Belgium terror raid: Brussels shooter killed as police hunt for two suspects

A gunmen who opened fire on Belgian police during an anti-terror raid in Brussels has been killed. The man was found dead by security forces that stormed a house in the southern Forest district where the earlier shoot-out occurred, authorities said.

Eric Van Der Sypt a spokesman for the Prosecutor's office told Le Soir newspaper: "A body has been found during a search of a house in Rue du Dries. His identity is not yet known but in any case he is not Salah Abdeslam".

Authorities had previously evacuated about 100 children from two local schools that had been in lockdown for hours. Earlier, local media reported police fired gunshots in the direction of a nearby wasteland where a second suspect was hiding. Two suspects are said to be on the run following the counter-terrorism raid.

Police came under fire during after being deployed to search an address during an anti-terrorism investigation linked to the Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November. Four officers were injured, with one suffering a serious head wound and taken to hospital, according to La Libre newspaper.

Police sealed off a number of streets in the area and residents were been urged to stay indoors. After the shooting one of the suspect went on the run, found shelter in a nearby wasteland, while the other holed himself up inside the premises.

Belgian authorities have carried out a series of raids in the Brussels area since the Isis shootings and bombings in the French capital. Several of the attackers had ties to the country, which has the highest rate of Islamist fighters per capita in Europe. The Forest neighbourhood is only a few kilometres from the Molenbeek district that has become infamous as a hotbed for Islamist militants.

Jihadi brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, 26 and 31, ran a pub in the neighbourhood. Brahim detonated a suicide vest near a café on Boulevard Voltaire in Paris on 13 November, while Salah is currently on the run and has been dubbed Europe's most wanted man. Another Belgian national, Mohammed Abrini, is also sought by authorities over the November shootings and bombings.

France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told Reuters French police were also involved in the Brussels operation. Security sources speaking to AFP however denied the raid targeted Abdeslam.

More about Belgium