One killed as Belgian police hunt for Paris attack suspects

One suspect was killed late on Tuesday in a Brussels police raid linked to the Islamic State attacks in Paris, according to Belgian media reports.

News of the suspect's killing emerged hours after four Belgian officers were injured when they came under assault rifle fire during the operation.

The Tuesday raid comes as Belgian police continue their hunt for Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the November attacks which killed 130 people, who comes from Brussels.

"Police were fired at," Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor, told the AFP news agency, adding that the search in the southern Forest district was "linked to the Paris attacks investigation".

A Belgian judicial source told AFP that four police were wounded in the raids. 

Three were wounded during an initial search of a property in Forest while a fourth was hit by gunfire during the huge police mobilisation afterwards, Eric Van Der Sypt said.

Two suspects were on the run, the Derniere Heure newspaper reported.

French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said French police were also involved in the raid.

"A team made up of Belgian and French police came under fire, apparently from assault weapons," he said.

"I'm being prudent because the operation is ongoing and I won't make any other comment than to confirm that this did take place."

Since mid-November, 11 people have been arrested and charged in Belgium in connection with the killings and eight are still in detention.

Abdeslam and his associate Mohamed Abrini, both from the Molenbeek area of Brussels, are still at large.

A French police source said Abdelslam was not the target of Tuesday's raid.