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Reuters

Belgian police have arrested 16 people during anti-terrorism raids, opening fire on one vehicle as the occupants attempted to flee.
However, they did not find Salah Abdeslam, the Brussels man who is suspected of playing a key role in the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks, Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sijpt said early on Monday.
During one of 19 raids mounted on Sunday across the capital Brussels, police fired on a vehicle but it was not clear if those inside were connected to those being sought, Van Der Sijpt told a brief news conference. Police shot at the vehicle in Molenbeek - a suburb that has become a hotspot of Islamist militant activity in Europe.
The suspects fled the scene but were later intercepted elsewhere in Brussels. One suspect in the car was injured and arrested.
Three houses were also searched in Charleroi, south of Brussels
No arms or explosives were found, the prosecutor said.
In addition to Molenbeek, the Brussels raids were carried out in the districts of Jette, Anderlecht, Schaerbeek, Forest and Woluwe-Saint- Lambert.
Watch: 16 arrested in Belgian anti-terror raids

The raids late on Sunday came after the Belgian prime minister announced another day of lockdown in the capital for fear a new, Paris-style mass attack may be imminent.
Prime Minister Charles Michel, speaking after a meeting of security chiefs called to review the threat status, said the capital's metro, universities and schools would remain closed on Monday.
For the rest of the country, a threat level of three on a four-tier scale would remain in place, Michel said. Brussels would remain at level four, meaning an attack was imminent, as it has been since Saturday.
“What we fear is an attack similar to the one in Paris, with several individuals who could possibly launch several attacks at the same time in multiple locations,” Michel told a news conference.
Armed police mounted searches in several parts of the capital on Sunday evening and cordoned off areas close to the main tourist attraction, the Renaissance Grand Place around the town hall. The public broadcaster said there were also raids near Liege in the east and Charleroi, south of Brussels.
Helicopters could be heard flying over the capital.
Possible targets were malls, shopping streets and public transport, Michel said, adding the government would boost police and army presence in the capital beyond already high levels.
He said a new evaluation of the situation would be made on Monday afternoon and everything was being done to return the city to normal as quickly as possible.
Commuters trying to get to work on Monday are expected to suffer delays as a result of the metro closure, though some companies had already indicated on Sunday they were ready for staff to work from home.
Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris attacks on November 13 that left 130 people dead after links with Brussels emerged.
Two of the Paris suicide bombers, Brahim Abdeslam and Bilal Hadfi, had been living in Belgium. Fugitive suspected militant Salah Abdeslam, Brahim's 26-year-old brother, slipped back home to Brussels from Paris shortly after the attacks.
Earlier, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Salah Abdeslam was not the only security threat.
“It is a threat that goes beyond just that one person,” he told broadcaster VRT. “We're looking at more things, that's why we've put in place such a concentration of resources.”
Bernard Clerfayt, the mayor of the Brussels district of Schaerbeek, was quoted by broadcaster RTBF as saying there were “two terrorists” in the Brussels area ready to carry out violence.
Mohamed Abdeslam, the brother of Brahim and Salah, urged Salah in an interview on RTBF television to give himself up, adding that he believed Salah was still alive because he had had a last-minute change of heart while in Paris.
The Belgian government has advised the public to be alert rather than panic-stricken. People have been told to avoid crowds in the capital, while authorities have also closed museums, cinemas and shopping centres. Clubs and venues have cancelled events.
Brussels' chief rabbi Albert Gigi told Israel's Army Radio on Sunday that the city's synagogues were shut over the weekend for the first time since World War Two.
Soldiers are on guard in parts of Brussels, a city of 1.2 million people and home to institutions of the European Union and the headquarters of NATO.
Additional reporting by Xinhua


