Friday 25 March 2016

Brussels attacks: Suspect's DNA at Paris attack sites

Najim Laachraoui - Belgian police handout
Image caption Laachraoui was only known by the alias Soufiane Kayal until this week
Belgian officials have named the second suicide bomber in Tuesday's attack at Brussels airport as Najim Zaachraoui, and said that his DNA was found at sites of the November Paris attacks.
The news came as three people were arrested in Brussels in connection with the attacks.
Prosecutors said the arrests were linked to a raid in Paris on Thursday, where an attack was apparently foiled.
Other suspects have been arrested in Belgium, Germany and France. 
Thirty-one people died in bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station.
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More about the attacks

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So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it carried out both the Brussels and Paris attacks.

What Belgian prosecutors said about Laachraoui:

  • Left DNA on a piece of cloth at the Bataclan and on an explosive device at the Stade de France in November
  • DNA also found in a flat in Brussels and a house in Auvelais in southern Belgium, both used by the Paris bombers
  • Until this week, known only as Soufiane Kayal 
Bomb disposal robot near tram lines during Schaerbeek police operation - 25 March
Image caption Police have been conducting operations in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek
Brahim el-Bakraoui has already been named as one of the perpetrators of the airport attack, which left 11 people dead. A third remains unidentified.
In the same statement, the prosecutor's office said three more arrests were made in the Forest, St Gilles and Schaerbeek districts of Brussels on Friday.
In the most recent raid, a man carrying a backpack was shot in Schaerbeek district after refusing to obey police orders, media say. Controlled explosions were carried out.
An area near Meiser square was sealed off by heavily armed police and military vehicles. 
The operation has now finished and the cordon has been lifted.
Schaerbeek mayor Bernard Clerfayt said a man had been arrested and shot in the leg.

'Je suis Bruxellois'

US Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Brussels, said that IS would be destroyed.
John Kerry (left) and Charles Michel
Image caption John Kerry: "We will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs... from the face of this earth"
Standing alongside Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, he expressed his condolences and solidarity with Belgium, declaring "Je suis Bruxellois". 
The Western alliance would continue its fight to destroy IS, Mr Kerry said. 
"We will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred."
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Police near the apartment raided in Argenteuil, Paris, 25 March 2016
Image caption Police secured the area round the apartment raided in Argenteuil

Recent arrests

  • Brussels: Six detained in the Schaerbeek and Jette districts, and the city centre on Thursday. Three more held on Friday in Forest, St Giles and Schaerbeek. 
  • Paris: Reda Kriket, 34, arrested in Paris' north-western Argenteuil suburb, alleged to be in the "advanced stage" of plotting an attack. 2015 Brussels court conviction for IS recruitment, along with Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud. 
  • Germany: Two suspected jihadists detained in Dusseldorf and Giessen areas on Wednesday and Thursday - both with suspected links to one of the Brussels bombers, Der Spiegel reports, and one with suspicious text messages on his mobile phone referencing Brussels. 
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More details of those killed in the Brussels attacks have been released. Nationals of 40 countries were caught up in the attacks. 
Among the deaths confirmed so far:
The Brussels bombings continue to have political repercussions, with questions surrounding the issue of whether more could have been done to prevent them. 
Turkey police photo of Brahim el-Bakraoui taken in July 2015
Image caption Brahim el-Bakraoui was arrested in Gaziantep on the Turkey-Syria border
Turkey has said it arrested and deported one of the bombers, Brahim el-Bakraoui, last June, warning Belgium he was a "foreign fighter" - but the message was "ignored". 
The Belgian interior and justice ministers said they had offered their resignations but the prime minister refused to accept them. 
Bakraoui's brother, Khalid, struck at Maelbeek metro station, where 20 people died.

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