(VOVworld) - One suspect has been shot dead and as many as two others are said to be on the run after a counter-terrorism raid in Brussels to hunt for terror suspects in the Paris attacks last November. The suspects are believed to have been barricaded in a flat after earlier firing shots at the police. Four police officers were wounded in the southern Brussels suburb of Forest.

Ambulances arrived at the scene after the shooting

Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor, said a major police operation had been launched, with helicopters flying overhead and roads blocked in an area of Forest close to railway lines used by high-speed trains to London and Paris. Two local schools and two kindergartens were in lockdown.

Belgium’s President Charles Michel told a press conference on March 15 that the government has closely watched the anti-terrorism operation and provided the security forces with the best conditions and equipment to fulfill their mission.