The two suspected Islamist radicals killed by the counter-terrorism unit in a gunbattle in Belgium's Verviers town were mere 'hours away' from carrying out a deadly attack on police facilities in the town.
"They were on the verge of committing important terror attacks," said federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt in Brussels.
The two suspects killed in the gunbattle with the counter-terrorism forces were trained in Syria and had sneaked back into the country to carry-out terror activities in the country. Belgian authorities said that even though the investigations had been on for over a week, the counter-terrorism units were able to get the location just in time to thwart the terror plot.
The Belgian authorities had confirmed 'intel' that the jihadi returnees were planning an imminent attack in the city.
Belgium Verviers Suspects Well-Trained and Well-Armed
The official investigators said that as in the case of Charlie Hebdo, the Belgium Verviers suspects too "were extremely well-armed men" equipped with automatic weapons.
However, unlike the Paris shooting suspects, who targeted unarmed members of the magazine, the Belgium terror suspects were planning to carry out a deadly attack on police facilities in the town.
In the raid in Verviers, the police recovered four Kalashnikov, bomb-making equipment and police uniforms, according to local media.
