Belgian police have launched a major operation in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek apparently linked to a planned attack in France that was foiled by police on Thursday, Belgian media have reported.

Witnesses told the Belgian state broadcaster, RTBF, they had heard two loud blasts and shots from heavy weapons during the raid, which involved at least 50 officers. One person had been “neutralised”, local media quoted police sources as saying.

Police were questioning seven men arrested in Brussels overnight and early on Friday morning following Tuesday’s airport and metro attacks in the Belgian capital. A man detained in Paris was reported to have links to the same jihadi network. Two suspects have also been held in Germany.

It also emerged on Friday that police had information that could have led to the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in November’s Paris attacks, months before he was captured in Brussels last week. Belgium’s security services are under increasing fire for failing to prevent the attacks in the capital despite the fact that at least three of the extremists were known to the authorities.

(The Guardian)