Police have conducted new raids in Brussels in an operation a local official said was linked to both the attacks in Belgian capital and to the arrest in Paris of a man who may have been plotting a new attack in France. Three people were detained, two of them shot in the leg, the federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels said following the raids on Friday.
Belgium’s state broadcaster RTBF said one person who was detained was carrying a bag of explosive materials. The operation was conducted in the Schaerbeek district as well as the Forest and Saint-Gilles neighbourhoods. Schaerbeek was also raided Thursday night, and six people were initially detained for questioning, before three of them were eventually released.
Schaerbeek district Mayor Bernard Clerfayt told RTBF that the raids were linked to the Brussels attacks and Thursday’s detention of Reda Kriket, a man in France who was convicted in absentia of “terrorist activities” last year. At least two explosions were heard in Schaerbeek at the start of the operation on Friday.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from the Schaerbeek, said the explosions he heard during the raid were consistent with the sound of stun grenades, usually used by police during raids. Images captured by Al Jazeera in Schaerbeek showed armed police officials and security personnel donning special suits crowding near Place General Meiser, an area with mixed residential and business establishments.
