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Belgian Suicide Attacker Made Paris Bombs, Authorities Say Belgian Suicide Attacker Made Paris Bombs, Authorities Say
(35 minutes later)
BRUSSELS — One of the two men who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport on Tuesday was a bomb maker who helped produce two suicide vests used in the attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, the Belgian authorities said on Friday. BRUSSELS — One of the two men who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport on Tuesday was a bomb maker who helped produce two suicide vests used in the attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, the Belgian authorities said on Friday. He is the most definitive link so far between the two sets of attacks.
The bomb maker — Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Belgian citizen who went to Syria in February 2013 — was described as an accomplice of Salah Abdeslam, 26, who was captured in Belgium last Friday after a four-month global manhunt and charged with terrorist murder. Mr. Abdeslam is suspected of being the sole surviving direct participant in the Paris attacks, and his arrest appears to have accelerated the plot that culminated in the attack on Brussels. The bomb maker — Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Belgian citizen — was an accomplice of Salah Abdeslam, 26, who was captured in Belgium last Friday after a four-month global manhunt and charged with terrorist murder, officials said. Mr. Abdeslam is suspected of being the sole surviving direct participant in the Paris attacks, and his arrest appears to have accelerated the plot that culminated in the attack on Brussels, which killed 31 people.
On Dec. 10, in an apartment on Rue Henri Bergé in Schaerbeek, investigators found bomb-making equipment, a fingerprint from Mr. Abdeslam and Mr. Laachraoui’s DNA. And on Monday — three days after Mr. Abdeslam was captured in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where he grew up — the authorities asked for help finding Mr. Laachraoui. Mr. Laachraoui traveled to Syria in February 2013. Last September, while using a false identity card, he and Mr. Abdeslam were stopped at the Hungarian-Austrian border, but not detained. He rented a house in Auvelais, Belgium, that was used by the attackers, as well as an apartment in the Schaerbeek section of Brussels that he and Mr. Abdeslam used as a bomb-making lab.
It was too late. At 7:58 a.m. on Tuesday, he blew himself up at Brussels Airport, along with another suicide bomber, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29. News agencies had widely reported Mr. Laachraoui’s death, but officials awaited DNA results before confirming the news. On Friday, it became clear that Mr. Laachraoui was a crucial link between the Paris and Brussels attacks. On Monday — three days after Mr. Abdeslam was captured in Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where he grew up — the authorities asked for help finding Mr. Laachraoui.
The Belgian authorities also announced that three men had been arrested in Brussels on Friday, as the inquiry into the bombings that devastated the Belgian capital widened to encompass investigations in France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. But it was too late. At 7:58 a.m. on Tuesday, he blew himself up at Brussels Airport, along with another suicide bomber, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29.
On Thursday night, the French authorities arrested Reda Kriket, an Islamic State operative who, according to court records, raised money for jihad and traveled to Syria in late 2014. Mr. Kriket was well known to the security services in both France and Belgium, and he was named in a 2015 court proceeding along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was the on-the-ground chief planner of the Paris attacks. News agencies had widely reported Mr. Laachraoui’s death, but officials awaited DNA results before confirming the news. On Friday, the federal prosecutor in Brussels confirmed the death, and also disclosed that Mr. Laachraoui’s DNA had been found on suicide vests that were set off at the Stade de France, north of Paris, and in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, on Nov. 13.
According to a French court transcript, “Reda Kriket appears to have played an important role in financing and providing material support to the group.” it said he had raised the funds through fraud and petty theft. In July, Mr. Kriket was convicted in France in absentia of terrorist activities and possession of stolen goods. Mr. Laachraoui was one of several central figures linking the Paris and Brussels attacks.
The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that Mr. Kriket, described as being part of a circle of militants that included Mr. Abaaoud, had been involved in the “advanced stages” of a new terrorist plot. Another is Reda Kriket, an Islamic State operative who, according to court records, raised money for jihadists in 2012-13 and traveled to Syria in late 2014. Mr. Kriket was well known to the security services in both France and Belgium, and he was named in a 2015 court proceeding along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the on-the-ground chief planner of the Paris attacks.
The three men who were arrested in Belgium on Friday were all being questioned about possible connections to Mr. Kriket. According to a French court transcript, “Reda Kriket appears to have played an important role in financing and providing material support to the group.” It said he had raised the funds through fraud and petty theft. In July, Mr. Kriket was convicted in Belgium in absentia of terrorist activities and possession of stolen goods.
Also on Thursday night, the police in Düsseldorf arrested a 28-year-old German long known to the authorities for having ties to Islamist extremists in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. They were acting to prevent him from fleeing to Syria, a spokesman for the state prosecutor said. Mr. Kriket was arrested in Paris on Thursday, and the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that Mr. Kriket had been involved in the “advanced stages” of a new terrorist plot.
Turkey deported the German man and one of the Brussels suicide bombers — Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, who blew himself up in the subway — to the Netherlands last year, German news media and security officials said. “It is not clear whether they knew each other, and, if so, how well,” said Ralf Herrenbrück, a spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf. The German man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison earlier this month for a robbery, but had not yet started his sentence, the Germans said. On Friday, the Belgian police conducted a series of operations in Brussels, picking up three men for questioning in connection with Mr. Kriket’s arrest. One of the men was shot and arrested in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, in an operation that shook the area.
