One injured in latest shooting in Brussels as city struggles with drug gang violence
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A 19-year-old man was injured in a shooting in Brussels overnight, authorities said on Wednesday, adding to a spate of gun attacks in the Belgian capital in recent months.
Police were called to the Rue Ruysdael in city's district of Anderlecht at 1 am and found the victim with a gunshot wound to his thigh, the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office said.
The victim was taken to hospital and his condition is not life-threatening, the office said.
"The investigation is ongoing in order to determine the circumstances of the events, the context in which they occurred and to identify the perpetrator(s)," the prosecutor said.
Gang-related murders rock Brussels
Brussels has been rocked by a string of shootings linked to drug gangs in recent years.
Eleven gun attacks were recorded in the capital in the first six weeks of this year alone, with two people killed and four injured. One such shooting incident in February led to a manhunt and the temporary closure of many of the city's metro stations.
Although it is unclear if the incidents are related, they are believed to be linked to territorial disputes between different drug gangs in the capital.
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Brussels shooting: Man arrested on suspicion of supplying gun to assailant in deadly attack
Brussels metro lines disrupted as police hunt for gunmen in underground network of tunnels
The port in Antwerp — 55 kilometres north of Brussels — is a hub for European imports of cocaine and has been hit by grenade explosions linked to gangland fighting.
Security officials have said that the violence was bound to trickle into other cities in Belgium.
Citizens' groups have increasingly complained about lawlessness in several Brussels neighbourhoods at night and have demanded a greater police presence.
The new Belgian government, led by Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever, has said that he wants police zones permanently merged to better combat violence in the city.
In a separate incident of violence in Brussels this week, an armed robbery took place on Monday afternoon in a jewellery store in the city centre, the prosecutor's office said.
Officers were dispatched to the store, but the suspects had already fled, it said. There were no injuries and investigations are under way, according to local police.
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