Three dead in Belgium anti-terror raid

BRUSSELS: Belgian police launched a "jihadist-related" anti-terrorism operation in the eastern town of Verviers on Thursday, with reports saying three people had been killed.

Public broadcaster RTBF reported three deaths and said explosions were heard at the scene, but there was no immediate confirmation.

The incident comes as Europe is on high alert after 17 people were killed in the Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris last week.

Another official said separately that the incident in Verviers, which is close to the German border some 125 kilometres (70 miles) from Brussels, was "jihadist-related".
In May 2014, four people were shot dead in a suspected Islamist attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Frenchman Mehdi Nemmouche, who had previously been in Syria, has been charged with murder.

The men targeted in Verviers were under surveillance having returning from Syria a week ago, Belgian media reported.

No link has been found so far between the alleged jihadist plot police foiled in Belgium on Thursday and last week´s deadly attacks in Paris, a spokesman for Belgian prosecutors said.

"No link is established at this stage with the attacks in Paris," prosecutors´ office spokesman Eric Van der Sijpt said.