Ex-Turkish MP detained in Belgium PKK raids

Some 300 Belgian police raided 25 addresses across the country on Thursday in an operation against a militant PKK group, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a high-placed police source told Reuters news agency.

Residences in Brussels, Antwerp, Charleroi, Namur and Verviers were searched as well as the offices of Kurdish television broadcaster ROJ in the town of Denderleeuw.

Belgian prosecutors said they planned to release information later in the day.

Police also raided studios of ROJ TV, broadcast organ of the PKK, in Denderleeuw town near Brussels and detained four people.

Police investigation continues at the studios.

Meanwhile, it was reported that PKK called its supporters to launch a protest in front of ROJ TV offices.

Broadcast of ROJ TV was halted after the raid.

The PKK, which launched an armed attacks against the Turkish state in 1984 for a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey, is branded a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.


/World Bulletin/