One killed in Belgium anti-terror operation against far-right

One person was killed in Belgium Wednesday in a shootout with police during raids on a suspected extreme-right group, prosecutors said in a statement. The operation, targeting a dozen addresses around the northern city of Antwerp, was launched to counter 'the preparation of a terrorist attack'. Prosecutors said 'many weapons and ammunition' were seized in the raids. Some of the weapons were legally registered, they said. During one raid, 'an exchange of gunfire occurred between law enforcement and one of several people inside a building. This person died.' The statement gave no further details about the shootout or the targeted group. Last weekend, four Dutch suspects were arrested over what prosecutors described as a plan to kidnap Belgium's justice minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne. It was not known if that incident was linked to Wednesday's raids on addresses in Antwerp and its suburbs, the nearby village of Kasterlee and the city of Ghent. Belgian authorities have stepped up their surveillance of extreme-right suspects since the country was rocked by the case of radicalised soldier, Jurgen Conings, last year. Conings sparked a month-long manhunt after he went missing with military weapons and threatened to target state officials and a high-profile virologist. His body was later found in a forest after he shot himself dead.

One killed in Belgium anti-terror operation against far-right

The operation, targeting a dozen addresses around the northern city of Antwerp, was launched to counter "the preparation of a terrorist attack". Prosecutors said "many weapons and ammunition" were seized in the raids.