Belgium police arrest two ISIL-linked suspects

Police in Belgium have arrested two people on suspicion of recruiting militants for the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group mainly operating in Syria and Iraq.

Belgian state media reported on Friday that two men aged 24 and 45 were apprehended on charges of being involved in recruitment for the ISIL. However, the younger suspect, who was believed to be from the capital Brussels, was released later.

Prosecutors are investigating the length of the alleged recruitment activities and the number of people who traveled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIL ranks during the process.

According to initial reports, the police did not find any weapons at the time of the arrests.

This comes as prosecutors are investigating any possible links between the detainee and a suspected terrorist plot thwarted in the western European country in January.

On January 15, Belgian police shot dead at least two suspected militants and left seriously injured another during a large-scale security operation in the eastern town of Verviers near the German border.

A day after, Belgium officials charged five people for “participating in a terrorist group” after police foiled a series of planned terrorist attacks allegedly aimed at police forces.

The anti-terror operations were conducted in Belgium after a wave terror attacks in France, which began on January 7 when the office of the French weekly, Charlie Hebdo, came under assault by two gunmen in Paris. Twelve people were killed in the incident that was followed by other terrorist attacks claiming five more lives.

Following the terror attacks in Paris, Belgium and a series of other European states have arrested several suspected Takfiri-linked terrorists.

The ISIL militants, with members from several Western countries, control parts of Syria and Iraq, and have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities.