Five People in Belgium Charged with Participation in Terrorist Group

EU | January 16, 2015, Friday // 21:45|  views

A general view of the Justice Palace in Brussels. Photo: EPA

Five people were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group in Belgium on Friday.

This comes after a series of anti-terrorist raids carried out by Belgian police on Thursday evening during which two suspects were killed, the BBC reports.

The government had announced new tough measures in tackling terrorism and officials had said that the suspected Jihadists posed an imminent threat.

An official at the prosecutor's office said that three of the five charged suspects were still detained, while the other two had been conditionally released.

The remaining thirteen people, who had been arrested in the raids, were not to be prosecuted.

The news of the raids in Belgium came almost simultaneously as similar developments took place in France and Germany.

The French police announced that it had arrested twelve people suspected of participating in last week's attacks in Paris, while German officials said that two men had been detained on suspicions of planning an attack in Syria.

Europol's Director Rob Wainwright highlighted that the anti-terrorist operations revealed the complex nature of terrorist threats Europe was faced with.

Belgian authorities are not unfamiliar with the threats posed by Jihadists, as four people were killed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014.

It has been estimated that between 300 and 350 people have left Belgium to fight with Islamic groups in Syria and Iraq.

The suspects, who shot at police before being killed on Thursday, had returned from Syria.

The level of terror threat in Belgium has been raised to the second highest – three.

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Tags: Belgium, terrorism, raids, France, Germany, arrest, Europol, Rob Wainwright, europe, Syria, Iraq, jihadists

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