International

Special operations over in Brussels, 16 arrests and massive troops presence reported.

Police arrested 16 people during a string of anti-terror raids in Belgium, the country’s public prosecutor, Eric Van Der Sypt, announced. One of the people arrested was wounded, he added.

However, Belgian forces failed to find Salah Abdeslam, one of the key suspects in the November 13 Paris terror attacks, who was believed to be on the loose in Belgium.

“We can stress that no weapons or explosives were found. Abdeslam Salah was not found during the raids,” Van Der Sypt said, as quoted by Reuters.

A total of 19 raids were carried out in Brussels and three houses were searched in Charleroi, south of the capital.

The police crisis center announced that operations were over in Brussels sometime after 11 pm (10 pm GMT) local time.

Unconfirmed reports by DH.de suggest that six suspects were arrested during the operation, with one wounded. Those arrested reportedly did not include Salah Abdeslam, the Paris attack terror suspect.

Belgian news agency RTBF reported that several arrests were made elsewhere, including the detention of one man in the region of Charleroi.