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| Brussels Attack Lapses Acknowledged by Belgian Officials | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BRUSSELS — Belgium’s justice and interior ministers acknowledged Thursday that the authorities had erred by not acting on Turkey’s request last year that they take custody of a Belgian citizen arrested for suspected terrorist activity. The man was one of the Islamic State suicide bombers in the devastating Brussels attacks. | |
| The acknowledgments by the justice minister, Koen Geens, and interior minister, Jan Jambon, were the first high-level Belgian admissions of blunder in the aftermath of the bombings on Tuesday. The attacks have exposed missteps by European security officials and police, just four months after the Islamic State’s assault on targets in Paris. | |
| “What’s essential in the story is that with the passing on of the information from Turkey and with the passing on of the information within Belgium, we have been slower than one could have expected under those circumstances,” Mr. Geens said on Flemish television in Belgium. “So, the information was passed on, but we have not been diligent, or probably not diligent enough.” | “What’s essential in the story is that with the passing on of the information from Turkey and with the passing on of the information within Belgium, we have been slower than one could have expected under those circumstances,” Mr. Geens said on Flemish television in Belgium. “So, the information was passed on, but we have not been diligent, or probably not diligent enough.” |
| Mr. Jambon told the newspaper Le Soir that there had been “two types of mistakes, at the level of the Justice Ministry and at the level of the liaison officer in Turkey, which involves the Interior and Justice ministries.” | |
| Both ministers offered their resignations on Thursday, an implicit acknowledgment of responsibility for perhaps having failed to avert the bombings at the Brussels airport and a downtown subway station that left 31 people dead and 300 wounded. With Belgium at its maximum state of terrorist alert and numerous police raids underway, Prime Minister Charles Michel rejected the resignation offers. | |
| But questions proliferated about what law enforcement authorities did — and failed to do— to thwart the bombers, who appeared to be part of the same Islamic State network that carried out the Paris attacks last November. | But questions proliferated about what law enforcement authorities did — and failed to do— to thwart the bombers, who appeared to be part of the same Islamic State network that carried out the Paris attacks last November. |
| The most glaring lapse, which Turkey’s president first raised publicly on Wednesday, appeared to be Belgian officials’ inaction on a Turkish request last June that Belgium take custody of Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who had been arrested in Turkey as a suspected terrorist for trying to enter Syria. This week, Mr. el-Bakraoui was one of two brothers identified as being among the three suicide bombers in Brussels. | |
| When Belgium did not act on the notification, Turkish officials said, they deported Mr. el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands at his request. | When Belgium did not act on the notification, Turkish officials said, they deported Mr. el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands at his request. |
| Mr. Geens at first reacted to Turkey’s assertion by justifying Belgium’s inaction, saying on Wednesday that the suspect was a common criminal not known for terrorism. But on Thursday he was more self-critical. | Mr. Geens at first reacted to Turkey’s assertion by justifying Belgium’s inaction, saying on Wednesday that the suspect was a common criminal not known for terrorism. But on Thursday he was more self-critical. |
| “There probably has not been a timely flow of information from Turkey to Belgium and from information inside Belgium,” the minister said. | “There probably has not been a timely flow of information from Turkey to Belgium and from information inside Belgium,” the minister said. |
| The connections between the deadly attacks are pointing investigators and terrorism experts toward the conclusion that there is a sprawling network of trained attackers that leads back to Syria but is rooted in Europe as well. | |
| At least three and probably four participants were active in both attacks. With at least one person still missing and unidentified from the Brussels bombings, it seems possible the attacks are not over. | |
| “There seems to be more and more evidence that there are links between French commandos who had a role in Paris and Belgians who targeted the airport and the Maelbeek metro station,” said Didier Leroy, a researcher on jihadist networks at the Belgian Royal Military Academy and Brussels University. “There are fingerprints, there are some specific phone calls on the night of the Paris attacks.” | |
| “Definitely there are other attacks to be feared and other individuals will emerge — we are in a long-term dynamic here,” Mr. Leroy said. | |
