
Worried parents led their children away from a primary school in a Brussels district where police were hunting a jihadi cell linked the Paris terror attacks.

Officers killed at least one AK-47 wielding gunman during a siege on the safe house in the Forest district of the Belgian capital, but two other suspects are still on the run.

Police were preparing to storm a suspected jihadi safe house in a southern district of the Belgian capital when the men opened fire with assault rifles.

'As soon as the agents rang the doorbell, gunfire was directed at them from inside. A number of officers were wounded,' said Eric Van Der Sypt spokesman for the Belgian federal police.

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Worried parents led their children away from a school in a Brussels district where police were hunting a jihadi cell linked the Paris terror attacks

Terrified parents were pictured clutching their children tightly following the shootout in the Forest district of Brussels earlier today

Police ordered residents to stay in their homes and shut down a local primary school after a shootout broke out between officers and suspected jihadis

A victim is removed from the scene where shots were fired during a police anti-terror raid in Brussels linked to the Paris massacre suspects

Officers were preparing to storm a suspected jihadi safe house in Brussels when they drew fire from two men (pictured, a sniper taking his position on the roof)

Police officers take positions on a roof as they surrounded the building where other suspects are believed to holed up

A masked police officer takes up position on top of a roof during a police operation linked to the Paris massacres

It later emerged that four policemen were injured - three during an initial search of a property and the fourth as police mobilised outside. They locked down the area, ordered residents to stay indoors and shut down a local primary school.

Armed officers 'neutralised' one suspect, who is yet to be identified, as he tried to flee the house. Officers in a helicopter flying overhead spotted him in a nearby garden at around 6.30pm when he shot at a police dog.

Later, Belgian officials said a dead body was found inside the besieged apartment. It is not known whether it was a second dead suspect or the same one killed in a garden shootout.

'His identity has not been established yet but whatever the case, it is not Salah Abdeslam,' said Mr Van Der Sypt, referring to one of the Paris attackers.

A helicopter flew overhead as police commandos and snipers surrounded the building where the men, thought to linked to the November 13 attacks in which 130 were killed, were hiding.

Neighbours heard officers ordering the suspects to surrender before a number of shootouts broke out.

Police secure an area after an apartment raid in Brussels which was linked to suspects involved in the Paris terror attacks

Belgian officials said a dead body was found inside the besieged apartment but it is not known whether it was a second dead suspect or the same one killed in a garden shootout

Police commandos were deployed while snipers climbed onto rooftops to surround the building where other suspects are holed up

Four policemen were wounded during the raid - three during an initial search of a property and the fourth as police mobilised outside (pictured, armed police surround the property in the Forest suburb)

The house that was raided is located near the main north-south railway linking Paris and Amsterdam and an Audi car factory

Police hunting for the Paris terror attack suspects have killed an AK-47 wielding gunman following a shootout in Brussels (pictured, a sniper taking his position near the besieged property)

A helicopter flew overhead as police commandos and snipers surrounded the building where the Paris attack suspects were thought to be hiding

Locals suggested the police mishandled the raid, with one saying: 'You would have thought they would have checked to see it was empty before ringing the doorbell... They gave those in time plenty of time to start firing, and then to escape.'

A spokeswoman for the police, who were acting on a tip off about the terror attacks, said two officers were lightly wounded in an initial incident and a third was also slightly hurt later.

Pictures showed a victim being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher but it was not clear whether it was a policeman or a suspect.

A spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutor said: 'This operation is connected to the Paris attacks.'

The house that was raided is located near the main north-south railway linking Paris and Amsterdam and an Audi car factory. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said French police units were also involved in the siege.

Investigators believe much of the planning and preparation for the Paris attacks were carried out by young French and Belgians, some of whom fought in Syria.

Local media reported the raid took place in the Forest neighbourhood which is close to Molenbeek, where several jihadis behind the Paris attacks lived.

A police officer runs to take up his position during the raid on a suspected jihadi safehouse in Brussels suburb of Forest

Police officers stand at the site of a shooting during an anti-terror road on Dries-Driesstraat at Forest-Vorst in Brussels

A police officer runs in the street near the site of a shootout on Dries-Driesstraat at Forest-Vorst in Brussels

Among them was Salah Abdeslam, who is said to have fled to Brussels after the attacks, before completely disappearing.

Abdeslam, 26, who is believed to have played a key logistical role, fled across the border to Belgium hours after the November 13 killings and is now one of the most wanted men in Europe.

But a police source said he was not the target of today's raid. His associate Mohamed Abrini is also still at large.

In January, Belgian authorities said they had found two apartments and a house used by Abdeslam and other suspects in the run-up to the attacks.

A fingerprint belonging to Abdeslam was found in the apartment along with traces of explosives, possible suicide belts and a drawing of a person wearing a large belt.

Authorities also found DNA traces from Bilal Hadfi, another of the attackers.

The other premises were a flat in Charleroi, a town south of the capital Brussels where a major airport is located, as well as a house in the rural village of Auvelais near the French border.

Anti-police get kitted up. Two men with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire on officers when they arrived at a house in the Belgian capital

Officers are said to be acting on a tip off related to last November's terrorist attacks in Paris when 130 people were murdered by an ISIS cell

On the run: 'World's most wanted man' Salah Abdeslam (left) and Mohamed Abrini (right) are still being hunted over the Paris attacks

Bodies are covered in white sheets as rescue workers help survivors at Le Carillon restaurant in Paris during a series of co-ordinated gun and suicide bomb attacks by an ISIS cell that killed 130 people last November

The Belgian capital, home of the European Union as well as Western military alliance NATO, was locked down for days after the Paris on fears of a major incident there.

Brussels has maintained a high state of security alert since then, with military patrols a regular sight.