Belgium questions 15 over foiled plot to murder police

Two of those under arrest were seized in France, but state prosecutors said they had no evidence of a link between the Belgians and extremists who killed 17 people in Paris last week at a Jewish store and satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

With security tightened across Europe, and other arrests in France and also in Germany yesterday, a man with a military weapon took hostages at a post office near Paris. The incident, which ended with his surrender, unfolded after US secretary of state John Kerry arrived in the city to offer US solidarity in combating militants.

In Belgium, Prime Minister Charles Michel urged people not to panic, saying authorities believed their actions had thwarted any imminent attack. Home to half a million Muslims, or 5 percent of the population, Belgium believes some 300 citizens have fought in Syria – the highest rate per head in Europe.

Security was tight at public buildings in the capital and at police stations. The army provided 150 troops to bolster police, who were instructed not to patrol alone. At the Verviers apartment where the two still unidentified gunmen died, security forces found police uniforms and four AK-47s.

Officials declined to comment on reports of threats to behead a policeman but said the targets were all over the country.

“This group was on the point of carrying out terrorist attacks aiming to kill police officers in the streets and in police stations,” state prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference. They were set to act “in the next hours or days”.

Of the 15 people detained, one had been with the dead gunmen in Verviers, a town near the German border, and two were held in France at Belgium’s request.

The other 12 were seized around Brussels, most in the Molenbeek quarter, home to many descendants of North African immigrants.

A government plan to combat radicalisation and violence by those returning from Syria includes a move to strip those coming back of travel documents, as well as measures to improve intelligence and persuade people to forsake militant groups.

In Verviers, Muslims attending weekly prayers distanced themselves from militants but had few ideas of how to combat the radicalisation of disenchanted young men.

“Who can defend against this? Who can defend against youngsters who in some weeks, some months become radicalised?” asked local mosque imam Franck Hensch. “The internet is the main source of radicalisation.”

Belgian officials say their investigation into the group began several weeks ago, before the Charlie Hebdo bloodshed, and they believe the cell was acting without international links.

Separately, Belgian investigators have been interrogating a man suspected of supplying weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, the Frenchman who killed hostages last week at a Jewish grocery.

A former Belgian counterterrorism chief told RTBF radio that the Paris attacks may have accelerated the timing of the arrests: “Paris may have speeded things up,” said Andre Jacob. – Reuters