VERVIERS, Belgium, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Two people were killed Thursday while police conducted an anti-terrorism operation in eastern Belgium.
In a press conference Thursday, Belgium's federal prosecutor reported that suspects opened fire in Verviers as police conducted their raid, and they were "neutralized."
The raid was conducted in coordination with 10 search warrants executed throughout the country. Searches were taking place in Molenbeek, Brussels and Vilvorde, a federal official told ABC News.
The group police confronted in Verviers is believed to have links to the Islamic State and was said to be planning "imminent" attacks in Belgium.
"The group was about to carry out major terrorist attacks in Belgium," said federal prosecutor spokesman Eric Van der Sypt, who described the threat as "imminent."
The deadly raid was about 70 miles from Brussels. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that several of the suspects had recently returned from Syria, where Islamic extremists and others have been at war with the Bashar Al Assad regime. The group was under orders to launch attacks in Europe.
Van der Sypt said the two were killed when police conducted the raid, and a third was in custody and badly injured. Witnesses reported hearing automatic weapons fire and several explosions.
The federal prosecutor said the alleged terrorists had what he described as "war weapons" and "hand weapons" and "they fought with police." No police were reported to have been injured.
Van der Sypt said earlier that a suspected arms dealer was arrested in Charleroi near Brussels on Wednesday. Police were investigating whether that man had a link to the deadly terror attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher kosher market in Paris.
Other police operations were under way elsewhere in Belgium, counter-terrorism officials said.
In light of Thursday's incident, the terror alert in the country has been raised from level three, out of a possible four levels, to level two.
