French Raids Foil Planned Terror Attack–Brussels Police Arrest 6

Brussels_Metro_Police_160323_KS_31x13_1600
AP Photo

In an article from ABC News:

Six people have been arrested in a large police operation in Brussels, a Belgian prosecutor said Thursday night, as two suspects in the deadly Brussels bombings remain on the loose.

The six arrested were detained for questioning, a Belgian prosecutor said in a statement. The decision of whether to charge them is expected to be made tomorrow.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon tweeted earlier in the evening that five people had been arrested.

Several houses were searched in Brussels, Schaerbeek and Jette, the prosecutor said. The police raids were conducted in connection with the Brussels terror attack investigation.

News of the raid came shortly after raids in northwest Paris foiled a planned attack, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The French plot was at the “advanced stage” of preparation and was discovered after a French national — described as being at a “high level” in the plot — was arrested this morning, Cazeneuve said.

There did not appear to be links “at this stage” between the plot foiled in France and the Paris or Brussels attacks, he added, saying the arrest is the result of weeks of investigation and the individual was involved in a “terror network” that planned to strike.

The raids in Argenteuil, about 8 miles outside of the center of Paris, were ongoing and the streets were sealed off.

Investigators are actively seeking a second suspect in the Brussels metro bombing who has been seen on surveillance camera footage inside the subway station with suicide bomber Khalid El-Bakraoui, a Belgian police source told ABC News.

That second suspect, who is unidentified, was spotted on the subway platform at the Maelbeek station with El-Bakraoui, according to police.

El-Bakraoui is thought to be dead after detonating a bomb on the subway train as it was pulling out of the station. The accomplice now being sought has yet to be identified, but police do not believe he died in the Tuesday attack.

In the other attack at the city’s international airport, Khalid El-Bakraoui’s brother, Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, was one of two alleged suicide bombers who led that attack.

You can read the rest of the story here.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.