Belgian police have shot and captured a terror suspect in a major daylight operation at a tram stop, as part of a European crackdown that has netted several arrests in the wake of the Brussels attacks.

Key points: Brussels attacks suspect shot in leg and detained by police

Brussels attacks suspect shot in leg and detained by police Arrest comes after French police reveal foiled terror strike there

Arrest comes after French police reveal foiled terror strike there Links between Brussels, Paris and new French attack deepen

The raids came as investigators said they had uncovered new evidence of a European jihadist cell tied to the Brussels attacks, November's Paris attacks and a new French plot.

In dramatic scenes, a man suspected of being involved in the new plot was shot in the leg at a tram stop in the Schaerbeek district, where police this week found a bomb factory linked to the Brussels attacks, which killed 31 people and injured hundreds of others.

Heavily armed police and military with trucks cordoned off an area around a major intersection and three blasts were heard, which the district's mayor Bernard Clerfayt said were controlled explosions.

"I can confirm a police operation targeting a person who was intercepted by police and suffered a slight leg injury," Mr Clerfayt said.

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Witnesses told local media police had shot a man in the leg at a tram stop after he failed to respond to their orders.

"I heard two explosions, they were shooting. I opened the window and saw a man lying near the tram stop," a witness who lives nearby told La Libre newspaper.

"The police ordered him to show his hands, remove his jacket. They said that if he did not comply, they would use their weapons."

Police sources say Kriket was found guilty last year of being part of a jihadist network. ( Supplied: France Interior Ministry )

Video from the scene showed the man lying on his side, shattered glass from the tram shelter smashed by bullets at his feet.

A bomb squad robot approached the wounded man, checking for explosives. He was taken in for questioning.

The operation was connected to the arrest of 34-year-old Reda Kriket in Paris 24 hours earlier, which French authorities said helped "foil a plot in France that was at an advanced stage".

Kriket was previously convicted in absentia in Belgium in a terror case alongside Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

French officials did not directly tie that plot to the Brussels attacks, but Mr Clerfayt said the shot man was linked to both investigations.

German authorities also arrested a man believed to be connected to the Brussels attackers.

Airport bomber's DNA links him to Paris attacks

Belgian prosecutors meanwhile revealed the DNA of one of the Brussels Airport bombers was found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and on a bomb at the Stade de France venue.

Najim Laachraoui, a veteran Belgian Islamist fighter in Syria, was pushing a luggage trolley that contained a bomb hidden in a suitcase at the Brussels Airport.

His DNA was also recovered at several safe houses in Belgium used by a jihadist cell.

The DNA announcement linked the Paris and Brussels tragedies in a definite way.

A huge manhunt is still underway for at least two suspects - one of the airport attackers wearing a hat whose bomb failed to go off and another man seen in the metro with the bomber there.

Prosecutors have confirmed that Khalid El Bakraoui — who blew himself up at Maelbeek metro station shortly after his brother Ibrahim did the same at the airport — was the subject of an international warrant over the Paris attacks.

The two brothers were also linked to the video surveillance of a senior Belgian nuclear official in December, Belgium's DH newspaper reported, adding they may have been planning an attack on one of the country's nuclear sites.

Ten hours of footage, showing the official's comings and goings, was reportedly found at the property of Mohamed Bakkali, incarcerated in Belgium for his links to the Paris attackers.

Investigators also said Khalid El Bakraoui rented an apartment in Brussels used by key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was taken into custody in the Belgian capital on March 18.

The nation's federal prosecutor revealed Abdeslam "has invoked his right to silence" and has not spoken to investigators since a few brief interviews the day after his arrest.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel rejected resignations offered by his interior and justice ministers on Thursday over a failure to track airport bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who was expelled last year by Turkey as a suspected fighter.

The brothers were also listed in American terrorism databases, television network NBC reported.

AFP/Reuters