6 arrested in Belgium and 1 in Paris as anti-terror police launch raids - UPDATED

Baku. 25 March. REPORT.AZ/ Seven people have been arrested in Belgium and Paris after masked anti-terror police carried out a string of raids across Europe in connection with the Brussels massacres and a new terror plot, Report informs referring to the Daily Mail.

Armed police swooped on properties in the Schaerbeek and Jette districts of Brussels and arrested a total of six people, who are thought to be connected to Tuesday's airport and Metro bombings.

Gunfire, grenades and explosions were all reportedly heard as police conducted the raids on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, a Frenchman was arrested during an anti-terror raid in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteuil over a planned terrorist attack which was in the 'advanced stages', officials said.

***10:27

Police in Brussels have made six arrests following Tuesday’s airport and metro suicide bombings, after a day in which two Belgian government ministers offered to resign amid mounting criticism of the country’s failure to foil the attacks, Report informs referring to The Guardian.

With prosecutors releasing more evidence that the attacks were carried out by the same Islamic State network responsible for November’s carnage in Paris and two suspects still believed to be on the run, several police raids were carried out across Brussels on Thursday evening.

The operation involving Swat teams and armoured cars with helicopter support began soon after 9pm. RTBF, the state broadcaster, cited police sources as saying it had targeted “people suspected of taking part in the attacks” that killed at least 31 people and injured 300.

Federal prosecutors confirmed six unidentified people were arrested, including three who were detained outside the prosecutors’ own office in the centre of Brussels.

Two others were arrested in the Belgian capital, and one person was arrested in Jette, on the city’s outskirts.