Suspects arrested in France
The male suspect had two hostages and the city’s office of the prosecutor released a brief statement to media saying they ccould not “…confirm or deny whether it is linked to terrorism.” They did not give further details.
Other reports said the hostage-drama was not related to the attack last week on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. But it remains unknown if it was an incident otherwise related to terrorism.
Overnight in France 12 persons were taken into custody police said, many of them on suspicion of having aided the terrorists who attacked Charlie Hebdo and the man who shot a police officer dead and then shot four others at a Jewish market. In total, including the three attackers, 20 people died.
Islamist extremists in Europe
Meanwhile, police in Belgium had a gun-battle with suspected Islamist extremists while they were conducting raids on suspects, some of whom, they say, returned from fighting for ISIS in Syria and were believed to be planning attacks on police in that country. Police killed two suspects and wounded another in the city of Verviers.
No police or civilians were hurt.
The Belgium police are said to have arrested a total of 13 persons in those raids in Verviers, Brussels and at least one other city in that country. They also had two suspects in France arrested believe connected to planned attacks.
In Germany police there, too, made arrests. They arrested two on suspicion of recruiting fighters for ISIS. Those arrests were part of an ongoing investigation and they have no reports of imminent attacks in Germany.
And there are reports of a bomb threat on the Gare l’Est train station in Paris and that the station has been evacuated. Many countries in Europe are on alert as police seek to thwart potential attacks.
