Counter-terrorism operations conducted in Belgium and Germany

Police in Belgium and Germany carried out raids on 16 February in connection to different terrorism investigations. The security forces in Belgium detained 10 people on suspicion of having links to an ISIS recruitment network. Houses were searched on the outskirts of the capital, Brussels, and items including computers and phones seized. In Germany, police confirmed that searches had been conducted in the northern city of Bremen. The focus of the searches was an Islamic cultural centre, which was subsequently closed down. The apartments of 12 of its members were raided over suspicion of their association with Islamist extremists. 

Ten people have been detained for questioning.

LONDON — -- Police in Belgium and Germany carried out raids today in connection to different terrorism investigations.

Ten people were detained for questioning in Belgium, the country's federal prosecutor’s office confirmed in a statement, on suspicion of links to an Islamic State recruiting network.

Nine houses were searched in at least four suburbs of Brussels, where computer material and cellphones were seized, the statement added. A judge will decide later today whether to charge the detained individuals.

Meanwhile, German police confirmed that house searches were conducted in the northern city of Bremen on suspicion of links to a Salafist (ultra conservative Islamic) group.

Bild, a German newspaper, reported that the group in question had been spreading propaganda material and recruiting in refugee centers in Germany.

A news conference was scheduled for later today at the German Interior Ministry regarding the raids.