Brussels attacks: Security lockdown as blasts rock city

A series of explosions across Brussels has left at least thirteen dead and many injured.

Public transport has been shut down in the Belgian city and citizens are being urged to stay at home in the aftermath. The country's terror alert level has been raised to its highest level.

This is not the first time Brussels has been a city on lockdown. In the days following the Paris terror attacks, Belgium's capital was scoured by security forces for the remaining fugitives from the French atrocity.

Over the weekend, suspect Salah Abdeslam was arrested when police raided a flat in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of the city, the result of several days of security operations.

The police operation in which Salah Abdeslam arrested in Belgium.

In a raid prior to his capture, an Islamic State flag was found by the body of a gunman shot in a house raid as two suspects fled.

Whilst it is perhaps too soon to attribute this series of attacks as retaliation for the capture of Abdeslam, it has been suggested that existing plans may have been moved forward to prevent the failed suicide bomber from divulging any information during interrogation.