At least two people are dead following a terrorism raid in the town of Verviers and a third person is seriously injured according to Belgian TV.
Belgian media reports that explosions and detonations were heard in Verviers in eastern Belgium during the police assault and that several arrests were made.
The raids come just a week after gunmen killed 17 people in Paris attacks, and Belgian television channel LCI reported that the operation was linked to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four hostages in a Jewish supermarket.
“A second Paris has been avoided,” a ministry of justice source told Belgian Nieuwsblad newspaper.
A press conference by authorities in Belgium was told that the operation was carried out on men who had recently arrived back from fighting in Syria and were ‘on the verge of launching an imminent attack’.
Belgian authorities have raised the threat level in the country.
Police said that as the raid in Verviers was launched, the suspects opened fire with handguns and automatic weapons. Police investigations are ongoing.
Public radio RTBF has said that raids are also under way in Brussels, and Belgian police confirmed to the AFP news agency that the operation was “jihadist related”.
Federal prosecutors have said that there was a police operation near the centre of the town, but didn’t confirm casualties and said that the operation was ongoing, according to the Belga news agency.
Pictures posted on social media show a cross-roads sealed off, and uniformed officers standing guard. Others Twitter users warned people to stay away from the area at 5pm.
Police on street in #Verviers after operation against suspected terrorists, three reported dead pic.twitter.com/m8caxQHSvH
— roeland roovers (@r0eland) January 15, 2015
The police activity in Verviers comes after Belgian media said that a man had reported himself to police. It was later discovered that he had negotiated the sale of ammunition with Coulibaly.
In May last year, a gunman killed four people at the Jewish museum of Belgium in Brussels. Mehdi Nemmouche, a French-Algerian, was arrested in connection with the shooting. Reports at the time stated that he has fought with a radical Islamist group in Syria.
Belgium is, on a per capita basis, the largest exporter of jihadis from Europe. The country has seen a similar number leave as the UK, despite its population being significantly smaller.
Jihadi expert Pieter Van Ostaeyen has written on the Jihadology blog: “Currently, some of the third and fourth generation of these immigrants are people who live on the margins of society. The Belgium government over the last several decades never really succeeded integrating the Islamic communities.”