Police said gunshots were fired near Place Sainctelette and Boulevard du Neuvième de Ligne shortly after 7 p.m. and patrols were immediately dispatched to the scene.

Two people were confirmed dead, said Brussels police spokesperson Ilse Van de Keere, but more details were not immediately available. “The investigation is ongoing,” she said.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said: “My deepest condolences to the relatives of this cowardly attack in Brussels. We are monitoring the situation and ask the people of Brussels to be vigilant.”

He added that he had passed on his condolences to Sweden’s prime minister “following tonight’s harrowing attack on Swedish citizens.” Sweden is playing Belgium in an international football match at the national stadium in northern Brussels.

Belgian’s Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said she was “horrified” by the “terror attack,” adding, “All necessary means must be mobilized to combat radicalism,” Lahbib wrote on X.

A spokesperson for the Belgian National Crisis Center — charged with organizing the security response in case of a terror attack — said it was monitoring the situation.

Belgium’s Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne and De Croo are currently at the National Crisis Center, near the prime minister’s office in the Belgian capital, the spokesperson added.