A shootout with Belgian police that led to the capture of Europe's most-wanted man may have been criminal but it was not terrorism, his lawyer has argued.

After a four-month manhunt, police have captured the top fugitive in last year’s deadly Paris attacks in the same Brussels neighbourhood where he grew up.

Belgian investigators yesterday continued to hunt for two suspects who fled an apartment linked to the November 13 attacks in Paris, after a police sniper killed a third man and uncovered weapons, ammunition, and an Islamic State flag.