IS flag found in flat of Brussels gunman “MPs, journalists backing terror also terrorists,” Erdogan

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has said the definition of a terrorist should be changed to include their “supporters“, such as MPs, civil activists and journalists. “It is not only the person who pulls the trigger, but those who made that possible who should also be defined as terrorists, regardless of their title,“ Erdogan said.

Belgian prosecutors named a 35-year-old Algerian as the man shot dead by police on Tuesday during a police raid on a Brussels apartment in the hunt for clues to attacks in Paris last November. Police found an Islamic State (IS) flag in the apart ment used by Mohamed Bel kaid and two others suspec ted of being with him after officers were met with a bar rage of automatic weapons fire as they arrived to search the flat. Belkaid, who was living in Belgium illegally and had a police record for theft bu was not on security watch lists, was killed by a special forces sniper after a three hour siege. A manhunt for the two other suspects continued even on Thursday. The government held its alert status steady at level three, one step below the maximum. The prosecutors said a radical Islamic text was found next to Belkaid’s body and a cache of ammunition was also discovered It was not clear if he had any links to the Paris suspects.
Two people detained overnight on suspicion of links to the shootout in the suburb of Forest were released without charge. Investigators believe much of the planning and preparation for the Paris attacks that killed 130 people was conducted in Brussels by French and Belgian nationals, some of whom fought as militants in Syria.