Brussels station blast said to be terrorism

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities said they foiled a “terror attack” Tuesday when soldiers shot and killed a suspect after a small explosion at a Brussels train station that continued a week of attacks in the capitals of Europe.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers “neutralized” a suspect at the Central Station immediately after the explosion there Tuesday night. The man lay still for several hours while a bomb squad checked whether he was armed with more explosives. Fearful people ran from the station as security personnel evacuated it, witnesses said.

Prosecutor’s spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch confirmed his death early Wednesday and said no other explosives were found. Some Belgian media had reported earlier that the suspect was wearing a bomb belt.

Mr. Van der Sypt said no one else was injured besides the suspect and the damage from the explosion was limited.

The incident comes as Europe is on high alert following a foiled attack on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Monday and several attacks in recent weeks in Britain, including the attack by a van driver who tried to run down worshippers outside a London mosque.

Elsewhere, French police detained four family members of the man who was killed after ramming his car into a Paris police convoy, as authorities struggled Tuesday to explain how the Champs-Elysees attacker was able to keep his gun permit despite being monitored for links to extremism.

Across the English Channel, the family of the man suspected of ramming a van into Muslim worshipers — identified by British media as Darren Osborne, 47, — offered public condolences Tuesday.