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28 March 2024

Belgian police storm house to end siege

A suspected hostage taker (left) surrenders to Belgian police after four armed men invaded an apartment in the Pilorijnstraat near Ghent on December 15, 2014. Belgian police surrounded an apartment in the city of Ghent after four armed men were believed to have taken a hostage, but there were no immediate indications of terrorism, prosecutors said. (AFP)

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By Reuters, AFP

LATEST UPDATE: Belgian police storm apartment to end siege

Belgian armed police stormed an apartment in the western city of Ghent on Monday to end a siege after reports that gunmen had taken a hostage there.

The victim was safe and well and three other men had been detained, a spokeswoman for state prosecutors said.

"Three men have been taken away though there were no weapons found. The earlier reports were of four men with kalashnikovs," she said. "...It's not entirely clear whether someone was in fact taken hostage."

Armed police in balaclavas emerged at about 1pm from the cordoned-off building in the Dampoort district.

"It's over," one police officer said.

Belgian broadcaster VRT cited neighbours as saying that the flat had been used by drug dealers.

The incident occurred within hours of Australian police locking down the centre of Sydney after an armed man walked into a downtown cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag.

The Belgian prosecution spokeswoman said there was no indication of a link in the Ghent case to terrorism.

"It's really nothing along the lines of what is happening in Sydney," she said.  

UPDATE: Three suspects in an armed hostage-taking incident in the Belgian city of Ghent surrendered to police on Monday, reports said, as officials said there were no indications of terrorism.

Police had earlier surrounded an apartment after four armed men took a captive in a working-class area of the northwestern city.

The three suspects were "taken outside, with their hands in the air" by special armed police, Flemish-speaking VRT public television reported, while the fate of the fourth man was unclear and the situation was continuing.

Neighbours said the occupants of the apartment were "drug traffickers", but Belgian authorities would only confirm that they suspected it was an isolated incident with no terror links.

"There is no indication that this is linked to terrorism or what is happening at the moment in Sydney," the Ghent prosecutor's office told AFP.

EARLIER REPORT

Four gunmen took a man hostage in an apartment in the Belgian city of Ghent on Monday, officials said, adding there was no initial evidence linking the assault to a militant organisation.

Belgian police cordoned off part of the city after the four men were seen entering the building in the Dampoort district, where they took a hostage.

"For the time being we have no indication that there is a link to terrorism," a spokeswoman for state prosecutors said.

The incident occurred hours after Australian police locked down the centre of Sydney after an armed man walked into a downtown cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag.

Belgian authorities had yet to establish contact with the Ghent hostage-takers, the spokeswoman said.

Television footage showed police blocking traffic at a cordoned off intersection while a helicopter hovered overhead and sirens blared in the background.