Off the wire
• News Analysis: Trump marches toward nomination, but still stoppable  • China's Zheshang Bank plans Hong Kong IPO  • Interview: PSA CEO optimistic about Chinese auto market  • Chinese banks' forex sales narrow in February  • Spotlight: China's Belt and Road Initiative to bring the world closer together  • Roundup: Greek gov't fumes over migration minister's reference to FYROM as Macedonia  • China to award films performing well overseas  • Guangzhou Evergrande lead Urawa Reds 2-1 in first half in AFC Champions league  • Iran criticizes UN human rights report as "politically-motivated"  • Xinhua Insight: China reassures world on growth and reform  
You are here: 　 Home

IS flag found at scene of Brussels shootout: prosecutor

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The suspect killed by a sniper during Tuesday's anti-terror raid at a property here has been identified as Mohamed Bel Caid, a 35-year-old Algerian national staying in Belgium illegally, federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said at a press conference on Wednesday.

His body was found at the property on Rue de Dries, in the Brussels district of Forest, next to a kalashnikov, a book on Salafism and an Islamic State (IS) flag, Van Der Sypt told reporters, but no explosives were found. Two people fled the scene of the raid and are still actively sought, the prosecutor added.

A team of four Belgian and two French police officers tried searching the property on Tuesday afternoon but were met with a "short but very intense shooting," Van Der Sypt said.

"From the moment the door of the flat was opened at least two persons opened fire towards them," he added. "The police officers present on the scene returned fire immediately and were able to retreat safely. Thanks to their professionalism, the worst was avoided."

Three police officers, one of whom a French female officer, were injured in the shootout. A fourth officer sustained head injuries when the police later came under fire from a window of the apartment.

Van Der Sypt said that later in the evening, an injured man was brought into Halle hospital with a broken leg requiring immediate surgery. He could not be interrogated. The person who brought him to hospital fled as soon as police arrived. Any link to the raid is not confirmed, he added.

Another raid was carried out at a nearby property on the Chaussee de Neerstalle resulting in one arrest. A property was also raided on Tuesday at an address in the Brussels suburb of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. No further information about this raid has been made public.

Since Nov. 14, more than 100 house searches have been conducted by Belgian police, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Paris terror attacks, with 58 people arrested in direct connection with the raids and a further 23 arrests made in linked investigations, the prosecutor said. Endit