One person died after a shooting in Brussels that was likely linked to clashes between rival drug gangs, the local prosecutor's office said on Friday, highlighting rising crime in the Belgian capital city which also hosts the main EU institutions.

A spree of drug-linked shootings, one deadly, has set Brussels on edge with authorities appearing powerless to stem a rise in violent crime linked to a booming narcotics trade. District mayor Fabrice Cumps said the shootings were probably linked.

A shooting incident in Brussels — the fourth in the Belgian capital this week — killed one person, authorities told local media, with the spike in violence linked to rival drug gangs. The latest outbreak of violence in the city happened in the early hours of Friday in the Peterbos neighbourhood in Anderlecht,