Belgian troops patrolling Brussels Central Station "neutralized" a person after a small explosion on Tuesday, a police spokesperson said, adding that there were no other casualties and the situation was under control. He was later confirmed dead. According to NBC News, witnesses said that soldiers and armed police officers sealed off the entrances to the Brussels Central Station and surrounded it so that no one could get in or out.
A public prosecutor, quoted by local media, said the man was wearing an explosive belt.
Federal officials have described the incident as a foiled "terror attack".
The suspect in a Brussels train station blast is dead, Belgian prosecutors say. And the nearby Grand Place, a popular tourist destination, was also evacuated, local authorities confirmed.
Police had quickly evacuated the station and surrounding areas of historic downtown Brussels after the incident around 8:30 pm.
The Agence France-Presse reports that a witness heard the suspect shout "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) before the explosion.
He said he would hold a meeting of his national security council on Wednesday at 9:00 am (0700 GMT).
The suspect lay motionless for some time after he was shot, but paramedics had to wait for the all-clear from the bomb squad before examining him, Brussels prosecutor's office spokesperson Ine van Wymersch said. Images posted on social media showed a small fire on the floor of a wide passageway that leads down to trains.
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He was "shot several times" by soldiers guarding the station after "he triggered the device", according to a source.
Public broadcaster VRT said investigators believed the man had a nail bomb that failed to detonate completely.
The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union, has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Daesh cell organised an attack that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015.
The March 22, 2016 bloodshed in Brussels hit Zaventem airport and a metro train killing at least 32 people, four months after bombings and shootings in Paris that killed 130 people.
Crisis Center Belgium have advised that a controlled explosion may have be carried out on the scene by bomb disposal experts.
The attack was later claimed by the IS.
The security threat alert level in Belgium now stands at 3, the second highest.
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