Seven suspected terrorists arrested as police use grenades in raids in Brussels and Paris ...German police arrest 2 suspects in Frankfurt

Frenchman Reda Kriket, 34, was arrested in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteuil, has today been identified as a convicted ISIS recruiter who was in the 'advances stages' of planning an attack in France

Convicted ISIS recruiter who 'planned imminent terrorist attack in France' is among seven arrested as police use grenades in raids in Belgium and Paris

Story after the cut .....

    Six connected to attacks detained after Thursday night raids in Brussels
    ISIS recruiter Reda Kriket also arrested in anti-terror raid in Paris suburb 
    Frenchman was held after officials foiled a terror plot in 'advanced stages'
    Man seen next to Brussels Metro bomber Khalid El Bakraoui also arrested
    German police have also arrested two suspected of being linked to attacks

Seven people have been arrested in Belgium and Paris after masked anti-terror police carried out a string of raids across Europe in connection with the Brussels massacres and a new terror plot.

Armed police swooped on properties in the Schaerbeek and Jette districts of Brussels and arrested a total of six people, who are thought to be connected to Tuesday's airport and Metro bombings. 

German police have also arrested two more people with suspected links to the attackers while a new suspect in the Brussels plot, 28-year-old Syrian Naim al-Hamed, has also been identified. 

It comes as it was revealed that the Frenchman arrested in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteuil last night was identified as a convicted ISIS recruiter who was in the 'advanced stages' of planning an attack in France.

Photo: AFP/Getty

Seven people have been arrested in Belgium and Paris (pictured) after masked anti-terror police carried out a string of raids across Europe in connection with the Brussels massacres and a new terror plot

Photo: FlameFlynet

Police and forensics are pictured at the scene of a raid in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels last night

Photo: Reuters

Masked Belgian police secure the entrance to a building in Schaerbeek during police operations following Tuesday's bomb attacks in Brussels

Reda Kriket, 34, was reportedly jailed in his absence in Belgium last year in connection with a network sending jihadists to Syria. He was placed on a Most Wanted police list in January, and was considered ‘extremely dangerous’.

It comes as Belgian police admitted a catastrophic police blunder allowed Paris bombings logistics chief Salah Abdeslam to remain at large for more than three months.

A dedicated beat officer gave information about the whereabouts of Abdeslam to superiors on December 7 and urged them to pass it on to the country’s anti-terrorist police. But the confidential report was inexplicably not passed onto the federal bureau.

It has also been claimed Abdeslam was planning a multiple shooting and suicide bomb attack in Brussels over Easter before he was arrested last week.  

British Prime Minister David Cameron, commenting after the arrest of Kriket today, an investigative source said: ‘(Kriket) should have been under lock and key, but like so many other convicted jihadists was able to travel at will, and hide away in France or Belgium.'

French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Kriket detained could be part of a high level terror network that was planning to strike on French soil. They 'planned to hit our country', he said.

But Mr Cazeneuve said there was currently no 'tangible' link between the man arrested in Paris and Tuesday's attacks in Brussels. 

Photo: AFP/Getty

Police officers stand guard outside a building during a raid in the Argenteuil suburb of northwest Paris

Photo: AFP/Getty

At least one Frenchman was arrested on Thursday after police foiled a terrorist attack in the 'advanced stages'

Photo: Steve Finn

Broken glass could be seen in a second floor window at the scene of one of last night's raids on Rue De Pavillon In The Schaarbeek District Of Brussels

Photo: Steve Finn

One of the raids took place at an apartment (centre) in Rue de Pavillon in Schaarbeek, Brussels

It is understood 34-year-old Kriket had been under police surveillance for 'quite some time'.

'The arrest is the result intricate work carried out over the last few weeks by intelligence services,' said Mr Cazeneuve. 

He confirmed the man arrested was of French nationality and was 'involved in the plot at a high level' and was 'involved in a terrorist network that was ready to attack France.'

He said the arrest was the result of 'close and constant cooperation between European services'.

Homes in the area were evacuated and several streets were closed to traffic during the police operation.

