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| Brussels Attackers’ Original Target Was France, Prosecutor Says | Brussels Attackers’ Original Target Was France, Prosecutor Says |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| PARIS — Belgian authorities announced on Sunday that the group of attackers who targeted the Brussels airport and metro on March 22 had initially planned to hit France. | PARIS — Belgian authorities announced on Sunday that the group of attackers who targeted the Brussels airport and metro on March 22 had initially planned to hit France. |
| The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that “numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again.” | The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that “numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again.” |
| “Eventually, surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels,” the statement said. | “Eventually, surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels,” the statement said. |
| The specific targets in Paris were La Défense, the large office and commercial complex that is just to the northwest of Paris, as well as an unidentified Catholic association, said Claude Moniquet, a former French intelligence officer who now works in Belgium and who has been in regular contact with investigators. | |
| Two of the men who took part in the Nov. 13 attacks in and around Paris, and who died in a police raid days later, had also been planning an assault on La Défense, the Paris prosecutor said at the time. The Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the Paris and Brussels attacks, had also mentioned an assault in the 18th Arrondissement of Paris in November, but the exact location was never clear and no strikes ever occurred. | |
| La Défense would be both a symbolic target and an important economic one for terrorists. Tens of thousands of people work in the large complex, which includes the office towers of many of France’s major companies, including Areva, Total and Société Générale. Many multinational companies also have substantial offices there. | |
| La Défense is also home to a sprawling indoor shopping mall, as well as a train station for two of the busiest commuter lines in the Paris region. | |
| Investigators have uncovered an increasing number of links between the group of attackers who targeted Paris in November, killing 130 people, and the group that bombed the Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station last month, killing 32. | |
| Those links suggest, as did the Belgian prosecutor’s office statement from Sunday, that the two groups were part of the same larger network, with several people playing roles in both attacks. Although many of those individuals have now been arrested, it is unclear to what extent the network is still operational. | |
| One of those involved was Mohamed Abrini, 31, who is suspected of playing a significant logistical role in the Paris attacks. He was seen in surveillance video with some of the Paris attackers in November as they traveled from the Brussels area to Paris to organize logistics for the attacks, and also on the trip transporting some of the attackers to Paris. | |
| Mr. Abrini, a Belgian and Moroccan citizen, was arrested in the Anderlecht section of Brussels on Friday. He later admitted to the police that he was the “man in the hat,” a suspect in the Brussels airport bombing who was caught on surveillance cameras leaving the site after two accomplices detonated explosives in the departures hall, killing 15 people and themselves. | Mr. Abrini, a Belgian and Moroccan citizen, was arrested in the Anderlecht section of Brussels on Friday. He later admitted to the police that he was the “man in the hat,” a suspect in the Brussels airport bombing who was caught on surveillance cameras leaving the site after two accomplices detonated explosives in the departures hall, killing 15 people and themselves. |
| Mr. Abrini’s DNA and fingerprints were found in a Brussels apartment, on Rue Henri Bergé in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, that investigators suspect was used to manufacture explosives and suicide belts used in the Paris attacks. Traces of Mr. Abrini were also found in an apartment in Schaerbeek, on Rue Max Roos, that was used by the Brussels attackers, and where investigators found large quantities of explosives and bomb-making equipment. | Mr. Abrini’s DNA and fingerprints were found in a Brussels apartment, on Rue Henri Bergé in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, that investigators suspect was used to manufacture explosives and suicide belts used in the Paris attacks. Traces of Mr. Abrini were also found in an apartment in Schaerbeek, on Rue Max Roos, that was used by the Brussels attackers, and where investigators found large quantities of explosives and bomb-making equipment. |
| A Belgian judge specializing in terrorism cases put Mr. Abrini in detention in connection with the Brussels attacks, and charged him with participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said on Sunday. | A Belgian judge specializing in terrorism cases put Mr. Abrini in detention in connection with the Brussels attacks, and charged him with participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said on Sunday. |