More than 100 Belgian police have raided multiple addresses around the port city of Antwerp, detaining 13 people suspected of links to a jihadist group.
The operation was launched under the authority of anti-terror magistrates as part of a broader investigation, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
“An Antwerp group within the Salafist jihadist milieu has come under scrutiny and the aim of this operation was to further map out the group’s activities,” it says.
“Thirteen people were deprived of their liberty and will appear in the course of the day before the investigating judge, who will decide on a possible arrest.”
The Belgian cities of Brussels and Antwerp have been singled out in the past as alleged rear bases for international jihadist extremism.
Antwerp was the base of the jihad group Sharia4Belgium, which was founded in 2010, and several of its members went on to fight for hardline groups in Syria.
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