Bomb disposal units were called to the scene to allow police officers 'to proceed with searching the apartment, the parking and the communal areas in optimal conditions,' Mr Cazeneuve added.

A security cordon was set up around the building.

Photo: AFP/Getty

French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the man detained in Paris could be part of a high level terror network that was planning to strike on French soil. Pictured: Masked anti-terror officers in the French capital

Photo: AP

The arrest in Paris on Thursday was the result of 'close and constant cooperation between European services'

Photo: Aschia_mizuki

Homes in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteuil (pictured) were evacuated and several streets were closed to traffic during the police operation. Bomb disposal units were also called to the scene

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One Frenchman was arrested in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteiul over a planned terrorist attack

It is understood more than 50 residents, including many children, were among those evacuated. 

One resident told Le Parisien: 'We saw many [police] arrive around 5.30pm. The police told us to stay at home without giving more explanation.

'Agents are hooded. Given the context, people are afraid. My son once told me he did not want to go to school tomorrow.'

In Germany, it emerged that police had arrested two people they suspect are linked to the Islamist suicide bombers.

It said one of the men, arrested on Wednesday near Frankfurt, received two mobile phone messages shortly before the bombings that included the name of Khalid El Bakraoui, the man Belgian police say blew himself in a Brussels metro station. The German interior ministry declined immediate comment on Spiegel's report. 

Der Spiegel said the messages included the word 'fin,' French for 'end', and were received three minutes before the explosion at Brussels' Maelbeek metro station, near the European Union headquarters. 

Germany's federal police chief said ISIS appeared eager to carry out 'spectacular' attacks as it was coming under increased military pressure in Iraq and Syria.

This means the risk of Brussels-style attacks in Germany and elsewhere in Europe is high, Holger Muench, president of the BKA federal police, told Bild newspaper in remarks to be published on Saturday. 'More attacks cannot be ruled out,' he said.

Naim al-Hamed (pictured) has reportedly been identified as a new suspect in the investigation in to the Brussels attacks

In Belgium, investigators have identified a new suspect they believe played a role in the Brussels bombings, according to the newspaper De Morgen. 

The paper, named him as 28-year-old Syrian Naim al-Hamed and said he was on a list circulated to the security services of other European countries after Tuesday's attacks along with Mohamed Abrini, Najim Laachraoui and Khalid El Bakraoui.

The paper said Naim al-Hamed was also suspected of involvement in the November 13 attacks in Paris which killed 130 people. 

Meanwhile, it has emerged this morning that police have also arrested a man seen on security footage next to Khalid El Bakraoui, the suicide attacker who detonated a bomb in the Brussels metro, De Standaard newspaper reported on Friday.

The federal prosecutor's office did not confirm the arrest.

The newspaper said the man, whom it did not name, was arrested after a policeman recognised him from the security footage.

Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, who blew himself up on a crowded rush hour train, is the brother of Brahim El Bakraoui, who detonated a bomb at Brussels Airport an hour earlier.

The joint attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded 316.

Public broadcaster RTBF meanwhile reported police detained a seventh person in the district of Forest following six arrests late on Thursday. 

Photo: Reuters

Investigation: French Police and a forensic expert stand at the entrance of an apartment building after a raid in Argenteuil, a suburb in northern Paris, France

Photo: Reuters

Police stand on guard after the arrest of a French national suspected of planning an attack in France

Photo: Reuters

The latest arrests comes just days after suicide bombers hit Brussels airport and a metro train, killing at least 31 people and wounding some 270 in the worst such attack in Belgian history

France has been on high alert since the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more. Mr Cazenueve said there had been 75 arrests since the beginning of the year and 28 suspects had been jailed.

The latest arrests comes just days after suicide bombers hit Brussels airport and a metro train, killing at least 31 people and wounding some 270 in the worst such attack in Belgian history.

At least two men identified by police from surveillance footage at the airport and metro station where the attacks took place are still at large. 

But police arrested a further six people in connection with the attacks last night, with three people being detained 'outside the door of the federal prosecutor's office' in Brussels city centre.

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