Explosions heard in Brussels as police ‘neutralise’ suspect

There have reportedly been “several explosions” and a man “neutralised” during a police raid in Schaerbeek. Belgian media report that the man was carrying a backpack and had refused to obey police orders

VTM also reported that police found a “bag of explosives” during the raid.

Schaerbeek is the Brussels suburb where the explosives used for this week’s bomb attacks that left 31 people dead were prepared.

Meanwhile, ten more suspects have been arrested in Belgium, France and Germany, as European police step up efforts to prevent further attacks after the Brussels bombings.

Seven suspects were arrested in Brussels, six in the Schaerbeek and Jette districts and one in the Forest district. One suspect, 34-year-old Reda Kriket, was arrested in Paris’ north-western Argenteuil suburb on charges of being in the “advanced stage” of plotting an attack. Two suspected jihadists were detained in Dusseldorf and Giessen in Germany, both with suspected links to one of the Brussels bombers. One of them had “suspicious” text messages on his mobile phone with references to the Brussels attacks.   

US Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Brussels, said that the Islamic State (IS) militant group, that claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks, would be destroyed.

“We will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs from the face of this earth,” Kerry said in a joint news conference with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. "We will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred."

However, questions are being asked on whether the Belgian authorities could have done more to prevent the attacks.

Turkey has said that it arrested and deported one of the bombers, Brahim el-Bakraoui last June, and had warned Belgium that he was a "foreign fighter" - but the message was "ignored". Ankara said that the Dutch authorities had also been alerted.

The Belgian interior and justice ministers said they had offered their resignations but Michel refused to accept them.

The other two airport attackers have not yet been identified. Bakraoui's brother, Khalid, struck at Maelbeek metro station, where 20 people died.There are reports of a second suspect being sought for that attack. One source told AFP news agency that a man with a large bag had been seen beside Khalid el-Bakraoui on surveillance footage at the metro station.