Belgian jail hostage-taker killed

Prison guards have reportedly stopped working in protest.

One prisoner has been shot dead and five people have been injured after a hostage-taking incident at a Belgian jail, officials say.

A number of prisoners were taken hostage by two fellow inmates armed with makeshift knives in the Leuven Centraal prison on Thursday night.

One of the hostage-takers was killed after police special forces entered the prison, the justice ministry said.

A female prison officer suffered twelve stab wounds, Belgian media report.

Prison officers, who say the ringleaders of the incident were too dangerous to be at Leuven Centraal jail, are now on strike, and local police are acting as prison guards, the Belgian daily newspaper De Standaard reports.

Overcrowding probably contributed to the incident, Belgium's Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck is quoted as saying.

The prison was currently holding 10,400 prisoners, 2,000 more than it was built for, he added.

Leuven is about 25km (15 miles) east of Brussels.