A second attacker is suspected of taking part in the bombing this week of a Brussels subway train and might be at large, according to Belgian and French media reports, amid signs that the same Islamic State network was behind the attacks in Brussels and bloodshed in Paris last year.
The chief suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was summoned to court in Brussels yesterday morning after his arrest last week in the Belgian capital. His lawyer, who had initially vowed to fight extradition, said Abdeslam now wants to be sent to France as soon as possible.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels and Paris, which have laid bare European security failings and prompted calls for better intelligence cooperation and a tougher response to Islamic State extremists.
Photo: AP
Belgian prosecutors have said at least four people were involved in Tuesday’s attacks on the Brussels airport and a subway train, including brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, identified as suicide bombers. European security officials identified another suicide bomber as Najim Laachraoui, a suspected bombmaker for the Paris attacks.
Prosecutors have said another suspected participant in the airport attack is at large, a man in a hat seen in surveillance images who has not been publicly identified.
Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and France’s Le Monde and BFM television yesterday reported that a fifth attacker might also be at large: a man filmed by surveillance cameras in the Brussels metro on Tuesday carrying a large bag alongside Khalid El Bakraoui. RTBF said it is not clear whether that man was killed in the attack.
Photo: Reuters
Prosecutors, who have not said how many people overall may have taken part in the bombings, did not respond to the reports.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that Ibrahim El Bakraoui was caught in June last year near Turkey’s border with Syria and deported to the Netherlands, with Ankara warning Dutch and Belgian officials that he was a “foreign terrorist fighter.” However, other Turkish officials said he was released from Dutch custody due to lack of evidence of involvement in terrorism.
Attention yesterday turned to Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam, who evaded police in two countries for four months before his capture on Friday last week in the Molenbeek neighborhood where he grew up. He was shot in the leg during his arrest.
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Abdeslam attended a hearing with a suspected accomplice and the court adjourned the proceedings.
Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, said his client was not physically present for the hearing, even though a helicopter circled overhead, and the area was under extraordinarily heavy security, as are many parts of the Belgian capital.
Mary told reporters at the courthouse that he asked for a one-month delay on any transfer while he studies the large dossier, but that Abdeslam “wants to leave for France as quickly as possible.”
“He wants to explain himself in France, so it’s a good thing,” Mary said.
He said the next extradition hearing would be on Thursday next week and he expects the process to take about another two weeks after that.
France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition to face justice for his alleged involvement in the Nov. 13 attacks on a Paris rock concert, stadium and cafes, which killed 130 people.
Later yesterday, EU justice and interior ministers were holding an emergency meeting prompted by the Brussels attacks.
Belgium is holding three days of national mourning. Security remains tight, but barriers were removed around the subway station hit by the attack, Maelbeek. The airport is to remain closed until at least tomorrow.
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