A couple from Tel Aviv and a French woman were shot dead at the Brussels museum in a possible terror attack

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Belgian police were hunting a gunman who shot dead three people including two Israelis at the Brussels Jewish Museum.

The first attack against a Jewish target in Belgium for more than 30 years came as the country headed into a crucial general election and as Europe went to the polls.

"An election day is usually a celebration of democracy. Today it is clouded," said Belgium's prime minister, Elio Di Rupo.

"It is in everyone's mind. In Belgium we are not accustomed to such acts of barbarity."

The deputy public prosecutor, Ine Van Wymersch, confirmed that two Israelis were among the victims as well as a French woman. A fourth critically injured victim was Belgian, she told a news conference.

Police had not been able to identify the gunman, who was probably acting alone, she said, and was well-prepared and well-armed. A picture of the suspect would be released shortly. Belgian police thought initially two gunmen were involved.

Van Wymersch said there was no claim of responsibility and added: "I cannot confirm that it is a terrorist or antisemitic act."

The French president, François Hollande, during a visit to south-west France to vote in European elections, said there was no doubt about the "antisemitic character" of the attack.

It was the first fatal attack on a Jewish centre in Belgium since the early 1980s, home to about 40,000 Jews, nearly all living in either Brussels or Antwerp.

The head of the EU executive, José Manuel Barroso, condemned the "terrible act" , saying: "This was an attack at European values which we cannot tolerate."

A Jewish community figure, Joel Rubinfeld, told AFP the shootings were clearly a terrorist act.

The area around the museum had been closed off with security strengthened across Belgium in places associated with the Jewish community, said the interior minister, Joele Milquet.

The museum shooting lasted several minutes and took place at about 4pm, with the victims apparently shot in the face and throat. The two Israelis were a couple from Tel Aviv in their 50s.

A bystander, Alain Sobotik, told AFP he saw the corpses of a young woman and a man just inside the doors of the museum. A picture shows them lying in pools of blood.

"The young woman had blood on her head. She was still holding a leaflet in her hand. She looked like a tourist," he said.

The Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, saw the two corpses at the entrance and said the two other victims had been shot further inside the museum.

He said he had been strolling nearby when he saw people fleeing and heard shots and rushed to help. When he saw "bodies on the ground in pools of blood" he called the emergency number and rounded up eyewitnesses.

The Jewish Museum of Belgium is in the heart of the Sablon district, home to many antique dealers. The area is a popular weekend haunt for shoppers and tourists.

"A deeply symbolic place was struck," said Di Rupo. "The government expresses all its support to our country's Jewish community."

In 1982, a gunman opened fire at the entrance of a synagogue in Brussels, wounding four people, two seriously. The attack on Saturday took place two years after the killing of four Jews, including three children, in the French city of Toulouse.