BRUSSELS, Belgium, Feb 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Belgian authorities said Saturday one person had been killed in a shooting in a Brussels district at the centre of a spree of drug-linked violence.

The Brussels prosecutor's office said shots were fired in the evening near the Clemenceau metro station in the working-class, southwestern district of Anderlecht, killing one person.

Federal police had been put on the case, it added.

A wave of shootings in the same area have already claimed one life.

Last week two gunmen set off a manhunt after firing automatic rifles near Clemenceau, sending early-morning commuters fleeing into the metro tunnels.

There were two more shootings in the district, one of them deadly, in the following days.

Local officials blamed a "turf war" between rival gangs for the spike in violence.

Brussels has seen an increase in gun crime linked to disputes between rival drug gangs.

There were 92 shooting incidents in Brussels last year, claiming nine lives and leaving 48 people wounded, say police.

Perched on the northwestern coast of the European mainland, Belgium has become a hub for criminal gangs smuggling narcotics into the continent.