More than 100 Belgian police officers raided this week multiple addresses around Antwerp, detaining 13 people suspected of links to a jihadist group.
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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 said. "Thirteen people 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.
Its former leader, Fouad Belkacem, was sentenced in 2015 in Belgium to 12 years in prison, then stripped of his Belgian nationality in 2018.
Sharia4Belgium has been officially dissolved but Belgian law enforcement fears it could still be a source of inspiration for some Islamists.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
