Three dead in Belgium anti-terror raids,

From The Telegraph and the Express

Three people have reportedly been killed during a police counter-terrorism raid in Verviers in the east of the country.

Federal prosecutors told the Belga news agency there had been a police operation near the centre of the town but did not confirm there had been casualties. A number of people have been arrested.

“An operation is under way,” a source in the mayor’s office told AFP without giving further details, while another official said separately that it was “jihadist-related”. 

Update: Reports indicate that the gunfight followed a foiled jihadist attack on a local police station.

“A second Paris has been avoided,” a ministry of justice source told Nieuwsblad newspaper.

A local resident said: “I heard two explosions and saw two young men run away. They were between 25 and 30 years of Arab origin.” 

According to RTBF, the purpose of the operation was to check on suspected radicals – one of several being conducted against people believed to have returned to Belgium after taking part in the Syrian civil war.

Explosions were reportedly heard near the city’s station, according to Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. . . Earlier today Belgian authorities arrested a man suspect of supplying weapons to the gunmen responsible for last week’s terror attacks in Paris.