Fresh terror in Brussels: Suspected suicide bomber threatening train passengers 'shouts Allahu Akbar and triggers an explosion' at city's central station as he is gunned down by soldiers

• A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up in terrorist incident at Belgium capital's Central Station tonight
  
• Shots rang out soon after 8pm as police and soldiers moved in 'to neutralise a suspect threatening civilians'
  
• Initially thought man had rucksack with explosives, but witnesses later claimed he tried to blow up a trolley
  
• The Grand Place, a popular tourist spot, was evacuated because of fears the man might not be acting alone
  

By EKIN KARASIN and PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 15:20 EDT, 20 June 2017 | UPDATED: 18:19 EDT, 20 June 2017

A suspected suicide bomber who allegedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before triggering an explosion at Brussels Central Station has been gunned down by soldiers.

Shots rang out soon after 8pm tonight as police and soldiers moved in to 'neutralise' the man, who was said to be 'threatening rail passengers' in what is being considered as a terrorist incident.

Initial reports suggested the suspect - described as being 'tanned, well-built and in his 30s' - was wearing an explosive vest or rucksack, while witnesses later claimed he tried to blow up a trolley or a suitcase.

Terrified passengers inside the station ran towards the tracks as they tried to avoid the blast while tourists outside fled in panic. Within a few minutes the busy nearby shops and restaurants were shut down.

A bomb squad performed a controlled explosion of a bomb belt the suspect had at the Central Station and evacuated the city's famed Grand Place square 650 metres away while checking to see if there more hazards.

The suspect was shot by soldiers who were already patrolling the station when they swooped on the attacker, whose death is yet to be officially confirmed. There were no other casualties and police quickly said the situation was 'under control'.


A suspected suicide bomber who allegedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before triggering an explosion at Brussels Central Station has been gunned down by soldiers. Pictured the explosion in the station


Soldiers and police officials guide terrified commuters out of the station amid fears the bomber may not be acting alone


Belgian Army soldiers patrol outside Central Station after the explosion in the busy station in the Belgian capital


Ambulances hurtled to the scene outside the busy train station on Tuesday night after reports of the explosion at 8pm


Tourists fled in panic as shots rang out soon after 9pm as police and soldiers moved in 'to neutralise a suspect who was threatening civilians'


The suspect was initially said to be wearing a rucksack packed with explosives around Belgium's busiest railway station. Pictured, police officers at the scene


Panicked members of the public were rushed away from the scene of the blast on Tuesday night

The latest attack comes a year after three suicide bombers hit the capital of Brussels, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more.

In the fresh attack in the Belgian capital's central station, a source said the attacker was 'shot several times' and it appears that he 'triggered a device'.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said authorities are treating the incident 'as a terrorist attack' that was foiled when the suspect was 'neutralized.'

'We do not know if the man is still alive or that he is dead,' he added.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a railway sorting agent, said the male suspect was very agitated and yelling about jihadists before blowing something up on a baggage trolley.

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'He [The suspect] cried 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great), and he blew up a trolley. I was behind a wall when it exploded,' he said.

'I went down and alerted my colleagues to evacuate everyone. He was still around but after that we didn't see him. It wasn't exactly a big explosion but the impact was pretty big. People were running away.'

Mr Herrewegen - who had gone down to the station's mezzanine level when he heard the man shouting - described the suspect as being between 30 and 35, well-built and tanned with short hair, and wearing a white shirt and jeans.

He added: 'I saw that he had something on him because I could see wires emerging, so it may have been a suicide vest.'


One witness said the explosion was small but had a 'pretty big' impact and sent terrified passengers fleeing away in panic


One woman looks around in panic after the blast in the station while armed police comfort her


Crowds of tourists were quickly evacuated from Brussels central station as military descended on the scene


Initial reports suggested the suspect was wearing a rucksack packed with explosives, while witnesses later claimed he tried to blow up a trolley or a suitcase. Pictured, two police men stand guard at the Grand Place square


Soldiers ran toward the spot, reportedly saw wires protruding from the suspect's clothes and shot him


Hoards of Belgian police flooded the central station and the Grand Place just 650 metres away


One witness claimed he was 'lucky to be alive' after something that sounded like a 'bomb' reportedly went off just 30 metres away from him.

Local media also corroborated reports later on that the suspect blew up a trolley or suitcase in an increasingly confusing situation over the sequence of events.

Images shot at the scene showed an explosion, and what looked like an individual on fire. Belgian Rail says traffic has been halted at the station with local media reporting that there was a small blast there.

Belgian Police have said an incident with a person in Brussels central station is under control.

Soldiers, firefighters, armoured trucks and police were pictured outside the station after it was evacuated. Federal police have confirmed the blasts and say soldiers opened fire on man.

A spokesman for Belgium's railway operator said: 'A crowd panicked in the station and ran for the tracks after an incident.'


Revellers making the most of the hot evening were told to leave the area and within a few minutes nearby shops and restaurants were shutting down

[img]edia that the bomber blew up a trolley. They said passengers were several metres away but were unhurt


Firefighters and police officers were pictured at the scene after 'explosion-like' noises were initially heard


Police ran into the scene accompanied by sniffer dogs


Commuters were pictured crowding outside the station after it was evacuated

One witness claimed he was 'lucky to be alive' after something that sounded like a 'bomb' reportedly went off just 30 metres away from him.

Ludoivic Hampton said: 'When you're walking through central station and something that looked and sounded like a bomb goes off 30 metres away from you. I'm lucky to be alive.'

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.

A police spokesman said: 'There was an accident at Central Station. There was an explosion around a person. That person was neutralised by the soldiers that were on the scene.

'At the moment, the police are in numbers at the station and everything is under control.'

Prime Minister Michel and the interior minister were in the national crisis centre monitoring developments.

Brussels has been on the highest state of alert for more than a year after a series of devastating attacks on its transport system in March 2016.

Three coordinated suicide bombings took place at the city's airport and at the Maalbeek Metro station, with a total of 32 people killed, and 300 people being injured.

Three terrorists linked to Islamic State died in the bloodbath, and all were linked to those who carried out another devastating attack on Paris in November 2015.

At 8am, two bombs were detonated at Zaventem Airport by Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, causing the deaths of 14 people near the check-in desks.

More than an hour later, at 9.19am, a third bomb was detonated at Maalbeek Metro station by Bakraoui's brother Khalid, killing another 20 people.

A third airport attacker whose device failed to go off, the so-called 'man in the hat' Mohamed Abrini - was arrested in Brussels nearly a month after the attacks.

More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks, claimed by ISIS, but those to have suffer physical or mental trauma as a result of the attack is said to have been closer to 1,000.

Investigators say the blasts were carried out by a network that was also behind the November 2015 Paris attacks, and acted on orders from the ISIS high command.

All the suspects were linked to an ISIS cell led by Paris ringleader and Syria veteran Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a man of Belgian-Moroccan origin.

Airport bomber Laachraoui was meanwhile identified as chief bombmaker for the Paris attacks.