Image: Julien Warnand/EPA
A ferocious exchange of gunfire took place between the Belgian police and suspected Jihadists in the eastern town of Verviers during a series of raid, which were conducted by the officials as a part of their investigations, when they accosted the two.
What followed was a bushwhack from the two and a strong strike from the police force.
With this, the police are said to have foiled a major attack, which could have happened in some hours or days.
The motive of the attackers was to kill police officers on the streets as well as in the police stations. 12 searches were conducted while 15 arrests were made by the police officials.
Image: Frank Augstein/AP
Two searches were conducted in Verviers, six in Molenbeek, a Anderlecht, one in Brussels, one in Sint-Agatha-Berchem and Liedekerke, according to RTBP.
The public broadcaster of Belgium, RTBP, quoted Eric Van der Sijpt, the Dutch spokesman of the federal prosecution as saying: “The objective of this operation was the dismantling of terrorist cell and a logistics network.” He further added that they were “about to carry out terrorist attacks and specifically kill police officers on the road and in the various police stations.”
During this raid in Verviers, the police have found various weapons – four weapons of war type AK-47 Kalashnikov, several firearms, ammunition and explosives. Police uniforms and communications equipment (GSM, walkie-talkie radios) and a high amount of money was also found and seized.
Though the investigations are still underway, the prosecution denied any connection with the attack on France.
No information on the identity of the suspects and their probable links to Syria has been told as of now.
Tags: Belgian anti-terror raid Belgium terrorist Verviers
