Brussels, Belgium: As many as 13 people were killed on Tuesday in explosions in Brussels and another 35 were severely injured, said Belgian media.

An explosion occurred at a metro station in Brussels close to the European Union’s institutions in the Belgian capital, injuring more than a dozen people, shortly after twin blasts rocked the city’s airport.

The metro blast occurred shortly after 0800 GMT, in the morning rush hour, at Maalbeek station.

Black smoke and clouds of dust billowed from the station entrance, about a hundred metres (yards) from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

More than a dozen people were lying on the pavement outside with bloodied faces and were being treated by emergency services.

The metro operator later said the service was being closed down.

Flights cancelled, passengers evacuated

The agency cited hospital sources as saying up to ten people wre killed at the airport.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on his twitter feed: ‘We are following the situation minute by minute. Our priority concern is for the victims and those present in the airport.’

Brussels airport said it had cancelled all flights and the complex had been evacuated and trains to the airport had been stopped. Passengers were taken to coaches from the terminal that would remove them to a secure area.

Police did not give any confirmation of the cause of the blast. But there has been a high state of alert across western Europe for fear of militant attacks backed by Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attack.

European stocks fell after the explosions, particularly travel sector stocks including airlines and hotels, pulling the broader indices down from multi-week highs. Safe-haven assets, gold and government bonds rose in price.

French citizen Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect for November’s Paris attacks on a stadium, cafes and a concert hall, was captured by Belgian police after a shootout on Friday.

Belgium’s Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, said on Monday the country was on high alert for a revenge attack.

French investigator Francois Molins told a news conference in Paris on Saturday that Abdeslam, a French citizen born and raised in Brussels, admitted to investigators he had wanted to blow himself up along with others at the Stade de France on the night of the attack claimed by Islamic State; but he later backed out.