BRUSSELS // French, German and Belgian police arrested more than two dozen suspects in anti-terrorism raids on Friday, as European authorities rushed to thwart more attacks by people with links to extremists in the Middle East.
Thirteen people were detained in Belgium and two were arrested in France in a security sweep by Belgian police following a shootout Thursday in the eastern city of Verviers. Two suspected terrorists were killed and a third wounded in that raid on a suspected terrorist hideout.
The suspects were within hours of carrying out a plan to kill police on the street or in their offices, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said.
Security forces also found four military-style weapons including Kalashnikov assault rifles and several police uniforms in more than a dozen raids on Friday, Mr Van der Sypt said.
The authorities belive they have dismantled the core of an important terrorist cell, including the architects of the suspected plot, but more suspects could be at large, he said.
Most of those detained or killed were Belgian citizens and some had returned from Syria, but none had known connections to last week’s terror attacks in France, authorities said
The attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris left 20 people dead, including the three gunmen.
One of the Paris attackers had proclaimed allegiance to the extremist group ISIL, and French and German authorities arrested at least 14 other people on Friday suspected of links to same terror group
French prime minister Manuel Valls said on Friday that while there was no apparent operational connection between the foiled plot in Belgium and the Paris attacks, “the link that exists is the will to attack our values”.
Belgium has seen a large number of residents join extremists in Syria.
“It’s the worst affected country in Europe relative to population size,” said Peter Neumann of the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. He estimates 450 people have left Belgium to fight with extremists in Syria and that 150 of them have returned home.
Rob Wainwright, head of the police agency Europol, said foiling terror attacks had become “extremely difficult” because Europe’s 2,500-5,000 radicalised Muslim extremists had little command structure and were increasingly sophisticated.
Anxiety has grown across Europe as the hunt continues for accomplices of the three Paris gunmen. French police have said they were searching for up to six possible accomplices.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said at least 12 people were arrested in anti-terrorism raids, targeting people linked to the supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who claimed ties to ISIL. France has deployed 122,000 police and troops to protect the country, which is on high alert.
Highlighting the fears, a bomb scare forced Paris to evacuate its busy Gare de l’Est train station during the Friday morning rush hour. No bomb was found. A man also took two hostages at a post office in Colombes northwest of Paris, but police said the hostage-taker had mental issues and no links to terror.
In Berlin, police arrested two men on Friday morning on suspicion of recruiting fighters for ISIL in Syria. Prosecutors said 250 police officers participated in dawn raids on 11 residences, part of a months-old investigation into Turkish extremists.
Belgian authorties have said thay are looking for possible links between a man they arrested in the southern city of Charleroi for illegal trade in weapons and Coulibaly.
Several other countries are also involved in the hunt for possible accomplices to Coulibaly and the gunmen who attacked the newspaper, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.
A senior Iraqi intelligence official said officers warned their French counterparts two months ago that a group linked to Khorasan, an Al Qaeda-linked group in Syria, was plotting an attack in Paris.
Iraq’s prime minister had also warned in September of possible attacks in New York and Paris.
The US secretary of state John Kerry was in Paris on Friday to convey US condolences and lay wreaths to the victims at the two main sites of the attacks.
Mr Kerry’s visit came after the Obama administration apologised for not sending a higher-level delegation to Sunday’s massive rally in Paris, which drew world leaders and more than one million people to denounce terrorism.
French president Francois Hollande thanked Mr Kerry for offering his support.
“You’ve been victims yourself of an exceptional terrorist attack on September 11. You know what it means for a country,” Mr Hollande said. “Together, we must find appropriate responses.”
* Associated Press
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Jawan
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
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SPECS
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SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult