Nataly
‘There was an explosion around a person,’ a police spokesman said. ‘That person was neutralised by the soldiers that were on the scene’, according to Metro.
Soldiers saw wires protruding from the man’s clothes while he was acting strangely, and shot him, Het Laatste Nieuws tabloid newspaper quoted witnesses saying.
A photo shared online shows flames in the building of Brussels Central as a passerby turns to look.
Belgian media quoted witnesses claiming the man shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is great’ in Arabic) before he was shot.
The situation is said to be under control with no civilian casualties.
Scene outside Brussels railway station, many police and military [vid:@OlileBussy] pic.twitter.com/Dz3mzBPYvb
— Roeland Roovers (@r0eland) 20 июня 2017 г.
Sudden panic in #Brussel on #Grandplace right now. Seems to be no reason.Grand place empty in seconds. pic.twitter.com/gOXPtS8yNc — Vegard Einan (@vegardeinan) 20 июня 2017 г.
DH newspaper quoted a Belgian prosecutor as saying: ‘He seems to have set off his device when the soldiers started paying attention to him.’
The Brussels prosecutor’s office says there appears to be no civilian injuries or deaths from a train station explosion.
‘Explosions at Brussels Central,’ Arash Aazami tweeted. ‘We missed them by practically nothing, evacuated into restaurant for now.’
The army was in place to guard the Central Station, amid a heightened state of alert after Islamic State militants based in Brussels carried out attacks in Paris killing 130 people in November 2015, and bombed Brussels airport and metro in March last year.
Twee luide ontploffingen in Brussel Cebtraal. Voor mijn neus. Dan snelle knallen na elkaar. pic.twitter.com/FDqVAjgGYg
— Rémy Bonnaffé (@remybonnaffe) 20 июня 2017 г.
Tension forte aux abords de la gare centrale, public maintenu à distance @lesoir pic.twitter.com/Ap04fAvqsg
— Thomas Dufrane (@thomasdufrane) 20 июня 2017 г.
A police spokesman said: ‘At the moment, the police are in numbers at the station and everything is under control.’
The station and main square have been evacuated and police and Belgian military are at the scene.
