In the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, more than two dozen people were arrested by police across Europe on Friday, who launched raids on locations of suspected Islamist extremists in France, Belgium, and Germany.

Raids in Paris and Berlin follow yesterday's shootout in Verviers, Belgium, where two suspects were killed and another injured; police claim the three had been under "jihadist-related" surveillance.

France
Police arrested 12 in raids on five towns in the Paris area. Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor, told the New York Times that the group is believed to have "provided logistical support" to Amedy Coulibaly, who was connected to Charlie Hebdo shooters Cherif and Said Kouachi. Coulibaly took hostages inside a kosher deli last Friday, killing four before being gunned down by police in a dual assault on the market and the Kouachi brothers.

Belgium
In more than a dozen sweeps across the country Friday, 13 were arrested by Belgian police, who also "found four military-style weapons including Kalashnikov assault rifles," federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told the Associated Press. Belgian authorities are insistent that the raids are not connected to last week's attacks in Paris. From the AP:

Belgium has seen a particular large number of people join extremists in Syria, and is "the worst affected country in Europe relative to population size," said Peter Neumann of the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization. He estimates 450 people have left Belgium to fight with Islamic radical groups in Syria, and that 150 of them have returned home.

Germany
Following raids by 250 officers on 11 locations in Berlin, police arrested two suspects believed to be "preparing a serious act of violence against the state in Syria," authorities told the BBC. Police also told the Associated Press that multiple military-grade weapons were seized. From the New York Times:

One of the detained men, identified only as Ismet D., 41, in keeping with German privacy laws, is suspected of serving as an "emir," or leader, of a radical Islamist group that was not identified by name. "He is suspected of radicalizing this extremist group through 'Islam lessons' he held, and encouraging participation in jihad against 'unbelievers' in the war in Syria," prosecutors said.

The other man, identified only as Ermin F., 43, is suspected of providing financial support to members of the group and of helping them prepare for travel to Syria.

[Image via AP]