The incident happened at around 2am on Monday morning when a auto rammed through security gates and a fire was started in Brussels’ criminal institute. No source for the information was given.
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Police – who have been deployed in force in the area which is cordoned off – said they were hunting for at least one or more suspects who then detonated a bomb.
The incident happened in the early hours Monday at the national criminology institute in Neder-Over-Hembeek, a northern suburb of Brussels, and near the famed Atomium tourist attraction.
Belgium remains on high alert since blasts claimed by Islamic State (Isis) militants rocked the city’s airport and the metro station, killing 32 people in March this year.
She said “several attackers forced their way into the institute using their vehicle and were able to attack the building”.
There have been no casualties so far, said Pierre Meys, spokesman of the Brussels fire brigade.
“With a fire you get explosions, but it’s not that explosives were thrown inside or installed”, Van Wymersch added.
“The possibility of a terrorist act is not confirmed”, Van Wymersch said in a separate statement.
“We are thinking more of deliberate arson by organized crime”.
She said witnesses reported hearing several explosions but it was not yet clear how these were caused.
Among its tasks is to carry out scientific analyses linked to criminal cases and to study the functioning of the penal system.
On Friday, one person was killed and at least four were injured in an accidental explosion at a sports center near the French border.
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A fire at a top forensic crime lab in Brussels was probably arson aimed at destroying evidence rather than terrorism, investigators have said.
