Anti-terror raid in Belgian town centre 'leaves three dead after 10-minute gun battle'

• Official says that the police anti-terror raid is 'jihadist-related'
• Men targeted were under surveillance having returned from Syria last week
• Comes after investigators said they were probing local arms dealer
• He is believed to have sold weapons to deli killer Amedy Coulibaly

By Peter Allen and Damien Gayle for MailOnline and Reuters

Up to three people were killed by police during a ‘jihadi-related’ anti-terror raid tonight in the Belgian town of Verviers.

Shots and explosions were heard, including machine gun fire, as officers moved against an alleged cell in the eastern town, which is some 70 miles from Brussels.

It follows three days of violence in nearby France, which left 20 people dead, including three Islamic State and Al Qaeda linked terrorists.

Hooded commandos were seen in Verviers, near Liege, shortly before 6pm, and according to Belgian prosecutors they were trying to arrest Islamic extremists newly returned from fighting in Syria.

'An operation is under way,' a source in the mayor's office told AFP without giving further details.
Another official separately told the agency the incident was 'jihadist-related'.

Beyond the dead – who number two or three – a ‘number of people were also arrested,’ said the local judicial source.

The worst violence was witnessed around the town station, with the situation ‘under control by 7pm,’ according to the same source.

One witness said: ‘There were police announcements to clear the area around six o’clock. We could see lots of police vehicles, and officers in balaclavas.

‘Most of the police vehicles were in Rue du College, and there were clearly anti-terrorist officers on the street. There were three of four explosions, and then continual gunfire. It was terrifying, but the police brought the situation under control.’

A video purporting to show the raid on Rue de la Colline, just around the corner from Verviers-Palais railway station, showed a burning residential property with silhouettes moving around inside.

The crack of repeated single-shot gunfire can be heard throughout the minute-and-a-half long clip, which has not yet been verified.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2912037/Anti-terror-raid-Belgian-town-centre-leaves-three-dead.html