Islamic State suicide bombers hit Brussels airport and a metro train
on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people and wounding some 270 in the
worst such attack in Belgian history.
Belgian police hold seven in bombing inquiry, French foil Paris plot(Reuters)
Belgian police arrested seven people in overnight raids in their investigation into Islamic State suicide bombings in Brussels, while authorities in France said they thwarted a militant plot there "that was at an advanced stage".
The
federal prosecutor's office said six persons were held during searches
in the Brussels neighbourhoods of Schaerbeek in the north and Jette in
the west, as well as in the centre of the Belgian capital. Public
broadcaster RTBF said a seventh man was arrested in the Forest borough
of Brussels early on Friday.
Islamic State suicide
bombers hit Brussels airport and a metro train on Tuesday, killing at
least 31 people and wounding some 270 in the worst such attack in
Belgian history.
The daily De Standaard said on
Friday police had arrested a man who was filmed by security cameras in
the airport terminal next to two bombers who blew themselves up there.
Prosecutors did not confirm the arrest and it was not known if the man
was among the seven detained overnight.
The attack
in Brussels, home to the European Union and NATO, has heightened
security concerns around the world and raised questions about EU states'
ability to respond in an effective, coordinated way to the Islamist
militant threat.
U.S Secretary of State John Kerry
arrived in Brussels on Friday for talks with Belgian and European
Commission leaders to offer U.S. assistance in security cooperation
against terrorism.
The Islamic State militant
group also took credit for coordinated attacks in Paris in November that
killed 130 people at cafes, a sports stadium and concert hall.
In
Paris on Thursday, authorities arrested a French national suspected of
belonging to a militant network planning an attack in France. Interior
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a televised address that the arrest
helped "foil a plot in France that was at an advanced stage".
Cazeneuve added that the man arrested "is suspected of high-level involvement in this plan. He was part of a terrorist network that planned to strike France."
A
French Interior Ministry wanted notice published by French media named
him as Reda Kriket and said he was urgently sought on suspicion of
terrorist conspiracy, warning he was armed and dangerous. Kriket, 34,
was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison in Belgium last July for
recruiting Islamist fighters for Syria.
After the
arrest by the French counterterrorism service, DGSI, the agency raided
an apartment building in the northern Paris suburb of Argenteuil. A
police source said investigators found acetone peroxide explosives in
the apartment.
"At this stage, there is no tangible evidence that links this plot to the attacks in Paris and Brussels," added Cazeneuve, who was in the Belgian capital on Thursday for an emergency meeting of EU interior and justice ministers.
RESIGNATION OFFERS
Belgium's
interior and justice ministers offered to resign on Thursday over a
failure to track an Islamic State militant expelled by Turkey as a
suspected fighter and who blew himself up at Brussels Airport.
Brahim
El Bakraoui was one of three identified suspected suicide bombers who
hit the airport and metro train. A fifth suspected bomber filmed in the
metro attack may be dead or alive. Bakraoui's brother Khalid, 26, killed
about 20 people at Maelbeek metro station in the city centre.
Interior
Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens tendered their
resignations to Prime Minister Charles Michel, who asked them to stay
on. "In time of war, you cannot leave the field," said Jambon, a right-wing Flemish nationalist.
Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan said Brahim El Bakraoui, 29, had been expelled
in July after being arrested near the Syrian border and two officials
said he had been deported a second time. Belgian and Dutch police had
been notified of Turkish suspicions that he was a foreign fighter trying
to reach Syria.
At the time, Belgian authorities
replied that Bakraoui, who had skipped parole after serving less than
half of a nine-year sentence for armed robbery, was a criminal but not a
militant.
"You can ask how it came about that
someone was let out so early and that we missed the chance to seize him
when he was in Turkey. I understand the questions," Jambon said. "In the circumstances, it was right to take political responsibility and I offered my resignation to the prime minister."
Geens
said systems should be reviewed but noted that other countries had been
targeted, citing the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in
which he noted that "there were 3,000 dead."
JIHADIST NETWORK
Investigators are convinced the same Islamist jihadist network was involved in the November Paris attacks.
Belgian
public broadcaster VRT said investigators believed that Paris attacks
suspect Salah Abdeslam, arrested last Friday, probably planned a similar
shooting and suicide bomb attack in Brussels. The news website Politico
Europe said investigators had only questioned Abdeslam for a single
hour in the four days between his arrest on March 19 and the Brussels
bombings.
Belgian daily De Morgen said
investigators had identified a new suspect they believe played a role in
the Brussels bombings, naming him as 28-year-old Syrian Naim al-Hamed.
The
paper said he was on a list circulated to the security services of
other European countries after Tuesday's attacks along with Mohamed
Abrini, Najim Laachraoui and Khalid El Bakraoui. Hamed was also
suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks, De Morgen said.
One
man was killed in a shootout with police on March 15 that led to the
discovery of assault weapons and explosives and the arrest of Abdeslam,
26, and another suspect on March 18.
Belgium on
Thursday lowered its security alert level one notch to three from the
highest level, four, but officials did not say what that would mean in
terms of security measures that have included a heavy police and
military presence in Brussels.
Islamic State
posted a video on social media calling the Brussels blasts a victory and
featuring the training of Belgian militants suspected in the Paris
attacks.
The lawyer for Abdeslam said the French national wanted to "explain himself" and would no longer resist extradition to France.
Two
sources familiar with the matter said the Bakraoui brothers had been on
U.S. government counterterrorism watch lists before the attacks. But it
was not clear how long they had been known to the authorities.
Security
sources told Belgian media the other suicide bomber at the airport was
Laachraoui, a veteran Belgian Islamist fighter in Syria suspected of
making explosive belts for November's Paris attacks.
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