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Paris terror attacks

16 arrested in Belgian anti-terror raids, but key Paris suspect is not found

epa05037852 Police arrive for an operation in Brussels, Belgium, 22 November 2015. The city of Brussels will remain at Belgium's highest level of terrorism alert following a decision made by the Belgian national security council. The decision came as police continued a manhunt for two suspected terrorists wanted in connection with the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks. Multiple suspects connected to the bombings and shootings in Paris, which killed 130 people and left 352 injured, had ties to the Belgian capital. For more than a week, police in Brussels have been searching for Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the Paris suicide bombers. EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

(151122)-- BRUSSELS, Nov. 22, 2015 (Xinhua) -- Belgian soldiers patrol in central Brussels, capital of Belgium, on Nov. 22, 2015. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel confirmed on Sunday evening that the level 4 of terror alert, the highest possible, for the Brussels region remained in place. He said the rest of Belgium remains on level 3, following a new assessment by OCAM, the Belgian Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis. "I confirm that we fear there might be a similar attack to Paris," said Charles Michel.(Xinhua/Zhou Lei) 

epa05037829 Belgian security forces during a police operation in Molenbeek, Belgium, 22 November 2015. The city of Brussels will remain at Belgium's highest level of terrorism alert following a decision made by the Belgian national security council. The decision came as police continued a manhunt for two suspected terrorists wanted in connection with the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks. Multiple suspects connected to the bombings and shootings in Paris, which killed 130 people and left 352 injured, had ties to the Belgian capital. For more than a week, police in Brussels have been searching for Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the Paris suicide bombers EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Police arrive for an operation in Brussels late on Sunday, part of a series of anti-terrorism raids. Photo: EPA

Brussels remains in lockdown as authorities search for 'several suspects' linked to Paris attacks

A military armoured vehicle guards next to the Grande Place squares. Photo: EPA

Soldiers patrol a popular shopping and dining strip. AFP

Stores were closed after the terror alert was raised to its highest level.  Photo: AFP

Police detain a man after stopping and searching his car.  Photo: AP

Obama calls for defiance in face of jihadist threat

US President Barack Obama in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Paris attacks mastermind confirmed dead in seven-hour siege, as France warns of chemical attacks by Islamic State

Abdelhamid Abaaoud (left) was killed in the police raid (right) on Wednesday in Saint Denis. Photos: AFP, Reuters

An alternative crop of an undated picture taken on November 16, 2015 from the February 2015 issue 7 of the Islamic State (IS) group online English-language magazine Dabiq, purportedly shows 27-year-old Belgian IS group leading militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud, also known as Abu Umar al-Baljiki and believed to be the mastermind of a jihadist cell dismantled in Belgium in January 2015, posing at an undisclosed location to illustrate an interview he gave to the magazine. The body of the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, has been identified among those killed in a police raid, the prosecutor's office said on November 19, 2015. AFP PHOTO / HO / DABIQ === RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / DABIQ" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS FROM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES, AFP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIGITAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PICTURE'S EDITORIAL CONTENT, DATE AND LOCATION WHICH CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIE

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls gestures as he addresses French lawmakers debating a measure that would extend a state of emergency declared by the French president until the end of February, at the National Assembly in Paris on November 19, 2015. Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned of the danger of an attack in France using "chemical or biological weapons", in a speech to lawmakers debating the extension of a state of emergency. AFP PHOTO / FRANCOIS GUILLOT

A member of French riot police stands guard at the entrance of a cordened off area outside a building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, on November 19, 2015, where French Police special forces raided an appartment the day before, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago. French police said the assault had concluded on an apartment in northern Paris on Wednesday in which at least two jihadists were killed and seven arrested. AFP PHOTO/KENZO TRIBOUILLARD

A French policeman and a forensic expert enter a building as they work on the scene in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, November 19, 2015 the day after a police raid to catch fugitives from Friday night's deadly attacks in the French capital. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in the police raid on Wednesday in Saint Denis. Photo: AFP

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Police in Brussels open fire on one vehicle as 22 raids are launched nationwide amid fears of imminent attack
