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Fifteen detained after Belgian police kill Islamist gunmen
Source: Reuters
Fifteen detained after Belgian police kill Islamist gunmen
BY PHILIP BLENKINSOP AND ROBERT-JAN BARTUNEK
BRUSSELS/VERVIERS Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:32am EST
(Reuters) - Belgian police were questioning 13 suspects on Friday detained during raids against an Islamist group they feared planned to attack police and two other people were held in France, state prosecutors said.
A spokesman told a news conference there was still no apparent link to last week's Islamist attacks in Paris and the identities of two gunmen killed during one of the raids on Thursday, in the eastern town of Verviers, had yet to be confirmed.
As well as guns, including four AK-47 assault rifles, and explosives, police uniforms were found in the apartment at Verviers, spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said, adding: "This group was on the point of carrying out terrorist attacks aiming to kill police officers in the streets and in police stations."
Asked about a report of a plan to behead a policeman - an echo of Islamist violence elsewhere, including an attack on an off-duty soldier in London in 2013 - he declined comment. He said there had been plans for attacks across Belgium.
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BY PHILIP BLENKINSOP AND ROBERT-JAN BARTUNEK
BRUSSELS/VERVIERS Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:32am EST
(Reuters) - Belgian police were questioning 13 suspects on Friday detained during raids against an Islamist group they feared planned to attack police and two other people were held in France, state prosecutors said.
A spokesman told a news conference there was still no apparent link to last week's Islamist attacks in Paris and the identities of two gunmen killed during one of the raids on Thursday, in the eastern town of Verviers, had yet to be confirmed.
As well as guns, including four AK-47 assault rifles, and explosives, police uniforms were found in the apartment at Verviers, spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said, adding: "This group was on the point of carrying out terrorist attacks aiming to kill police officers in the streets and in police stations."
Asked about a report of a plan to behead a policeman - an echo of Islamist violence elsewhere, including an attack on an off-duty soldier in London in 2013 - he declined comment. He said there had been plans for attacks across Belgium.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/16/us-belgium-security-arrests-idUSKBN0KP11O20150116
