Brussels police open fire on car in Molenbeek suburb — report

Brussels police open fire on a car after a high-speed chase in the suburb of Molenbeek, and the driver has told officers there are explosives inside the vehicle.

Brussels prosecutor’s spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch tells The Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon that police fired once at the car, which was involved in two collisions during the chase.

Van Wymersch says: “When they got the person out, he immediately claimed that there were explosives inside.”

She says the man was alone and no one is injured.

A police vehicle blocks a road in the Molenbeek suburb of Brussels, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)
A police vehicle blocks a road in the Molenbeek suburb of Brussels, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

Army bomb disposal experts have been called in and police have sealed off the area, locking a number of people in nearby shops as a precaution, Van Wymersch says.

Brussels has been on high alert since 32 people were killed in 2016 suicide attacks. Many suspects linked to those attacks and the November 2015 massacre in Paris lived in or transited through Molenbeek.

— AP

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