Islamists held after agents foil attack

treated with caution, however.

The arrests came as police in Belgium hunted for two suspects who went on the run after a raid on Wednesday by French and Belgian forces in Brussels. A suspected terrorist was killed by a police sniper and an Islamic State flag and extremist Salafist propaganda were found by his body.

The dead man has been identified by prosecutors as Mohammed Belkaid, 35, an Algerian living illegally in Belgium. He was armed with a Kalashnikov gun.

‘‘One suspect was neutralised by a sniper of the special forces when he tried to open fire towards the police from a window of the flat where he was hiding,’’ Thierry Werts, of the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said.

During heavy gunfire two armed men fled across rooftops, prompting a huge search as police sealed the area near the main railway station in Brussels.

Belkaid opened fire when Belgian and French anti-terrorism officers rang the doorbell at where he was holed up with the two other suspects.

‘‘From the moment the door of the flat was opened, at least two people armed with a riot gun and a Kalashnikov opened fire towards them,’’ said Werts. ‘‘In the short but intense shootout three of the six officers suffered slight injuries, among them a French female police officer.’’ He said two people had fled. Prosecutors have ruled out a link to Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian wanted in connection with the Paris massacres, which are believed to have been co-ordinated from Brussels.