Belgium: Terror sweep causes complaints

During this past week French and Belgian police conducted an anti-terrorism sweep. I think it stayed mostly out of the news.

Residents of an apartment house in Anderlecht, a Brussels suburb, are complaining about the brutal actions of police during searches in relation to Muslim terrorism. The residents lived next to a suspect and according to them on Friday the entire building was taken over by security services. A lot of damage was caused.

Police took over all floors and caused damage such as breaking in doors and breaking the banisters. The residents were shocked especially because of the "extreme violence" that was used. Police say the operation required setting u pa security parameter around the suspect's apartment.

Nine people were questioned Friday in Brussels, Nijvel and Verviers. All were set free later. The operation was a continuation of a related investigation in France.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

Four of six Muslims being held in France on suspicion of recruiting Islamist fighters for Iraq were remanded in custody yesterday, a police source said.

The men were among a group of seven men and a number of wives who were detained for questioning this week as part of a Franco-Belgian operation against a group suspected of having links with Al Qaeda.

The women and one man held in France had already been freed. Two other men were released yesterday but remained under investigation, the source said.

The six men are suspected of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation while three are additionally suspected of financing terrorism. All are French nationals.

The French Justice Ministry said on Friday that it believed a recruitment ring had been sending trainees to Egypt to learn Arabic and radical Islamic doctrine, then on to Syria, with the help of a cell in Saudi Arabia linked to Al Qaeda.

Source: The Peninsula On-Line (English)

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