Greece nabs 4 suspected terrorists; Belgium on alert
A police official told the Associated Press on Saturday that Greek police have sent photos, fingerprints and DNA material of the man they believe to be Abdelhamid Abaaoud to Belgium for testing. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation.
The development came after two suspected extremists were killed and another injured in a shootout with police Thursday night in the Belgian city of Verviers. Authorities moved in on the group to pre-empt what they said was a major, impending attack on police officers. The targeted cell had been under surveillance after members recently returned to Belgium from Syria, where they were believed to have fought with the Islamic State.
Belgian media reported that investigators were still hunting for a Belgian man who had fought with the Islamic State in Syria and was believed to be in Greece.
European police action comes in the wake of unrest in the Muslim world over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in secular Western outlets.
According to Islamic tradition, any depiction of the prophet, even a flattering one, is considered blasphemous. While a great number of Muslims have expressed outrage after the recent massacre of the staff at Parisian magazine Charlie Hebdo, others have been particularly incensed that the first issue of the magazine since the attack again portrays the Prophet Muhammad with the caption, Je suis Charlie, or "I am Charlie," the rallying cry in support of the slain staff.
In the West African country of Niger, 10 people were killed in protests against the latest magazine issue, while four were killed outside the French embassy in Karachi, Pakistan.
On Saturday, Belgian authorities were using troops to reinforce police in cities for the first time in 30 years. Paratroopers fanned out to guard possible terror targets across the country, including some buildings within the Jewish quarter of the port city of Antwerp.
Meanwhile, Yemen detained two Frenchmen on charges of belonging to al-Qaeda, said General Mohammed al-Ahmadi, the chief of Yemen's national security service. However, authorities didn't mention whether they were thought to be involved in last week's Paris terror attacks and security officials told the Associated Press the arrests were made before the attacks.Said Kouachi, one of the terrorists responsible for the assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris was buried in a discreet and under-the-radar ceremony overnight in France despite concerns the grave could become a shrine for extremists.
Said Kouachi was the elder brother of Cherif Kouachi. Together, the two gunned down 12 people in their Jan. 7 attack.
"Given the risk of disturbance of the peace and in order to quickly turn the page of this tragic episode, it was decided to do the burial quickly," the city said in a statement Saturday.
Earlier this week, Reims mayor Arnaud Robinet said he would "categorically refuse" a request by Kouachi's family to bury Said in the town located about 90 miles east of Paris. Said Kouachi had lived there before police killed him and his brother in a Jan. 9 standoff.
State officials arranged the burial in an unmarked grave in an unidentified area designated for Muslims in one of the city's cemeteries, Robinet told The New York Times.
"I am angry," Robinet told the Times. "But the state ordered me to accept, and I did."
Antoine Flasaquier, a lawyer for Kouachi's widow, said the burial took place overnight and that Flasaquier did not attend for fear she'd be followed by reporters and give away the location.
The two other terrorists killed in shootouts last week with police — Cherif Kouachi and supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly — have yet to be buried. Plans have been made for Cherif Kouachi's burial in his hometown of Gennevilliers, outside Paris. There has been no word yet on plans for Coulibaly's burial.
The continent-wide crackdown on suspected terrorist cells continues against a backdrop of heightened lawmaker concern over the ease with which some citizens have been able to travel to regions known to harbor and train jihadists. Politicians also are moving to quickly increase the penalties for hate speech and are suggesting heightened police surveillance of social networks.
Belgian leaders said Friday they hope to expand the list of violations that could bring an immediate denial of citizenship, while France wants to enact swift and harsh penalties for hate speech. British Prime Minister David Cameron recently suggested that police should have the legal power to break into the encrypted social network communications of terror groups. The moves are all reminiscent of the USA's quick passage of the controversial Patriot Act in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.
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