The Latest: Suspect in train station blast confirmed dead

Van Wymersch says authorities only could confirm his death once a bomb squad had finished its work.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt says soldiers “neutralized” a suspect at the Central Station immediately after a small explosion there.

He says the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.

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11:25 p.m.

Belgian authorities say they foiled a “terror attack” when they shot a suspect at one of the nation’s main train stations.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers “neutralized” a suspect at the Central Station immediately after a small explosion there on Tuesday night and “we do not know if the man is still alive or that he is dead.”

Van der Sypt added that “this incident is considered as a terrorist attack.”

Belgium’s Crisis Center, which monitors security threats in the country, says based on initial information it doesn’t see a need to raise the terror threat in the country to the highest level.

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10:15 p.m.

Belgian authorities say soldiers “neutralized” a person at a main Brussels train station amid media reports of explosion-like noises there.

Belgium’s Crisis Center, which monitors security threats in the country, said via Twitter that “soldiers had to neutralize an individual” at the Central station on Tuesday.

Brussels prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch tells VRT network there was a small explosion at the station, one of the nation’s busiest, but the damage was limited.

Van Wymersch said authorities were on the scene quickly and a person was shot. She says at first sight no one else appears to have been wounded.

Photos posted on social media showed a small fire in the station, which was evacuated along with the main Brussels square.

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9:30 p.m.

Belgian media are reporting that explosion-like noises have been heard at a Brussels train station, prompting the evacuation of a main square.

Broadcaster RTL quoted Fires Services spokesman Pierre Meys confirming that some kind of an explosion had happened in the city’s Central station on Tuesday. Meys could not say what had caused the blast.

He could only confirm that firefighters were at the scene.

Brussels police said via Twitter that there was “an incident with an individual at the station. The situation is under control.”

They asked the public to follow police instructions.

The Belgian capital’s Grand Place, a major tourist site, was evacuated along with the station about 200 metres (656 feet) away.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March 2016.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The Latest: Suspect in train station blast confirmed dead

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