PARIS – Belgium’s prime minister said Wednesday that raids against suspected Islamist militants will “almost certainly continue” following police sweeps in Brussels that killed one gunmen with apparent Islamic State links.
The prospect of more police action suggests that Brussels remains a central focus of probes into November’s Paris terrorist attacks and wider confrontations against suspected militant networks based in Europe.
On Tuesday, a joint French-Belgian operation linked to the Paris investigation moved into a Brussels neighborhood, touching off armed clashes that left one suspect dead, identified by authorities as Mohamed Belkaid, a 25-year-old Algerian.
Eric Van der Sijpt, a spokesman for Belgium’s federal prosecutor, said Belkaid was found in an apartment with a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition and items including an Islamic State flag. Belkaid was in the country illegally, he added, but gave no further details.
Two other people in the apartment apparently fled during the raids in the area, known as Forest.
“Police operations [and] investigations are under way and will most certainly continue in the hours and the days ahead,” said the prime minister, Charles Michel, before a meeting of Belgium’s National Security Council. “The threat remains present.”
Another suspect was apprehended on Wednesday, Belgian media reported.
Officials believe that Brussels was a major hub for the planning of the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris, in which Islamic State-affiliated gunmen killed 130 people and injured many more at restaurants, cafes, and a concert hall.
Belgian authorities are still holding at least 10 people believed to have been involved.
One of the key suspects, the 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam, remains at large.
