Bomb blast damages Brussels crime laboratory

A bomb exploded at the Brussels Institute of Criminology located in the north of the city on Monday.

According to local media, the building was empty and no one has been wounded.

Reports suggest that a car rammed through the barriers at about 3 a.m. local time and one or more attackers exploded a bomb near the laboratories which caught fire.

Accruing to state broadcaster RTBF, no one has been injured but damage at the site is significant, reports the Guardian.

Police have been deployed at the site and the area has been sealed off.

The Brussels Institute of Criminology assists and advises Belgium's judicial authorities in carrying out their inquiries.

The country has been on high alert since March following attacks on the city's airport and subway that killed over 30 people.

Days before the Brussels attacks, Salah Abdeslam, one of the leaders of the terror attacks on Paris in November 2015, was arrested in the Molenbeek area of the city.