An international police operation is underway in the Belgian capital Brussels as police search for two suspects allegedly linked to November's deadly Paris attacks.
The operation follows raids by counter-terrorism forces earlier in the day in Brussels that have reportedly left a gunman dead and injured four police officers.
The raids took place in the Brussels suburb of Forest shortly after midday.
Belgian prosecutors say one or more suspects had barricaded themselves into an apartment.
They say police had come under heavy weapon fire through a door when carrying out the raid.
Claude Moniquet is a security and intelligence analyst with the Belgian-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre.
Mr Moniquet has told France 24 it all unfolded during what had been a routine police operation.
"It was a really routine operation, a routine house search, and it was targeting a place and not people. That's why the police officers were very small (numbers), without any weapons, just the normal weapons of police officers. No special forces, no helicopters and so on. They were just there to visit the place to take fingerprints and this kind of thing. What was not planned was the fact that the place was inhabited and that at least two or more people were inside. They were heavily armed, and they opened fire at the first moment, just through the door actually, through the wood of the door of the flat the police wanted to search."
This woman lives near the scene and described the unfolding events.
"There's a lot of police, and people are being told not to cross the street. There's a lot of confusion, there's a lot of machinery, guns, reinforcements keep coming in, and no one really knows what's going on."
Authorities say one suspect was shot dead after being spotted from a police helicopter in a nearby garden.
Prime Minister Claude Michel says four police officers were also injured during the operation.
(Translated) "During the course of the afternoon, we were immediately informed that, during an administrative search, which in the terminology used by officials was 'cold,' members of the security forces came under fire. After this, a police operation was started, which lasted all afternoon and which is still being continued at the current time. These searches were linked to the inquiries into the Paris attacks, and we have to say that four of our policemen were wounded during this operation."
Two other suspects have fled the scene.
Authorities say the raid is linked to the attacks in Paris last November that killed 130 people.
Police say the person killed in the raid is not the main suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam.
Investigators believe young French and Belgian nationals did much of the planning and preparation for those attacks, some of whom fought in Syria for the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
France says its police also took part in the raid.
The Forest area was in lockdown during the raid, with schools closed and residents asked to stay indoors.
Mayor Marc-Jean Ghyssels says calm has since returned to the suburb.
(Translated) "The situation is calm. There is a police presence, and the local residents have been staying indoors. There's a creche nearby, and this building is now totally secured. Parents are waiting to be reunited with their children. We are in contact with them, and everything is fine."
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