French police stand guard in front of the entrance of the Paris Grand Mosque as part of the highest level of "Vigipirate" security plan after last week's Islamic militants attacks January 14, 2015. France deploys 10,000 soldiers on home soil and posts almost 5,000 extra police officers after the killing of 17 people by Islamist militants in Paris last week, officials said. [Photo/Agencies] |
PARIS - Paris police evacuated the Gare de l'Est train station Friday after a bomb threat, as authorities across Europe pressed on with efforts to prevent new violence after the worst terrorist attacks in decades.
The Paris prosecutor's office, meanwhile, said 10 people were arrested in anti-terrorism raids in the region, targeting people linked to a gunman who attacked a kosher supermarket and claimed ties to the Islamic State.
A French police official said the Gare de l'Est station was closed "as a precaution". The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named, would not give further details. The station, one of several main stations in Paris, serving cities in eastern Paris and countries to the east.
In Berlin, police arrested two men Friday morning on suspicion of recruiting fighters for the so-called Islamic State group in Syria.
After the gun smoke lifted, police continued with searches in Verviers and the greater Brussels area, seeking more clues in a weeks-long investigation that started well before the terrorism spree last week that led to 17 deaths in the Paris area. The Belgian operations had no apparent link to the terrorist acts committed in France.
And, unlike the Paris terrorists, who attacked the office of a satirical newspaper and a kosher grocery store, the suspects in Belgium were reportedly aiming at hard targets: police installations.
Across Europe, anxiety has grown as the manhunt continues for potential accomplices of the three Paris terrorists, all of whom were shot dead by French police. Authorities in Belgium signaled they were ready for more trouble by raising the national terror alert level from 2 to 3, the second-highest level.
China's big train makers reunite in quest for overseas business