6 detained by Belgian police in machete attack investigation

Six people were detained on Wednesday after police officers conducted house searches in the southern region of Wallonia, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement that the police searched eight houses in the municipalities of Farciennes, Charleroi, Chatelet and Fleurus, and found several weapons, some of which were similar to the one used in a suspected terrorist attack in August.

An investigating judge will decide how long those people should remain in detention, according to the statement.

The operations were part of the investigation into the attack that took place in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi where a man hacked two policewomen with a machete.

The assailant was shot by a third police officer and later died, while the two policewomen suffered minor injuries.

After the attack the prosecutor's office opened a terrorism file and appointed an investigating judge to further examine the case. Endit