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| Police arrest seven men in Brussels and Paris following terror attacks | Police arrest seven men in Brussels and Paris following terror attacks |
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| Police in Brussels are questioning six men arrested in overnight raids following Tuesday’s airport and metro attacks in the Belgian capital, amid reports a man detained in Paris has links to the same jihadist network. | Police in Brussels are questioning six men arrested in overnight raids following Tuesday’s airport and metro attacks in the Belgian capital, amid reports a man detained in Paris has links to the same jihadist network. |
| The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said the arrests, two days after the twin suicide bombings killed 31 people and left 300 injured, came during police searches in the Brussels districts Schaerbeek and Jette, as well as in the city centre. | The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said the arrests, two days after the twin suicide bombings killed 31 people and left 300 injured, came during police searches in the Brussels districts Schaerbeek and Jette, as well as in the city centre. |
| Three suspects were detained in a car “outside the door of the federal prosecutor’s office”, a spokesman said. | Three suspects were detained in a car “outside the door of the federal prosecutor’s office”, a spokesman said. |
| As evidence accumulated that the attacks were carried out by the same Islamic State network responsible for November’s carnage in Paris that killed 130 people, authorities in France said they had thwarted a militant plot there that was “at an advanced stage”. | As evidence accumulated that the attacks were carried out by the same Islamic State network responsible for November’s carnage in Paris that killed 130 people, authorities in France said they had thwarted a militant plot there that was “at an advanced stage”. |
| The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the man arrested in Argenteuil near Paris on Thursday afternoon “belonged to a terrorist network that sought to strike our country”, but said there was “no tangible evidence” linking the plot to the attacks either in Paris or Brussels. | The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the man arrested in Argenteuil near Paris on Thursday afternoon “belonged to a terrorist network that sought to strike our country”, but said there was “no tangible evidence” linking the plot to the attacks either in Paris or Brussels. |
| But the AFP new agency cited police sources as saying the suspect, named by French media as French national Reda Kriket, was convicted in absentia in Belgium in July along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the 13 November attacks on the French capital, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. | But the AFP new agency cited police sources as saying the suspect, named by French media as French national Reda Kriket, was convicted in absentia in Belgium in July along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the 13 November attacks on the French capital, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. |
| Le Point magazine said Kriket had a criminal record for armed robbery and was a key member of the so-called Zerkani network, a Belgian jihadi group responsible for sending at least 30 Belgian extremists to fight in Syria. A small quantity of explosives were reportedly found in his apartment. | |
| The US secretary of state, John Kerry, was due to arrive in Brussels on Friday in a show of solidarity. He is expected to pay tribute to the victims at the airport and hold meetings with EU officials. | The US secretary of state, John Kerry, was due to arrive in Brussels on Friday in a show of solidarity. He is expected to pay tribute to the victims at the airport and hold meetings with EU officials. |
| The Belgian interior and justice ministers, Jan Jambon and Koen Geens, offered to resign on Thursday after widespread criticism that the attackers – at least three of whom were known to authorities – had been allowed to slip through the net. | The Belgian interior and justice ministers, Jan Jambon and Koen Geens, offered to resign on Thursday after widespread criticism that the attackers – at least three of whom were known to authorities – had been allowed to slip through the net. |
| The ministers conceded errors had been made in particular in keeping track of one of the Brussels bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who was expelled last year by Turkey and flagged as a suspected terrorist fighter but was able to blow himself up in the airport attack. | The ministers conceded errors had been made in particular in keeping track of one of the Brussels bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who was expelled last year by Turkey and flagged as a suspected terrorist fighter but was able to blow himself up in the airport attack. |
| The EU home affairs commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said on Thursday the “attacks did not come as a surprise”, raising further questions as to why international authorities failed to stop the bombers. | The EU home affairs commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said on Thursday the “attacks did not come as a surprise”, raising further questions as to why international authorities failed to stop the bombers. |
| Bakraoui was one of two suicide bombers at the airport whose suitcase bombs killed 11 people. His brother Khalid, 26, detonated the bomb that killed about 20 people at Maelbeek metro station, near the headquarters of the European commission in the city centre. | Bakraoui was one of two suicide bombers at the airport whose suitcase bombs killed 11 people. His brother Khalid, 26, detonated the bomb that killed about 20 people at Maelbeek metro station, near the headquarters of the European commission in the city centre. |
| Prosecutors have confirmed that Khalid rented a flat used as a hideout for the Paris attackers, and was named in an international arrest warrant issued on 11 December. | Prosecutors have confirmed that Khalid rented a flat used as a hideout for the Paris attackers, and was named in an international arrest warrant issued on 11 December. |
| In further evidence of connections between the Paris and Brussels attacks, police sources have said they believe the second dead suicide bomber at the airport was Najim Laachraoui, 24, a veteran Belgian Isis fighter and bombmaker whose DNA was found on two of the explosive belts used in Paris. | In further evidence of connections between the Paris and Brussels attacks, police sources have said they believe the second dead suicide bomber at the airport was Najim Laachraoui, 24, a veteran Belgian Isis fighter and bombmaker whose DNA was found on two of the explosive belts used in Paris. |
| It was not clear whether a fourth suspected attacker, wearing a white jacket and hat and caught on CCTV cameras with the two airport bombers, and a fifth suspect, thought to have been involved in the metro attack, were among the men arrested on Thursday night. | It was not clear whether a fourth suspected attacker, wearing a white jacket and hat and caught on CCTV cameras with the two airport bombers, and a fifth suspect, thought to have been involved in the metro attack, were among the men arrested on Thursday night. |
| All the Brussels attackers so far identified by police and prosecutors have links to Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the 10 jihadis who carried out November’s Paris attacks on a concert hall, the Stade de France and a string of cafes and bars. | All the Brussels attackers so far identified by police and prosecutors have links to Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the 10 jihadis who carried out November’s Paris attacks on a concert hall, the Stade de France and a string of cafes and bars. |
| Laachraoui travelled to Hungary with him last year, while the Bakraoui brothers rented – as well as the Belgian safe house used by the Paris killers – an apartment in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels where Abdeslam himself hid for three weeks after the attacks. | Laachraoui travelled to Hungary with him last year, while the Bakraoui brothers rented – as well as the Belgian safe house used by the Paris killers – an apartment in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels where Abdeslam himself hid for three weeks after the attacks. |
| Abdeslam, 26, was arrested in Brussels last week, appeared briefly in court on Thursday, and is likely to be extradited to France within weeks. | Abdeslam, 26, was arrested in Brussels last week, appeared briefly in court on Thursday, and is likely to be extradited to France within weeks. |
| Belgium 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. | Belgium 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. |
| People of around 40 nationalities were killed or wounded in the attack. | People of around 40 nationalities were killed or wounded in the attack. |