A MANHUNT is underway in Belgium after several armed men were spotted on the metro in Brussels.
Police officers are searching for a group of men after shots were fired at 6:15 am local time in front of the Clémenceau station in Anderlecht, in the west of the city.
CCTV footage obtained by RTBF showed two heavily hooded men wearing balaclavas armed with what appear to be Kalashnikovs at the entrance and inside the station.
Brussels Police have said they are looking for “a small group of people, probably two or three individuals.”
Footage taken from a building outside the station shows two men calmly walking around the entrance brandishing their weapons as commuters walk by.
They then started firing at an unknown target causing bystanders to flee into the station.
One hangs back as a man in a grey hoodie runs forward while firing before the pair sprint into the station and through the barriers.
Brussels Police have confirmed that no one was injured and that the station has been evacuated along with several others.
Several bullet casings have been recovered by investigators outside of the station.
Officials are continuing to hunt for the suspects who are believed to have fled into the underground tunnels towards the South Station Metro Station.
Mass searches are underway in the metro tunnels between the Trône and Gare de l’Ouest stations, bringing many transport links to a halt.
At 6:30 local time, services metro traffic on lines 2 and 6 were stopped and the “Constitution” tunnel near the Gare du Midi has also been closed.
Brussels-Midi station which is also the terminal for Eurostar trains has also been closed.
Officials have warned that searches for the men could go on for a number of hours.
A temporary police command hub has been set up at Anderlecht town hall.
Local reports state that the incident is believed to be related to drug trafficking.
Sarah Frederickx, spokeswoman for Brussels Police said that both local and federal railway police are taking part in the search.
The spokeswoman added that investigators would have to proceed with caution due to the weapons believed to still be in the suspects’ possession.
She said: “They are possibly still armed, and we don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
“We understand that this is a far-reaching measure taken at a difficult time of the day.
“We will reopen the tunnels as quickly as possible.”
Thousands of commuters have been impacted by the incident with the city’s public transport company MIVB warning chaos could continue for a long time.
A spokesperson said: “South Station is the busiest station on the network and there are also a lot of commuters that arrive there by train and take the metro there.
“As a result of this the impact is major. We don’t know how long it will go on for.”
According to RTBF, federal police special units left Clémenceau station just before noon local time though it is not clear if the searchers in the metro tunnels have ended.
The report added that investigators have extended the search for suspects outside of the metro network but it is not known if all underground tunnels have been inspected.
