Two people have been killed in an anti-terror Raid at Verviers in eastern Belgium, a town situated between Liege and the German border.
[fwdevp preset_id=”8″ video_path=”tXBdnKF0YAM”]Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told reporters in Brussels today that the suspects were on the verge of committing a major terrorist attack, and that they immediately opened fire on security forces.
He said at emergency news conference that anti-terrorist raids are under way in the Brussels region and Verviers.
He said Belgium’s terror alert level was raised to its second highest level.
The raid was part of an investigation into extremists returning from Syria.
Belgian authorities are looking into possible links to attacks in neighbouring France last week that killed 20 people, including three gunmen who attacked satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and police.
Witnesses speaking on Belgium’s RTBF radio described a series of explosions followed by rapid fire at the centre of Verviers, near a bakery and in the area of the train station. Video posted online of what appeared to be the raid showed a dark view of a building amid blasts, gunshots and sirens, and a fire with smoke billowing up.
Agencies/Canadajournal