Shots fired at Brussels police in raid linked to Paris attacks

Shots were fired on Tuesday at Belgian police in the capital Brussels as they carried out an operation linked to the Paris attacks, Belgian prosecutors said.

The raid comes as Belgian police continue their hunt for Salah Abdeslam - a key suspect in the November attacks which killed 130 people - who comes from Brussels.

“Police were fired at,” Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor, told AFP, adding that the search in the southern Forest district was “linked to the Paris attacks investigation”. Two suspects were on the run after the incident, the Derniere Heure newspaper reported.

Two Belgian police officers were injured in the incident with one hit in the ear as well as the head and in serious condition, the newspaper also reported.

Witnesses reported a heavy exchange of fire that lasted several minutes, RTL radio said.

People in two schools and two nurseries near the scene were asked to remain indoors and the security cordon around the area was extended, the local mayor’s office said.

“The operation is ongoing,” a spokesman from the mayor’s office told AFP.

The incident took place across the street from an Audi auto factory and the train lines leading to the Gare du Midi railway station where Eurostar trains to London and Thalys trains to Paris run from.

Two weeks after the Paris attacks Brussels was put on five days of lockdown with authorities warning of an imminent threat of violence.

Since mid-November, 11 people have been arrested and charged in Belgium in connection with the killings and eight are still in detention.

Abdeslam, who is believed to have played a key logistical role in the attacks, fled across the border to Belgium hours after the killings in Paris and is now one of the most wanted men in Europe.

Abdeslam and his associate Mohamed Abrini, both from the Molenbeek area of Brussels, are still at large.