Belgium-Sweden soccer match suspended after gunman kills 2 Swedes in Brussels

Thousands of soccer fans were kept inside Belgium's national stadium for about 2-½ hours Monday after a game between host Belgium and Sweden was suspended at halftime following a gunman fatally shooting two Swedes in Brussels before kickoff.

The European Championship qualifier was being played some 5 kilometres from the shooting in the centre of the Belgian capital city, with over 35,000 fans attending the match. With the suspect still at large, Belgian authorities kept fans inside the venue for security reasons before they started the evacuation around midnight local time.

Fans chanted "All together, All together" inside the King Baudouin Stadium after the match was halted, with thousands of supporters from both sides also shouting "Sweden, Sweden!"

Manu Leroy, the CEO of the Belgian soccer union, said he discovered 10 minutes before kickoff that "something serious" had happened in downtown Brussels.

"It was decided in the first place that the match should go ahead because the stadium was the safest place to be at the time, so that the fans could stay here and be safe," he said.

Eric Van Duyse, spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office, told reporters the investigation was centring on "a possible terrorist motivation for the shooting."

"During the evening, a claim of responsibility was posted on social media, having been recorded by a person claiming to be the assailant. This person claims to be inspired by Islamic State," Van Duyse said. "The Swedish nationality of the victims was put forward as the probable motive for the act. At this time, no element indicates a possible link with the Israeli-Palestinian situation."

Van Duyse added that "security measures were urgently taken to protect the Swedish supporters."

Fa