Man Held after Crashing Car into Military Barracks in Belgium

A man rammed his car into the gates of a military barracks near the Belgian city of Namur on Monday and was later arrested, but there was no indication of a terror motive, a prosecutor said.

The suspect, born in the French-speaking city of Namur in 1983, "did not figure on terror watch lists" and was "practically unknown" to law-enforcement authorities, prosecutor Vincent Macq told a news briefing.

No casualties were reported in the attack, which immediately rang alarm bells in a country on high alert after a wave of violence by Islamic State-affiliated jihadists, including a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014.

"The likelihood that this was an isolated incident, even the act of an mentally impaired individual, cannot be excluded," prosecutor Macq said.

The suspect was arrested hours after fleeing on foot from the Flawinne military barracks where guards fired warning shots at his dark colored Ford Focus, which he abandoned in a muddy field nearby.

Terrorism "is not the main line of inquiry," Macq said, adding that in 2010 the man had been a candidate to join the military.

There were no explosives in the car, contrary to earlier reports, said Macq.

His only weapon "was his car," he added.

The Flawinne military base, eight kilometers (five miles) from downtown Namur, is home to Belgium's Second Commando Battalion of 650 soldiers, most of whom are currently taking part in a NATO exercise in Spain.

Only about fifty soldiers were in the facility at the time of the incident, prosecutors said.

The prosecutor said the perpetrator was "partly masked" in the attack, and was faced with "a dozen warning shots" by entry guards as he sped towards them.

Once abandoned, a military bomb squad arrived to inspect the car, which they then moved inside the base perimeter. Hours after the incident, the sound of a muffled explosion was heard from the barracks. 

An AFP photographer at the scene said the area had been sealed off by authorities, with a helicopter flying overhead.

During the three-hour manhunt, residents said police combed the neighborhood looking for the driver.

Nearby military facilities and a police academy were locked down. 

A local TV station said that pupils at a nearby school were told to remain indoors, but the city mayor later said it was not necessary for parents to collect their children early.

Belgium's Defense Minister Stephen Vandeput was expected to visit the scene.

The incident stirred memories of recent deadly attacks, including the killing of four people at the Jewish museum in central Brussels in 2014 by a jihadist gunman.

In January, the security forces killed two suspected jihadist fighters in Verviers, eastern Belgium, who they claimed were planning imminent attacks on police.