Five charged with terrorism after Belgium raids

Officials claim they had averted “imminent” large-scale attacks on police targets after raiding a terror cell

Belgian authorities charged five people with "participating in the activities of a terrorist group" following a series of raids to foil imminent attacks, the prosecutor's office said Friday.

In Belgium, officials said they had averted “imminent” large-scale attacks on police targets on Thursday after raiding a terror cell in the eastern town of Verviers, near the German border, whose members had recently come back from Syria.

Police shot dead the two suspects in a gun battle after they opened fire on officers with heavy weapons, and arrested a third man, while there were several search operations in Brussels and its suburbs.

Prime Minister Charles Michel raised Belgium’s terror alert to its second highest level, security was tightened and Jewish schools in the port city of Antwerp closed Friday due to fears of further trouble.

The raid and a series of related search operations across Belgium were now “over” but authorities were now seeking to “exploit the information” they had obtained, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said.

“The threat was to the police forces,” he said of the planned attacks.