The Belgian state broadcaster reported that a number of explosive blasts were heard during ongoing police raids in the Brussels district in an operation that has resulted in the arrest of a number of suspects.
The initial blasts were reportedly heard in the suburb of Schaerbeek which is the same district where police found explosives and an Islamic State flag in a flat reportedly used by the culprits of the terrorist atrocities in Brussels that occurred on 22 March. News of the explosions came from the Associated Press and followed the announcement that police had arrested six people after investigations into the recent bombings at the airport and the Maelbeek metro station.
Now, a fresh series of three additional raids are said to have been conducted in the areas of Saint Gilles, Rue de Belgrade and Avenue Rogier, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor and as reported by ABCNews. The prosecutor said the arrests were related to a recent police raid in France that resulted in the capture of Reda Kriket, 34, a man linked to the so-called ringleader of the Paris attacks last November. Kriket is believed to have been involved in the recruitment of Islamic State-inspired jihadists.
The bus shelter capture
According to the BBC, one of the unnamed suspects was injured and shot as police attempted to arrest him. The man, the report claimed, has now been arrested and suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Indeed, video quickly emerged online that appeared to be taken from a mobile phone that showed the man in question being dragged from the scene by armed police.
Meanwhile, separate arrests in relation to the Brussels bombings have been made in Germany, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. The report said one of the men arrested recieved a number of mobile phone messages shortly before the terrorist attack that included the name Khalid El Bakraoui - the man Belgian police said blew himself up in the Brussels metro station.
We will not be intimidated
US Secretary of State John Kerry has vowed that the world will not rest in the fight against the Islamic State (Isis) as he arrived in Brussels for counter-terrorism talks. United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us, including Americans, and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks, he said after speaking with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
We – all of us representing countless nationalities – have a message for those who inspired or carried out the attacks here or in Paris, or Ankara, or Tunis, or San Bernardino, or elsewhere: We will not be intimidated, he said. We will not be deterred. We will come back with greater resolve, with greater strength and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of the Earth.
More to follow...
