Paris attacks ringleader Salah Abdeslam 'caught alive' in Brussels terror raid

The suspected ringleader behind the Paris attacks has been caught alive by police.

The most wanted terrorist in the world was thought to have been caught alive in Brussels after being wounded by terror police.

Salah Abdeslam, 26, has been on the run since November after taking part in the Paris massacres in which 130 people were murdered.

He narrowly evaded capture on numerous occasions since then, and is known to have been in a flat that was raided on Tuesday.

Media in Brussels have now reported his capture.

Other media reported two people had been arrested, though France"s President Francois Hollande said there was no confirmation of the detention of Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old French suspect from Brussels.

Television footage showed masked, black-clad security forces guarding a street in the capital and reporters at the scene described white smoke rising from a rooftop.

Brussels shootout with terror suspect Salah Abdeslam (Picture: Sky News)

The suspected jihadi is said to have suffered a ‘flesh wound" while escaping, and then managed to retreat the district of Molenbeek, where he was bo and brought up.

Gunfire was heard soon after 4.30pm, and then local media sources said he has caught alive in the area.

French President Francois Hollande said: ‘There is a link with the Paris attacks but for now we have to let the Belgian police do their job and complete the operation, which is ongoing," Hollande told reporters after an EU summit.

‘We don"t have confirmation at the moment, and all information that is premature would go counter to what we are trying to do … to arrest and neutralise this individual."

Salah Abdeslam is wanted by police in connection with recent terror attacks in Paris (Picture: AP)

Police take cover at the scene where shots were fired during a police search of a house in the suburb of Forest near Brussels (Picture: Reuters)

Another fierce gunfight took place around the Forest district of the Belgian capital on Tuesday, and one Kalashnikov-wielding jihadi was gunned down.

But it is thought that Abdeslam was one of two men who managed to escape across rooftops after getting out of a skylight.

His fingerprints were found inside the Forest flat, which was being used as a hideout, and as a forged documents factory.

Abdeslam"s DNA was also found on glass which ended up being shattered by bullets flying in and out during the raid, in which four police officers were injured.

Abdeslam removed his suicide vest and fled the Friday November 13th caage in Paris, after dropping off other killers in a car he had hired.

He got friends to drive him back to Brussels and – despite three police checks – managed to get away.

Since then there have numerous theories as to where he might be, ranging from the Isis caliphate in Syria, to Morocco, where Abdeslam originally comes from.

Hundreds of police forces are involved in the search for him, with Most Wanted posters issued all over the world.

A terror shootout in Brussels (Picture: Sky)

On Wedndesday, prosecutors released two men held in the wake of Tuesday"s raid without charge, but the hunt for two unidentified suspects continues.

The dead man was identified as Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian living illegally in Belgium.

Belkaid, 35, was shot dead by a police sniper as he prepared to fire on police from a window, prosecutors said.

A Kalashnikov was found by his body, as well as a book on Salafism, the extremist ideology which drives Isis.

A black and white Isis flag was discovered inside the flat, along with a large stock of ammunition.

A Belgian Moroccan aged 27 was said to be managing the Forest flat where the shoot-out took place. The unnamed man is said to have signed a lease on another flat in nearby Charleroi, which some of the Paris gunmen also visited.

The other nine men who took part in the Paris attacks all died, either through machine gun fire or because they blew themselves up. One of them was Abdelslam"s brother, Brahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up in a café.

Eleven people based in Belgium have so far been charged in connection with the Paris attacks. Eight of those 11 remain in custody.