POLICE in Belgium today shot dead a suspected Tunisian extremist accused of killing two Swedish football fans on Monday night in a Brussels street before disappearing into the night.

Hours after a manhunt began, Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden posted on X: “The perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Brussels has been identified and has died.”

She thanked Belgium’s intelligence and security services, as well as the public prosecutor’s office “for their swift and decisive action last night and this morning.”

The as yet unidentified man was shot by police in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood near where the rampage took place. 

Amateur videos posted on social media of Monday’s attack showed a man wearing an orange fluorescent vest pulling up on a scooter, taking out a large weapon and opening fire on people getting out of a taxi before chasing them into a building to gun them down. 

Questions remain unanswered over how the man — on police files, thought to be radicalised and being sought for deportation — was able to obtain a military weapon and launch such an attack.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his thoughts were with the victims’ families. The lives of the victimes “were cut short in full flight, cut down by extreme brutality.”