Paris attacks: Salah Abdeslam 'not arrested' in special forces siege on house in Molenbeek

The 26-year-old is the subject of an international arrest warrant after being seen in a car used to transport attackers

Belgian special forces police climb high on an apartment block during a raid in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, 16 November (Reuters)

The Brussels suburb home to the “mastermind” behind the Paris attacks and at least two suicide bombers has been at the centre of another huge police operation today.

Armed police and special forces surrounded a home in Molenbeek for three hours today as snipers were stationed on the roof.

Two small explosions were heard and dozens of masked and heavily armed security officers sealed off the area, with residents being told to stay in their homes.

Video: Police arrest Paris suspect

Prosecutors confirmed they were hunting for Salah Abdeslam, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant after allegedly hiring one of the cars used to ferry gunmen to their targets in the French capital on Friday night.

One arrest was made but Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office told RTBF television that Abdesalam had not been found.

Francoise Schepmans, the mayor of Molenbeek, said the operation had ended without injuries.

Abdeslam, 26, is said to have rented a Volkswagen Polo seen outside the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people were shot dead.

Special force officers stand guard on a roof in Rue Delaunoy, in the district of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels on November 16, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images)

He was seen in a vehicle with two other men near the Belgian border when it was stopped on Saturday morning but police let them go, officials said.

His brother, Brahim, was among the attackers and blew himself up after his ammunition ran out.

A third brother, Mohamed Abdeslam, was arrested over the weekend but has since been released without charge.

He was among five of seven suspects arrested in Brussels over the weekend to have been freed.

The remaing pair have been charge with "a terrorist act and participation in the activities of a terrorist group”, prosecutors said.

A French police union had earlier called for Molenbeek, which authorities consider a focal point for extremists and fighters, to come under EU security control, claiming the Belgian government has ceded the area to Isis.

The suburb was home to Belgian jihadi Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the Paris attacks and is being linked to three other thwarted attempts.

He has been sought by authorities since two of his co-conspirators were shot dead in January as they plotted to kill Belgian police officers just days after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Abaaoud boasted about his escape from Europe and return to Syria in a subsequent interview with Isis’ propaganda magazine.