TWO SUSPECTED ISLAMISTS MILLITANT WERE KILLE

  Belgium is on high alert after a major anti-terror raid in which two suspected Islamist militants were killed. The suspects were shot dead in the eastern town of Verviers after they opened fire on police with automatic weapons on Thursday evening.

                                                  

police carrying the dead bodies of suspected terrorists

             Officials said they had returned from Syria and planned attacks on police targets. Anti-terror raids also took place late on Thursday in the capital Brussels and surrounding towns, including Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Anderlecht and Schaerbeek.

Earlier that day, two suspected Islamists were arrested in the Brussels suburb of Zaventem, Belgian media reported, Belgian officials say more than 300 people have left Belgium to fight with Islamic militant groups in Syria and Iraq.

Belgian journalist Mark Eeckhaut told the BBC the suspects in Verviers had wanted to attack a police station and cause a large number of casualties.

              

                                           

                  Eyewitnesses reported hearing heavy gunfire for several minutes and at least three explosions.

               Marylou Fletcher, one of the witnesses said: "We were going back from shopping and saw the police cars. We thought there was an accident then we heard something blowing up. There were a lot of gunshots.

"My children cried. They are just terrified.”

             Verviers is in the province of Liege, close to the German border, and has a population of about 56,000.