Police said they are unable to comment on media reports that the suspect was wearing an explosive belt and had wires coming out of his clothes.
Belgium's federal prosecutor confirmed the incident at Brussels Central, one of the country's busiest stations, is being treated as a terrorist attack.
At a news conference, spokesman Eric van der Sypt said the unidentified suspect was still inside the station, and it is unclear whether he is dead or alive.
Image:Belgian troops and police are at the scene of the terror attack 'in large numbers'No civilians were injured or killed in the explosion.
Nicolas Van Herrewegen, an employee at Brussels Central station, told reporters that the suspect had cried "allahu akbar" and detonated something on a luggage trolley.
Pictures from the scene showed a fire had broken out inside the station building.
A spokesman for Belgium's railway operator said a crowd in the station panicked and "ran for the tracks" after the incident.
Image:Police in Brussels closed roads following the incidentBrussels Central was evacuated and searched, with rail services from the station suspended. Grand Place, a major tourist site which lies about 200m (656ft) away, was also evacuated.
Train services at two other stations in the capital, Brussels North and Brussels South, were also disrupted.
Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport on 22 March 2016.
Soldiers have been stationed at railway stations, government buildings and EU institutions since.
Image:Brussels Central is one of Belgium's busiest train stations. File picPeople in the area were pushed away from the scene, and police on Twitter urged the public to follow instructions given by the authorities.
Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel was "following the situation very closely from the crisis centre," according to his spokesman Frederic Cauderlier.
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