13 arrested over terror plot to kill Belgian police

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Belgian police arrested 13 people during a dozen raids overnight, smashing plot to kill police officers “in public roads and in police stations,” prosecutors said Friday, January 16. 

Two Islamist suspects were shot dead during a gun battle after one of the police raids in the eastern town of Verviers on Thursday night.

“The group was on the verge of carrying out terrorist attacks to kill police officers in public roads and in police stations,” spokesman Eric Van der Sijpt told a news conference.

Police found Kalashnikov assault rifles, explosives, ammunition and communications equipment – along with police uniforms that could have been used for the plot, he said.

Belgium will also seek the extradition of two Belgian suspects from France, although there is no link seen with last week’s Paris attacks, prosecutors told a news conference a day.

“I can confirm that we started this investigation before the attacks in Paris,” Van der Sijpt said.

The “important arrests” meant that “not only a terror cell but also their support network” have been dismantled, he added.  – Rappler.com