There have been no arrests after a Brussels shooting on Wednesday despite swathes of the city’s public transport being shut down to allow police to hunt suspects in subway tunnels.
Two men were seen shooting with “Kalashnikov”-type rifles at Clemenceau metro station, West-central Brussels just outside the city centre ring road in the early hours of Wednesday morning. After the so-called “shootout”, the men rushed into the station and are believed to have fled on foot into the tunnels beneath the de facto capital city of the European Union.
Several metro and tram lines were suspended during the morning rush-hour commute to allow police to hunt the wanted men in the tunnels, but even by early afternoon no suspects had been arrested and the metro lines gradually re-opened after lunch time. At the time of publication, no arrests have been announced.
Publisher SudInfo cites a police spokesman who stated of the incident: “A shootout took place. The images from the surveillance cameras show that the suspects fled towards the Clemenceau metro station”. It was further stated today: “The suspects fled towards the metro station and may still be in the tunnel between Clemenceau and Bruxelles-Midi stations… The Brussels-Midi police and the federal railway police are searching the area. There were no injuries in the shooting”.
The city prosecutor said a “major search” had taken place on the basis of the video surveilance images from the scene which captured the alleged perpetraors fleeing into tunnels. They also stated there was no known terrorism motive, and Belgian newspapers have suggested drug crime may have some involvement in the “shootout”. Who or what may have been shot at and why has not been revealed.
This story is developing, more follows.