| Both the Paris and Brussels assailants appeared to have shared a bomb maker, Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, who is widely reported as having been the second suicide bomber at the Brussels Airport on Tuesday. The Belgian prosecutor’s office has not confirmed his death saying “it is too early to say,” but European intelligence officials said he was dead. | |
| The Brussels attacks came less than a week after the police in Belgium captured Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving participant in the Paris attacks last November that killed 130 people. Investigators have since linked him to some of the Brussels bombers. His lawyer, Sven Mary, told reporters at a court hearing in Brussels on Thursday that Mr. Abdeslam wanted to be extradited to France, reversing his earlier position. | The Brussels attacks came less than a week after the police in Belgium captured Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving participant in the Paris attacks last November that killed 130 people. Investigators have since linked him to some of the Brussels bombers. His lawyer, Sven Mary, told reporters at a court hearing in Brussels on Thursday that Mr. Abdeslam wanted to be extradited to France, reversing his earlier position. |
| Mr. Abdeslam was Europe’s most-wanted man until he was arrested on Friday in a raid in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where he grew up. | Mr. Abdeslam was Europe’s most-wanted man until he was arrested on Friday in a raid in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where he grew up. |
| Asked why Mr. Abdeslam had changed his mind, Mr. Mary said that his client understood “the case here is just a small piece,” and that he wanted to “explain himself in France.” Mr. Abdeslam has not spoken to investigators since the bombings in Brussels. | Asked why Mr. Abdeslam had changed his mind, Mr. Mary said that his client understood “the case here is just a small piece,” and that he wanted to “explain himself in France.” Mr. Abdeslam has not spoken to investigators since the bombings in Brussels. |
| Asked what his client had said about the attacks, Mr. Mary replied, “He didn’t say, because he didn’t know it.” Asked if Mr. Abdeslam had reacted to the attacks, Mr. Mary responded, “He had no reaction.” | Asked what his client had said about the attacks, Mr. Mary replied, “He didn’t say, because he didn’t know it.” Asked if Mr. Abdeslam had reacted to the attacks, Mr. Mary responded, “He had no reaction.” |
| The federal prosecutor in Belgium said on Thursday that a day earlier, investigators had searched the homes of the el-Bakraoui brothers. He also said that an arrest warrant had been issued for Khalid el-Bakraoui on Dec. 11 by the judge investigating the Paris attacks. | The federal prosecutor in Belgium said on Thursday that a day earlier, investigators had searched the homes of the el-Bakraoui brothers. He also said that an arrest warrant had been issued for Khalid el-Bakraoui on Dec. 11 by the judge investigating the Paris attacks. |
| “I wouldn’t want him to clam up,” Mr. Mary said. “His clamming up would make us face other Zaventems and other Bataclans.” He was referring to the Belgian airport that was bombed and to the Paris concert hall where 90 people were killed by gunmen on Nov. 13. | “I wouldn’t want him to clam up,” Mr. Mary said. “His clamming up would make us face other Zaventems and other Bataclans.” He was referring to the Belgian airport that was bombed and to the Paris concert hall where 90 people were killed by gunmen on Nov. 13. |
| Mr. Abdeslam and two others — Abid Aberkan, a relative who is accused of having sheltered him; and a man who is suspected of being an accomplice and whose identity is unclear — appeared in a Brussels court Thursday morning, but the hearing was postponed to April 7 at the request of their lawyers. | Mr. Abdeslam and two others — Abid Aberkan, a relative who is accused of having sheltered him; and a man who is suspected of being an accomplice and whose identity is unclear — appeared in a Brussels court Thursday morning, but the hearing was postponed to April 7 at the request of their lawyers. |
| The suspected accomplice has used aliases, including Amine Choukri, Monir Ahmed Alaaj and Soufien Ayari. He was arrested with Mr. Abdeslam last Friday in Molenbeek. | |
| Mr. Abdeslam’s arrest appeared to have set off an anxious response by Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. | Mr. Abdeslam’s arrest appeared to have set off an anxious response by Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. |
| In a statement found on a computer that was discarded in a trash can, which might have been a suicide note, Mr. Bakraoui wrote that he was wanted, felt unsafe, did not know what to do and feared that if he dallied, he risked ending up “next to him in a cell,” the Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric Van Leeuw, said on Wednesday. | |
| He did not say whether “him” referred to Mr. Abdeslam. | He did not say whether “him” referred to Mr. Abdeslam. |