Jewish schools in Brussels and Antwerp were closed Friday due to the heightened terror threat against sensitive targets, one day after the Belgian police conducted a wide anti-terror operation targeting jihadists who have returned from Syria.
A suspected jihadist group targeted in a major anti-terror raid on Thursday had been planning to kill policemen in the street and at police stations, Belgian prosecutors revealed. The planned attacks were imminent, they said, adding that two suspects shot dead in Verviers during the raids were still being identified. Thirteen suspects have been arrested, while two more were arrested in France.
Belgian Federal Prosecutor Thierry Werts could not confirm that everyone in the jihadist group had been arrested. No link had been established with last week's attacks in Paris, Mr Van Der Sypt said, adding that Belgium would seek the extradition of the two suspects in France. It was revealed that the investigation was already ongoing before the attacks in Paris.
Following the operation, the Belgium's government has announced tough new measures to tackle terrorism. New measures would include: making travelling abroad for terrorist activists punishable by law, expanding the cases where Belgian citizenship can be revoked (for dual nationals) for those thought to pose a terror risk, calling in the army to boost security when necessary, freezing the assets of those financing terrorism and measures to tackle radicalisation in prisons.
According to Belgian officials more than 300 people have left Belgium to fight with Islamic militant groups in Syria and Iraq. The country is thought to have the highest number of foreign fighters per capita in Europe who have taken part in fighting in Syria. The suspects shot dead on Thursday had returned from the country, police said.
