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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/08/belgian-police-open-fire-on-car--high-speed-chase-brussels-suburb-explosives
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| Belgian police open fire on car after high-speed chase in Brussels suburb | Belgian police open fire on car after high-speed chase in Brussels suburb |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Belgian police shot at a vehicle during a high-speed chase through Brussels before arresting the driver and clearing the area after he claimed his car contained explosives. | |
| No injuries were reported, but 400 people were trapped inside a secure perimeter around the car, which had been forced to stop by police on a major road in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek. Bomb disposal experts were at the scene. | |
| The incident began at about 5pm on Tuesday when local police chased a vehicle that had gone through at least one red light in Anderlecht, west of Brussels. The driver collided with a police car before officers fired their guns to try to stop the vehicle from escaping. | |
| The Belgian broadcaster RTL quoted a police spokesman as saying that shots were fired at the vehicle after it became stuck in traffic and the driver reversed into a police car. | |
| It is not believed the shots impeded the vehicle, however, and the car was only stopped when it struck a second police car that had been called to the scene. | |
| On his arrest, the driver told police that his vehicle contained explosives. | |
| The bomb disposal service, SEDEE, was working around the vehicle in the early evening. The suspect has not yet been identified, the Brussels prosecutor’s office said. | |
| It has been reported that the vehicle is registered in Germany. Police could not immediately be reached for comment. | |
| A police spokesman told RTL: “We got the driver out, and he immediately told us that there were explosives inside.” | A police spokesman told RTL: “We got the driver out, and he immediately told us that there were explosives inside.” |
| Brussels has been on high alert since 32 people were killed in suicide attacks in March 2016. Many suspects linked to those attacks and the November 2015 massacre in Paris lived in or transited through Molenbeek. | |
| This is a breaking news story. More details soon … | This is a breaking news story. More details soon … |