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| Explosions heard as Belgian police carry out terror raid in Brussels | Explosions heard as Belgian police carry out terror raid in Brussels |
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| Belgian police have launched a major operation in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek apparently linked to a planned attack in France that was foiled by police on Thursday, Belgian media have reported. | |
| Witnesses told the Belgian state broadcaster, RTBF, they had heard two loud blasts and shots from heavy weapons during the raid, which involved at least 50 officers. One person had been “neutralised”, local media quoted police sources as saying. | Witnesses told the Belgian state broadcaster, RTBF, they had heard two loud blasts and shots from heavy weapons during the raid, which involved at least 50 officers. One person had been “neutralised”, local media quoted police sources as saying. |
| Police were questioning seven men arrested in Brussels overnight and early on Friday morning following Tuesday’s airport and metro attacks in the Belgian capital. A man detained in Paris was reported to have links to the same jihadi network. Two suspects have also been held in Germany. | |
| It also emerged on Friday that police had information that could have led to the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in November’s Paris attacks, months before he was captured in Brussels last week. Belgium’s security services are under increasing fire for failing to prevent the attacks in the capital despite the fact that at least three of the extremists were known to the authorities. | |
| Four days after the Brussels suicide bombings that killed 31 people and left 300 injured, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said six suspects had been arrested during police searches in districts across the city on Thursday night. RTBF said a seventh man had been arrested in the Forest area of the city on Friday. The daily De Standaard said one of those detained was a suspect caught on CCTV cameras talking to the metro attacker. | |
| Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine reported that two men had also been arrested in raids in Düsseldorf and Giessen. One had been deported from Turkey with one of the Brussels bombers, the magazine said, while the other had received text messages on the day of the attacks containing the name of another bomber and the French word “fin”, or “end”. | Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine reported that two men had also been arrested in raids in Düsseldorf and Giessen. One had been deported from Turkey with one of the Brussels bombers, the magazine said, while the other had received text messages on the day of the attacks containing the name of another bomber and the French word “fin”, or “end”. |
| As evidence mounted that a thriving, well-organised Islamic State network straddling France and Belgium was responsible for both the Brussels attacks and November’s carnage in Paris, authorities in France said they had thwarted a militant plot there that was “at an advanced stage”. | As evidence mounted that a thriving, well-organised Islamic State network straddling France and Belgium was responsible for both the Brussels attacks and November’s carnage in Paris, 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 had been under surveillance “for several weeks” and belonged to “a terrorist network that sought to strike our country”. | The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the man arrested in Argenteuil near Paris on Thursday afternoon had been under surveillance “for several weeks” and belonged to “a terrorist network that sought to strike our country”. |
| Cazeneuve said there was “no tangible evidence” linking the plot to the attacks either in Paris or Brussels, but a French interior ministry “wanted” notice published by French media named the man as Reda Kriket, who along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the 13 November Paris attacks, was convicted in absentia last July of recruiting Islamist fighters for Syria in Belgium. | |
| Both Kriket, a French national who had a criminal record for armed robbery, and Abaaoud were members of the so-called Zerkani network, a 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. | Both Kriket, a French national who had a criminal record for armed robbery, and Abaaoud were members of the so-called Zerkani network, a 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. |
| Local police in the Mechelen, just north of Brussels, meanwhile, confirmed local press reports that they had information as early as last December suggesting that Abid Aberkan, a relative of Abdeslam – who is suspected of playing a key logistical role in the attacks – had become radicalised, but failed to pass it on. | Local police in the Mechelen, just north of Brussels, meanwhile, confirmed local press reports that they had information as early as last December suggesting that Abid Aberkan, a relative of Abdeslam – who is suspected of playing a key logistical role in the attacks – had become radicalised, but failed to pass it on. |
| Abdeslam was arrested four months later, days before the Brussels bombings, at Aberkan’s home in Molenbeek. The 26-year-old French national appeared briefly in court on Thursday, and is likely to be extradited to France within weeks, according to his lawyer. | Abdeslam was arrested four months later, days before the Brussels bombings, at Aberkan’s home in Molenbeek. The 26-year-old French national appeared briefly in court on Thursday, and is likely to be extradited to France within weeks, according to his lawyer. |
| The US secretary of state, John Kerry, in Brussels to meet the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, said the US – which lost two of its citizens in the attacks – was “praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us”. | |
| Kerry said America “stands firmly with Belgium and with the nations of Europe in the face of this tragedy”, adding that the world would not relent in its fight against Isis. “We – all of us representing countless nationalities – have a message: we will not be intimidated,” he said. | Kerry said America “stands firmly with Belgium and with the nations of Europe in the face of this tragedy”, adding that the world would not relent in its fight against Isis. “We – all of us representing countless nationalities – have a message: we will not be intimidated,” he said. |
| The Belgian interior and justice ministers, Jan Jambon and Koen Geens, offered to resign on Thursday after widespread domestic and international criticism of the authorities’ handling of the affair. | The Belgian interior and justice ministers, Jan Jambon and Koen Geens, offered to resign on Thursday after widespread domestic and international criticism of the authorities’ handling of the affair. |
| The ministers conceded errors had been made, in particular over one of the Brussels bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 30, who was expelled last year by Turkey and flagged as a suspected terrorist fighter, but was able to blow himself and 11 other people up in the airport attack. | The ministers conceded errors had been made, in particular over one of the Brussels bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 30, who was expelled last year by Turkey and flagged as a suspected terrorist fighter, but was able to blow himself and 11 other people 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 awkward questions about Europe’s apparent inability to keep collective track of homegrown extremists and fighters returning from Syria. | The EU home affairs commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said on Thursday the attacks “did not come as a surprise”, raising further awkward questions about Europe’s apparent inability to keep collective track of homegrown extremists and fighters returning from Syria. |
| Bakraoui was one of two suicide bombers at the airport whose suitcase bombs killed 11 people. His brother Khalid, 26, detonated the bomb that claimed 20 more victims 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 claimed 20 more victims 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 that the Paris and Brussels attacks were carried out by the same network, 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. A police wanted notice for Laachraoui was removed from the Belgian police website on Friday, suggesting he may have died in Tuesday’s attacks. | In further evidence that the Paris and Brussels attacks were carried out by the same network, 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. A police wanted notice for Laachraoui was removed from the Belgian police website on Friday, suggesting he may have died in Tuesday’s attacks. |
| All the Brussels attackers so far identified by police and prosecutors have links to 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 killing 130 people. | All the Brussels attackers so far identified by police and prosecutors have links to 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 killing 130 people. |
| 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. |
| Belgium lowered its security alert level one level, 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, the capital of both the European Union and Nato. | Belgium lowered its security alert level one level, 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, the capital of both the European Union and Nato. |
| Those injured in the attacks came from about 40 different countries. Few of the dead have so far been formally identified, authorities have said, with forensic experts sometimes able to work from only small fragments of bodies. Final identification could take weeks, they have warned. | Those injured in the attacks came from about 40 different countries. Few of the dead have so far been formally identified, authorities have said, with forensic experts sometimes able to work from only small fragments of bodies. Final identification could take weeks, they have warned. |