Belgium Terror Raids
Story highlights
- Islamist terrorists in Belgium tied to ISIS-linked cells in Europe, source says
- Paris prosecutor's office says at least a dozen suspects were detained
Brussels (CNN)Soldiers
stood guard outside the Jewish Museum in central Brussels on Saturday,
as Belgium joined France in deploying its military alongside police to
counter the threat of potential terror attacks.
Security
has been stepped up across Europe in the wake of last week's shootings
in Paris and a sweeping Belgian counterterror operation two days ago
that left two suspects dead in the city of Verviers.
An attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last year by an accused gunman suspected of having joined ISIS in Syria left four people dead.
Soldiers
in camouflage gear and police could also be seen by the Great Synagogue
of Europe in Brussels and some roads in the area were closed to
traffic. There are reports that troops are also being deployed in
Belgium's largest city, Antwerp, to protect the Jewish district there.
Soldiers stand guard at Brussels' Jewish museum in the wake of Thursday's terror raid in eastern Belgium,
Belgium
said Friday it was putting 150 troops on standby for anti-terror
operations, following a series of police raids that authorities said had
targeted a terror cell on the brink of carrying out an attack against
police officers.
Overall, authorities made 17 arrests related to the Belgium threat -- 13 in Belgium and four at two locations in France.
Three
people remained in custody on Saturday in Belgium, the prosecutor's
office said. The rest of those arrested were released.
Meanwhile, France has deployed more than 10,000 troops alongside thousands of police officers as it responds to the deadly attacks in Paris last week, in which 17 people were killed.
A
total of 122,000 police officers, gendarmes and military personnel are
deployed across France as part of the security plan, Interior Minister
Bernard Cazeneuve said Friday.
There
are 12 people in custody in the Paris region in connection with the
investigation there, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. A
number have been arrested and then released.
Two men in their early 40s were also arrested Friday in Berlin on suspicion of links to ISIS,
police said. They did not appear to have been planning attacks in
Germany and the police operation had been planned for some weeks.
'Sleeper cells' fear
European
counterterrorism agencies are scrambling to assess the potential
terrorism threat from people with suspected links to Islamic extremists.
As many as 20 sleeper cells of
between 120 and 180 people could be ready to strike in France, Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands, a Western intelligence source told CNN.
European
Union and Middle East intelligence agencies identified an "imminent
threat" to Belgium, and possibly to the Netherlands, the source told
CNN.
"There is a tremendous amount of
concern over sleeper cells in Europe," said a Western official with
direct knowledge of the situation.
However,
the Netherlands said it was not raising its terror threat level,
currently at "substantial," the second-highest level -- where it has
been since March 2013.
"That means
there is a realistic threat, but no concrete or specific information of
an attack in the Netherlands," said Edmond Messchaert, a government
spokesman.
Buried in an unmarked grave
One
of the two gunmen who attacked France's Charlie Hebdo magazine, Said
Kouachi, was buried overnight in his hometown of Reims, France, his
lawyer, Antoine Flacaquier said Saturday.
Said
Kouachi's wife was there, but no other family members -- and there was
no imam present, Flacaquier told CNN affiliate BFM on Saturday.
Kouachi was buried in an unmarked grave, Flacaquier said.
His
brother Cherif Kouachi's widow, Izzana Kouachi, had requested that both
brothers be buried in Gennevilliers, on the outskirts of Paris.
The
Gennevilliers mayor's office told CNN that the city was obliged by law
to bury Cherif Kouachi there, as he was a resident of the city. But a
spokesman for the mayor, Jean-Francois Boye, said that it would not do
the same for Said because he lived in Reims.
Belgium: Deadly raid
The
two suspects killed in Belgium were shot during a police raid on a
building in the eastern city of Verviers on Thursday, Belgian
authorities said. A third suspect was injured and taken into custody in
the operation. Authorities have not yet confirmed their identities.
Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said Friday that 13 people were arrested in a dozen ensuing anti-terror raids overnight.
"This
group for what we know now was specifically targeting Belgium police
and planned to kill Belgium police on the streets or in buildings where
Belgium police is housed," he told CNN.
"We
always have to take into account that there is a possibility that
people who go to Syria and come back have plans to commit terrorist
attacks. When possible, we try to monitor and we try to follow up these
people and especially those who we think could be a threat, but like I
said, a zero threat is impossible."
He said the Belgian authorities were already doing all they could to manage the threat.
The
suspected terror cell, which included people returning from Syria,
planned to target police officers, Van Der Sypt said. Police said they
recovered weapons, bomb-making materials and police uniforms.
Two
people suspected of involvement with the alleged terror cell in
Verviers were detained trying to cross from France into Italy through
the Frejus tunnel, a spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutor's office
said.
Following up on Paris attacks
The attacks in Paris began on January 7, when Said and Cherif Kouachi raided Charlie Hebdo magazine, killing 12 people.
A day later, gunman Amedy Coulibaly -- who purportedly was affiliated with ISIS -- shot a policewoman in the south of Paris.
Coulibaly
killed four more people he had held hostage at a kosher supermarket.
Police shot him and the Kouachi brothers dead on January 9.
Security officials have since been working to track those with links to the three attackers.
Sectarian
turmoil in Yemen is bolstering al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's
(AQAP) local recruitment, and buying it space for attacks against the
West, according to one Western diplomat.
Ties to militants
ISIS, the extremist Islamist group that controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, may present an even greater threat.
Officials are monitoring groups of men who have returned from fighting in Syria.
It
is believed ISIS directed operatives to return to Europe to launch
attacks in retaliation for airstrikes against the terror group in Syria
and Iraq, according to the official.
Several
European nations, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and the
Netherlands, are participating in the air campaign against ISIS in
Iraq.
ISIS runs large training facilities in Syria, has deep pockets, and access to thousands of potential European recruits.
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