Belgian shopping mall evacuated as three gunmen rob jewelry store

[October 22, 2016]    BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian shopping center was evacuated on Saturday after three masked robbers, armed with at least one Kalashnikov rifle, burst into a jewelry store in Chatelineau, 50 km (35 miles) south of Brussels, police said.

Police escorted dozens of shoppers out of the Cora mall, some of whom confused the sound of glass jewelry display cases being smashed with that of gunfire, police commissioner Eric De Brabander said.

No shots were fired and no one was injured in the heist, he added. The robbers escaped.

Earlier, Mayor Daniel Vanderlick told the local RTL News that gunshots had been fired with a Kalashnikov.

There was no suggestion from police that the incident had Islamist militant links. Suicide attacks claimed by Islamic State killed 32 people in Brussels in March.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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