Brussels attacks: Suspect wounded, arrested in Belgian police operation

Explosions and gunfire rang out Friday afternoon in Brussels -- the focal point in Europe's fight against terrorism following the bloody attacks there just three days ago.

A police operation took place in the district of Schaerbeek, near where a taxi driver on Tuesday picked up three men and brought them to Brussels Airport. There, two of those carried out suicide bombings while authorities think the other escaped; about an hour later, a fresh blast rocked a train near the Maelbeek metro station.

Witnesses told , they heard two explosions, while others reported gunfire.

One man said that his son, who has a shop inside the closed-off area, saw an armed individual emerging from a metro shop who was then shot in the leg by police.

The operation ended with the arrest of one person linked to Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital, Schaerbeek Mayor Bernard Clerfayt told Belgian public broadcaster RTBF.

The mayor said that arrested person was wounded. It was not clear if that individual was the same one the shopkeeper saw shot in the leg.

Authorities earlier conducted searches in Schaerbeek for several hours Thursday into Friday morning, sealing off streets for several blocks. At one point, masked teams in hazmat gear could be seen exiting a building and heading toward a police van.

And -- acting on the taxi driver's tip -- they'd raided a Schaerbeek apartment days earlier and uncovered 15 kilograms of the explosive TATP, chemicals, a suitcase with nails and screws, an ISIS flag and other equipment meant to make explosives, according to Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw.

Van Leeuw also noted police found, on a computer in a nearby trash can, the will of one of the airport suicide bombers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui.