BRUSSELS (AFP) - A man who held 15 people hostage in a Brussels supermarket after a botched robbery on Tuesday (Oct 18) gave himself up to police, authorities told AFP.

"The man turned himself in and there were no victims," a police spokesman from the Brussels district of Forest in Belgium told AFP, adding that the situation lasted about an hour.

The incident took place around 7pm (1am on Wednesday, Singapore time) at a Carrefour supermarket in Forest.

The area was quickly closed off and police helicopters sent in to back up the rescue operation.

Police said the suspect was armed with a knife and apparently took the hostages after a robbery attempt went wrong.

Belgium has been on high alert since terror attacks in March at the Brussels airport and on a metro killed 32 people.