One Belgian private broadcaster, VTM, said two further suspects
had been detained but there was no confirmation.
Brussels police killed the unidentified person who had an assault
rifle after four officers were wounded on Tuesday during what
investigators had expected to be a routine search on an apartment in
the south of the Belgian capital.
Michel told RTL radio on Wednesday morning that police planned
further operations in the coming hours and days.
"The threat remains," Michel said, adding that Belgium would review
its level of alertness and consider possible extra measures during
the day.
Brussels, headquarters of the European Union as well as Western
military alliance NATO, was entirely locked down for days shortly
after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks for fear of a major incident there.
Several of those involved in the Islamic State shootings and suicide
bombings were based in the city.
Brussels has maintained a high state of security alert since then,
with military patrols a regular sight.
Police searched nearby buildings through the night in the Brussels
borough of Forest but did not confirm Belgian media reports that
they were hunting two further suspects.
One or more people opened fire on police as they opened a door of an
apartment. One of the wounded, none of whom was in a serious
condition, was a French policewoman. Ministers said the presence of
French officers was a coincidence and there had been no expectation
that the house search would yield much evidence.
Local mayor Marc-Jean Ghyssels told public broadcaster RTBF that
police searches in Forest were over: "The area is totally cleared,
totally secured and operations have ended," he said. "VERY SCARED"
People living in the area, who suffered hours of lockdown after the
initial operation turned into a firefight, said they were shocked at
the turn of events in their quiet neighborhood.
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Schoolboy Maxime, 11, was at home sick when he heard gunfire and
helicopters and saw masked commandos on a rooftop. "They had a huge
weapon," he said, adding he had been "very, very scared".
Federal prosecutors, who have been coordinating the investigation in
Belgium into the Paris attacks, were due to hold a news conference
at 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT)
Investigators believe much of the planning and preparation for the
Paris assault was conducted in Brussels by young French and Belgian
nationals, some of whom fought in Syria.
Belgian security forces have been actively hunting suspects and
associates of the militants involved in the Paris attacks.
One of the prime suspects, 26-year-old Brussels-based Frenchman
Salah Abdeslam, is still on the run. He left Paris hours after his
brother blew himself up outside a cafe. Belgian authorities are
holding 10 people who have been arrested in the months since the
attacks, mostly for helping Abdeslam.
Belgium, with a Muslim population of about 5 percent among its 11
million people, has the highest rate in Europe of citizens joining
Islamist militants in Syria.
(Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
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