![Belgian police stand near the closed hotel and restaurant Villa Marquette on March 31st, 2016, in Courtrai, during an operation in connection with a foiled attack plot in France. [Philippe Huguen/AFP]](/cnmi_di/images/2019/11/25/21113-Belgian-police-Courtrai-700_496.webp)
Police have carried out a cyber attack on a global scale against online propaganda outlets of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), Belgian prosecutors said Monday (November 25th).
The operation began as part of a Belgian judicial probe of ISIS propaganda agency Amaq, and involved international officers from Europol.
Federal prosecution spokesman Eric van der Sypt confirmed the operation, but he could not give a detailed breakdown of sites and accounts targeted.
"We have knocked them down for the moment," he said. "But we are not naive. A first cyberattack in 2018 did not stop them from bouncing back."
Officers plan to reveal more about the operation at a news conference later in the day at Europol's HQ in the neighbouring Netherlands, he said.
Belgian agents were involved in a wave of cyberattacks against Amaq last year, but the spokesman admitted they had been surprised by how quickly the sources returned.
In March 2016 the Belgian capital Brussels was hit in a double suicide attack claimed by ISIS that left 32 people dead.
