Belgium kills suspect in raid connected to the Paris attacks.

Police on the scene of the shooting in Forest, Belgium. Reuters. 

Belgium has killed one suspect and is holding two others in a raid that is reported to be connected to the Paris attacks last year. Reuters. Six Belgian and French police officers arrived to search an apartment and were greeted with gunfire from a fully automatic Kalashnikov. Four police officers were wounded in the ensuing gunfight while one of the suspects, a 35 year old Algerian named Mohamed Belkaid, was killed by a police sniper. Belkaid was in the country illegally and had only minor contact with the police, stemming from a theft case. Two other suspects were held during the investigation. Inside the apartment, the police found and ISIS flag and Jihadist literature along with a large cache of ammunition. The raid is believed to be connected to the Paris attacks last year. Several suspects from that raid, including Salah Abdeslam, a Frenchmen who helped plan and participated in the attack, are still on the run. 

My Comment:

I followed this story on Twitter yesterday as it happened. Alas, I was busy writing yesterday's post about the double stabbing in Canada, also committed by a likely Jihadist, to write a post up. I also didn't have time to cover it last night because I wanted to post about the election here in the United States. The news cycle is rather busy right now, and I think this one kind of fell through the cracks for American media, so I hope that I can at least raise a bit of awareness now. I am somewhat glad I waited to cover it though because there is a lot more info now then there was when I first heard about this story. 

This raid could have gone a lot worse. As it stands right now, the French and Belgian police involved were lucky that nobody was killed. On the other hand, four officers were hurt in an incident that was basically someone firing blind through a door. Most of the time, that would not have resulted in four injuries but sometimes the bad guys get lucky. Not that lucky thoughm since Belkaid is dead and the other two suspects are in custody. 

It's unclear how involved these suspects were with the Paris attacks. It's even possible that they were an unrelated cell. I do think it is fairly obvious that they were members of ISIS. The flag is a dead giveaway, and the fact that they were able to get fully automatic weapons means that they had cash and connections. It is possible that they were using that apartment as a safehouse or as a base for planning operations totally unrelated to the Paris attacks. It's also possible that they did at one point help the suspects in those attacks, but that it happened a long time in the past. 

That being said, I am skeptical that the Belgian police would announce that there was a connection to the Paris attacks if there wasn't one there. I guess they could just be feeding misinformation to people, but that seems pointless. My guess is that this is either part of the cell that planned the attacks, or a cell that was related to the cell that did commit it. Even if they weren't directly involved, they may have enough connections to the actual suspects to expose and arrest/kill them. 

It's a very good thing that two of the suspects were captured alive. Had they died the trail would have likely gone cold, but with them breathing they can be interrogated. They will be asked about the Paris suspects, of course, but I think they will be interrogated about other things as well. First, the authorities need to know if there are any other terrorist attacks in the making. This cell may have been planning an attack and if they were, and there are other members of the cell still at large, then an attack may be imminent. If so, hopefully Belgian and French officials can disrupt the plot before it happens. 

Secondly, I am guessing that they will be asked about where they got their guns. Due to Europe's mostly draconian gun laws, there is no way that they could have gotten fully automatic rifles legally. The guns were either stolen, or, more likely, purchased from a black market gun dealer. These terrorists don't seem to have any problem getting fully automatic weapons, so someone has to be supplying them. And, don't forget, it isn't just ISIS that is buying these guns. The Charlie Hebdo attacks, committed by al-Qaeda, also used these kinds of guns, so the dealers seem to be selling to anyone who wants them.  Taking down the people selling these guns could help prevent further terrorist attacks. They could also have a list of customers, not anything written down mind you but connections, that authorities could investigate and arrest. 

As an aside, I am always dumbfounded by the fact that these terrorists seem to prefer fully automatic weapons. Sure, in this case, spray and pray did more damage then it had any right too, but you would think that a terrorist would value accuracy and efficiency over firepower. Not that this is a problem, mind you. I think that their obsession with fully automatic firearms may have reduced casualties in the various attacks they have pulled off so I am all for it.

Finally, I was frankly amazed that Reuters was able to admit that Belkaid was in the country illegally. The obvious question is if he came in with the massive refugee/migrant wave that hit Europe in the last couple of years. ISIS has exploited the crisis to infiltrate operatives into Europe and that may be what happened here, as politically incorrect that truth may be. Another question is why was he still in the country if he was there illegally and had committed a crime. At least it would be if I hadn't figured out a long time ago that most of the western world's immigration policies makes zero sense...