BRUSSELS (REUTERS) - Belgian police found and neutralised a potential explosive device in a bag left outside an office used by a Turkish cultural association in Brussels on Friday (Dec 23).

Police were called after a plastic bag was left in front of the building at around 1.30pm (7.30pm Singapore time).

Brussels prosecutors said the suspected device included gas cylinders and experts were still examining it to establish, for example, if there was a detonator or not.

"I cannot for the time being confirm whether this device was really going to explode or not," a prosecutors' spokesman said.

No one had been held in connection with the incident.

Residents, who had been evacuated, were allowed back to their homes late in the afternoon, but the traffic was blocked.