Belgian officials estimate that some 350 people have left Belgium to fight alongside groups such as ISIS

Belgian police have detained three men in the western Belgian town of Kortrijk with links to “radicalized groups” and found weapons while searching their homes, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month police killed two gunmen in Verviers in eastern Belgium during one of several raids against an Islamist group which officials said was about to launch attacks against police.

Confirming the detentions, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors said they were checking whether there was any link between the three men and the Islamist group.

The gunmen killed in Verviers are believed to have fought in Syria before returning to Belgium.

Belgian officials estimate that some 350 people have left Belgium to fight alongside groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), with some of them planning attacks in Belgium on their return from the conflict zone.

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