Belgian police carry out raids on suspected Islamist extremists: government

BRUSSELS Belgian police on Monday carried out 21 raids on targets linked to suspected Chechen Islamist extremists, the Belgian government said, with local media reporting 16 people had been detained.

The raids took place in different Belgian locations and were part of an investigation into Islamist extremism, the government added.

"I'm full of praise for the job our police and justice departments have done, which have repeatedly shown that the government is determined to combat terrorism," Prime Minister Charles Michel said in a statement.

In January, Belgian police killed two men who opened fire on them during a series of raids against an Islamist group that federal prosecutors said was about to launch "terrorist attacks on a grand scale".

(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

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