Some 200 police officers have raided 13 residences, mostly in Berlin but also other parts of Germany, in connection with the arrests last week of two suspected members of an Islamic terror cell.

Berlin police say they have taken two men into custody on suspicion they were recruiting fighters and procuring equipment and funding for the so-called Islamic State terrorism group in Syria.

Belgian authorities have said they thwarted a major attack by just hours when they killed two suspects in a shoot-out and arrested a third in a huge anti-terror operation that stretched into the night.