Authorities in Belgium say two terror suspects were killed and another was taken into custody during a raid today.
The Associated Press reports that police encountered two men armed with automatic weapons in the city of Verviers, who engaged them a gunfight:
The suspects immediately opened fire on police when they closed in on them near the city's train station, Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said in Brussels. He said there was no link at this stage to the Paris attacks, and that the raid is the result of an investigation that has been underway for a few weeks.
According to the Associated Press, the two sides exchanged gunfire on a building's upper level for "several minutes" before the two suspects were killed. Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt added that police buildings were the target of the thwarted attack, which could have taken place in a matter of hours or days. The Associated Press adds that an investigation into the plot had spanned weeks.
The one suspect who was arrested reportedly told authorities that he intended to purchase a vehicle from the wife of Amedy Coulibaly, the man killed after murdering four hostages at a market in Paris last week. Van der Sypt said that, at the moment, that is the lone connection to last week's attacks which left 17 people dead.
[via Associated Press]
