Belgian police launch new raids in Brussels

Meanwhile, AFP has reported that Belgian police launched a major new operation on Monday in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, where several suspects in the Paris attacks had previously lived.

Dozens of armed police blocked a street in the area.

Police issued a warning over a loudspeaker to residents, AFP reporters said, while Belgian media reported that officers had surrounded a house and were telling the occupants to come out.

Belgian prosecutors had no immediate comment on the raid.

Paris attacker Brahim Abdeslam, a Belgium-based Frenchman who blew himself up outside a bar on Boulevard Voltaire, was from Molenbeek.

French police have launched an international manhunt for Abdeslam's Brussels-born brother Salah, who is also said to be linked to the Paris attacks.

Reports early on Monday of his arrest in the Molenbeek area were later dismissed by the police.