Belgian police arrest 7 suspected 'Jihadists'

Belgian police said Wednesday they had arrested seven suspected members of a terror cell aiming to "indoctrinate young Brussels Muslims" and "send them to combat zones" in north Africa. "Seven people of Moroccan and African origin [including] one Belgian were arrested and placed in custody pending questioning," said a statement from the federal prosecution service. They were to go before a magistrate who would decide whether or not to detain them, a spokesman told AFP. The arrests followed six separate raids in Brussels where computers and files were also seized. The raids stemmed from an investigation that followed the August 2011 arrest of a Belgian of Moroccan origin at the Somali border linked with a regional Al-Qaeda offshoot, the prosecutors added. Last year, six members of a "jihadist" cell recruiting for action elsewhere were sentenced to prison terms of between 30 months and eight years.