בלגיה תפרוס עוד 300 חיילים ברחובות החיילים יתפרסו באנטרוופן ובריסל בנוסף אנשי הצבא יוצבו ליד שגריריות ומוסדות האיחוד האירופי מקור :abc.net.au/news/2015-01-18/belgium-deploys-troops-after-foiling-terror-plot/6023468 Belgium has begun deploying hundreds of troops to patrol the streets after security forces smashed a suspected Islamist terrorist cell planning to kill police officers. Up to 300 soldiers will be gradually deployed in the capital Brussels and the northern city of Antwerp, which has a large Jewish population, prime minister Charles Michels office said in a statement. The mobilised troops will be armed and their primary responsibility will be to survey certain sites, and to reinforce police, the statement said. Military personnel will be stationed at locations such as the US and Israeli embassies in Brussels and NATO and EU institutions. Its very important to say that this wasnt a simple decision, but it was necessary, at a time when police are overly engaged, for the army to enter in a supporting role, defence minister Steven Vandeput told reporters. Troops will reinforce police at least until Thursday, when authorities will review the national threat level, set at three on a scale of four this week. The soldiers could also eventually be deployed to the industrial eastern city of Verviers, where early on Friday security forces killed two suspected Islamists in a huge raid on an alleged jihadist cell planning to attack police in the country. The Belgian raid came a week after Islamist attacks in and around Paris killed 17 people, rekindling fears in Europe about the threat posed by young Europeans returning home after fighting alongside extremist groups in the Middle East. Following the raid in Verviers, Belgian police arrested 13 people during a series of raids across the country, five of whom were later charged with participating in the activities of a terrorist group. Four people were also arrested in Greece on Saturday in relation to the planned attack. Anti-terror police in Athens were seeking to determine whether those arrested included a 27-year-old Belgian jihadist of Moroccan descent, the suspected mastermind of the cell. The raid came less than a year after four people were shot dead in an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A Frenchman who fought in Syria has been charged with the murders. Belgian prosecutors said there were no immediate links with last weeks Islamist attacks in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman, Frances worst attacks in half a century. French police separately arrested 12 people early on Friday and questioned them about possible logistic support they may have given to the Paris gunmen - Islamist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly, sources said.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 21:26:02 +0000
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