Belgian police arrested at least one person after a four-hour siege at a house in the Brussels district of Molenbeek today but failed to find a man wanted in connection with the Paris attacks.

Molenbeek mayor Francoise Schepmans told broadcaster RTBF that the operation was over with no one injured and that "arrests" had been made. RTBF later said one person had been detained.

Police said the operation was related to the Paris attacks and the search for Saleh Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Frenchman based in the Belgian capital for whom an international arrest warrant has been issued.

A Reuters journalist at the scene said that three special force commandos wearing gas masks entered the sieged house via the roof. After some 10-15 minutes, they came out of the front door. Armoured vehicles were also in position.

The poor district of Molenbeek, home to many Muslim immigrants, has been at the centre of investigations of militant attacks in Paris over the weekend, after it emerged that two of the attackers had lived in the area.

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