highlight this week, wonder what our WW2 vets thoughts of watching their sacrifices for democracy dying out now. Hideo Arakawa, Kenji Ego, Isamu Furuya, Hiram Hagiwara, Masayuki Higa, Mitsuo Honda, Michael Ide, Robert Kishinami, Harry Kiyabu, Yoshikatsu Maruo, Blake Mitani, Jack Seitoku Nakamura, Frank Nomura, Ronald Oba, Charles Okazaki, Takashi Okemura, Stanley Sakuma, Ronald Sakai, Takayuki Sasaki, Robert Tomiya Sato, Satoru Shikasho, Kazuto Shimizu, Leighton Goro Sumida, Masaharu Suzuki, Isamu Takayesu, Kiyoshi Denis Teraoka, Yoshio Teruya, Kazuo Tomasa, Ralph Tomei, Rikio Tsuda, Tetsuji Umetsu, Tajiro Uranaka, Shiroku Yamamoto and James Yanagida. received the Légion d’Honneur at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. https://khon2.com/2015/01/23/dozens-of-nisei-veter

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