Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect of the Paris attacks, wounded after police operation in Brussels
Salah Abdeslam, the most wanted man in Europe, has been wounded and captured in a police raid in the Molenbeek district of Brussels on Friday afternoon.
The Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens and French police have confirmed that Abdeslam was arrested, Reuters reports.
According to RTL Abdeslam, 26, has suffered an injury to one of his legs and is being treated in hospital.
The operation is still ongoing and a fresh round of gunshots were heard at around 6:30 pm CET. One person has reportedly been killed by police, with two more wounded.
One man is reportedly still hiding in a house on the rue des Quatre Vents in Molenbeek. Police threw grenades toward the house where the special forces are carrying out the raid.
According to Le Soir a male named as Soufyane Kayal has also been arrested during the operation.
A state of emergency has been declared in Molenbeek, Françoise Schepmans, mayor of the Malenbeek-Saint-Jean commune told RTL, saying it was to ensure the security of the locals and to help those who could not return home tonight as the operation is expected to continue for several hours.
The operation was organised after DNA traces of Abdeslam were found in the flat raided in the Forest suburb of Brussels, on Tuesday. A 35-year-old Algerian man who was an ISIS fighter was killed by police in Tuesday's raid, and four police officers were wounded during that operation.
This picture from RTL INFO shows one of the men being captured:
Entire city blocks were sealed off by the police as the operation continued:
One journalist for RTL described what she saw during the operation:
"There was a movement of panic, there were screams, then there was a race in the street. A man was running, special unit police officers were running behind him, they fired several shots in his direction and he fell down in the street... It was very impressive and shocking... an ambulance came straight away."
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel left the EU summit in Brussels in a hurry and without giving a press conference because of ongoing police operation in Molenbeek. French President François Hollande joined him, and both are now following the police operations.
Police used this drone during the raid:
This is the Mollenbeek area:
A police spokeswoman told Reuters an operation was ongoing and could not give further details. An emergency phone number was set up for people in Molenbeek (02 600 49 61).
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