German news media reported on Friday that the federal police had arrested a 28-year-old Moroccan during a routine identity check at a train station in Giessen, in the west of the country, on Wednesday. The suspect has a criminal record in Germany and Italy, the reports said, and had papers on him indicating that he had been hospitalized for an unexplained injury on March 18, the same day that Mr. Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels. Ali Oucar, 29, was at a Ladbrokes sports-betting parlor when the man was shot. “I went outside for a smoke,” he said. “I saw people running, and I tried to see why. Then I saw the police in front of the Meiser train station, shouting to a guy, ‘Open your vest!’ The guy was with a kid. He refused to open the vest, and the police shot him twice.”
Further investigation led the authorities to suspect that the man might have links to the attackers in Brussels, including a text message on his phone with the word “fin,” French for “end,” received on Tuesday, shortly before the attacks in Brussels, the public broadcaster ARD reported. A further message contained the name Khalid el-Bakraoui, according to the newsweekly Der Spiegel. Marios Kasinos, 34, a native of Cyprus, was enjoying a day off from work at his home in Schaerbeek when he suddenly heard loud gunfire.
Criminal investigators for the state of Hesse, where Giessen is, were unable to confirm the reports on Friday, because the case had been transferred to state prosecutors, who were not immediately available for comment because of the Good Friday holiday. “I called my friends immediately,” he said. “They told me I was being paranoid, but then within a few seconds, police and soldiers came over. I saw from my window people running, evacuating the streets, and the police making people step off a bus and a tram.”
Also, Spanish and Dutch news agencies reported that European intelligence authorities were searching for Naïm al-Hamed, a 28-year-old Syrian, as part of the investigations into the Brussels attacks. Mr. Hamed was said to be linked to Mr. Laachraoui, Khalid el-Bakraoui and a third suspect, Mohamed Abrini. The investigations have widened to encompass other countries.
On Thursday night, the police in Düsseldorf, Germany, arrested a 28-year-old German long known to the authorities for having ties to Islamist extremists in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. They were acting to prevent him from fleeing to Syria, a spokesman for the state prosecutor said.
Turkey deported the German man and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands last year, German news media and security officials said. “It is not clear whether they knew each other, and, if so, how well,” said Ralf Herrenbrück, a spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf. The German man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison earlier this month for a robbery, but had not yet started his sentence, the Germans said.
Also on Friday, German officials disclosed that they had arrested a 28-year-old Moroccan during a routine identity check at a train station in Giessen, near Frankfurt. The police determined that the man had previously applied for asylum in Germany using other aliases, and had a criminal record in Italy.
He had been hospitalized for an unexplained injury on March 18 — the same day that Mr. Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels — and carried a cellphone with a text message with the word “fin” (French for “end”) received on Tuesday, shortly before the attacks in Brussels, the public broadcaster ARD reported. Another text message contained the name Khalid el-Bakraoui, according to the newsweekly Der Spiegel. Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, Ibrahim’s younger brother, blew himself up at a Brussels subway station on Tuesday.
“Law enforcement authorities have been examining whether a connection to the attacks in Brussels exists, and if so, to what extent,” Thomas Hauburger, a state prosecutor in Giessen, said.
In Spain and the Netherlands, news agencies reported that European intelligence authorities were searching for Naïm al-Hamed, a 28-year-old Syrian, as part of the investigations into the Brussels attacks. Mr. Hamed was said to be linked to Mr. Laachraoui, Khalid el-Bakraoui and a third suspect, Mohamed Abrini, who is sought by the authorities.
The Belgian government has come under heavy criticism for failures in intelligence, law enforcement and information sharing that have allowed Brussels to become a hub of terrorist planning in Europe.The Belgian government has come under heavy criticism for failures in intelligence, law enforcement and information sharing that have allowed Brussels to become a hub of terrorist planning in Europe.
At 2 p.m. on Friday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens faced a parliamentary committee, whose members were expected to ask tough questions about the lapses. At 2 p.m. on Friday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens faced tough questions about the lapses from members of a parliamentary committee.
Officials have acknowledged that they should have acted on an alert last year from Turkey about Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. He was detained in Turkey near the border with Syria on suspicion of terrorist activity, but the Belgian authorities never followed up. Mr. Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands at his request. Officials have acknowledged that they should have acted on an alert last year from Turkey about Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. He was detained in Turkey near the border with Syria on suspicion of terrorist activity, but the Belgian authorities never followed up. Mr. Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands at his request and eluded the authorities. His younger brother was the subject of an arrest warrant issued in December, in connection with the Paris attacks. He, too, evaded capture.
In addition, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said that Khalid el-Bakraoui had been sought in connection with the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13. Mr. Abdeslam, who was captured on March 18, has refused to cooperate with the authorities, Belgian officials said. After the suicide attacks on Tuesday, investigators again approached him. “He refused to make any kind of declaration,” the Belgian prosecutor’s office said.