Security is significantly increased in Belgium, Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe Saturday, following raids in which dozens of suspected Islamic terrorists were arrested.

Thousands of police are spread out across Belgium guarding possible terror targets, including buildings within the Jewish quarter of the port city of Antwerp. Soldiers are also guarding installations in the capital, Brussels, including the Jewish museum.

Up to 300 military will be stationed at locations such as the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Brussels and NATO and EU institutions.

Troops will reinforce police at least until Thursday, when authorities will review the national threat level, set at 3 on a scale of 4 this week.

“It’s very important to say that this wasn’t a simple decision. But it was necessary, at a time when police are overly engaged, for the army to enter in a supporting role,” Defense Minister Steven Vandeput told reporters.

On Thursday, two gunmen were killed in the Belgian town of Verviers during raids on an Islamist group that authorities said was planning to attack police. Police said some members of the group had returned from Syria. Related raids across the country resulted in arrests of 13 others, Belgian officials said.

In Germany, security has been increased at transport sites including the Dresden train station. Police officials say they have arrested two men in Berlin on suspicion they were recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.

The suspects were detained Friday during a series of raids by more than 200 police officers on 12 properties in the German capital.   

In Ireland, police arrested a suspected French-Algerian militant at Dublin Airport when he tried to enter the country using a false passport.

Around Paris, police arrested 12 people with suspected ties to the gunmen who killed 17 people in last week’s attacks in the French capital.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, the head of the European Union’s police agency, Europol, said Europe must cooperate more closely to prevent attacks like last week’s deadly incidents in Paris.

Rob Wainwright said the large number of radicalized Muslim extremists across Europe, plus their lack of command structure and growing sophistication, makes it “extremely difficult” for law enforcement agencies to foil every terrorist attack.

The massive security operation is hunting for potential terrorist “sleeper” cells — groups of Islamic extremists who may be about to set attack plans in motion — following the recent violence in Paris and other cities. 

Meanwhile, Yemen says it has detained for questioning two French nationals suspected of having ties to al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP has claimed responsibility for the machine-gun attack that killed 12 people in Paris on January 7 at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Before they escaped, the gunmen said their assault on the magazine’s staff was retribution for publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad. AQAP’s video message taking responsibility for the attack made the same point, and the U.S. government says the video appears to be authentic.

The Paris gunmen were tracked down and killed by police. Including the victims at the Charlie Hebdo offices, 17 people were killed in a three-day period in and around the French capital.

On Saturday, the mayor of the eastern French city of Reims says one of the Islamist brothers in the Paris terrorist attacks was buried in Reims, despite concerns the grave could become a shrine for extremists.

More than two dozen suspects have been arrested since Friday in Belgium, France, Germany and Ireland in continuing searches for suspected terrorists. Paris police detained 12 people suspected involvement with the Charlie Hebdo plot and another attack on a kosher food market. Belgian authorities arrested 13 people in raids across the country; all are believed to be members of an Islamist group planning attacks on police officers

On the diplomatic front, the United States and Britain said Friday they will work together to prevent attacks by Islamic radicals and counter violent extremism.

U.S. President Barack Obama met at the White House with British Prime Minister David Cameron and pledged that the U.S. “continues to stand unequivocally” together with France and all of its partners confronting terrorism.

“Much of our discussion obviously focused on the continuing threat of terrorism, and in the wake of the vicious attacks in Paris as well as the news surfacing out of Belgium, today we continue to stand unequivocally, not only with our French friends and allies, but with all of our partners who are dealing with this scourge,” said Obama.

Cameron said the U.S. and Britain both face threats to their national security from “people who want to do us harm.” He said Islamic extremists who seek to attack the West are following “a poisonous and fanatical ideology.” The real enemy, Cameron said, is “the poisonous narrative that’s perverting Islam,” not the religion itself or the overwhelming majority of Muslims who adhere to their faith’s peaceful principles.

Portions of this report are from Reuters.
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