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Brussels Jewish Museum attack: Jihadist 'claimed responsibility for shooting in video' Brussels Jewish Museum attack: Jihadist arrested in Marseille 'claimed responsibility for shooting on video' says investigators
(about 4 hours later)
A 29-year-old French former jihadist volunteer in Syria has been arrested in Marseille on suspicion of killing four people in an attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels last weekend. Fears of a western spill-over from Syrian civil war deepened today with the arrest of a young French jihadist suspected of carrying out the gun attack which killed three people at the Jewish museum in Brussels last weekend.
The man, named as Mehdi Nemmouche from Roubaix in northern France, was arrested by customs officers at Marseille bus station on Friday when guns and ammunition were found in his luggage. The suspect, Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, originally from Roubaix on the Franco-Belgian border, returned to Europe two months ago after spending more than a year with a radical Islamist group in Syria. He is also believed to have spent some time in Britain.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Belgium's federal prosecutor said police had seized a video showing Mr Nemmouche claiming responsibility for the attack "on the Jews". Although he has not admitted the Brussels shootings, French investigators say that there is a “strong body of evidence” linking him to the attack. He was arrested in Marseille on Friday after arriving on an overnight coach from Brussels.
He said "all European countries" were facing a terrorist threat from people returning from the war in Syria. A Kalachnikov automatic rifle with Islamist markings, a revolver and bullets  similar to those used in the shootings were found in his luggage during a routine drugs check by customs officers. They also found press cuttings on the museum murders and a film for a miniature camera in which he appears to admit the attack.
A blue cap similar to that worn by the killer in CCTV footage and a miniature film camera were also found in Mr Nemmouche’s bags when he arrived on an overnight coach from Amsterdam via Brussels. The Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric Van Leeuw said on Sunday that it appeared that the suspect had tried to film the killings but his camera had failed.
The suspect, who was known to French security services as a jihadist volunteer in Syria until last year, is refusing to answer questions, police sources said. “In his bag there was large quantity of high-calibre munitions and a Kalachnikov carrying the markings of the Islamic Sate of Iraq and the Levant, a group operating in Syria,” Mr Van Leeuw said. “He also had a video tape in which he says he committed the Brussels murders. He has a right to be presumed innocent and I cannot guarantee absolutely, at this stage, that it his voice.”
The guns found in his possession included a Kalashnikov and a revolver – similar to the weapons used by the man who killed four people in the Jewish Museum in central Brussels last Saturday. Mr Nemmouche is a convicted criminal with a troubled childhood who became a Syrian djihadist soon after he left prison in France in January 2013. He is refusing to reply to questions from investigators.
If his involvement in the Brussels attack is proved, he will be the first ex-European volunteer with extreme Islamist groups in Syria to have committed an act of terrorism on his return to Europe. Belgian investigators are preparing a European  arrest warrant and he is likely to be extradited to Belgium in the next couple of days.
The British and French governments have both expressed fears in recent weeks that European-born fighters in Syria could  commit violent attacks when they return. If his involvement in the Brussels attack is proved, he will be the first European jihadist volunteer in Syria to have committed an act of terrorism on his return to Europe.  Over the last two years, a least 3,000 western-born muslims are believed to have joined the radical, islamist groups which are fighting both the Syrian regime and the more secular opposition movements.
French security sources described Mr Nemmouche’s behaviour as “amateurish” and not that of a jihadist trained by Al-Qaida or another radical anti-western or anti-jewish group. Both the French and British governments have taken action in recent weeks to try to cut off the flow of would-be fighters and intercept potential terrorists on their return. Last week Mashudur Choudhury, 31, of Portsmouth, was convicted of engaging in preparation for terrorist acts after he returned to Britain from Syria in late October.  An American-born jihadist, so far unnamed,  carried out a suicide bombing in Syria eight days ago.
To have carried guns in his luggage on a bus from Amsterdam to Marseilles – a route under high surveillance for possible drugs couriers -  was not the action of a highly trained or well-organised individual, they said. The French President François Hollande said on Sunday that Paris would redouble its efforts to prevent the Syrian conflict from bringing a new wave of anti-jewish or anti-western terrorist attacks to Europe. Mr Hollande dismissed suggestions that the French authorities should have intercepted Mr Nemmouche – a known djihadist, officially “under surveillance” – as soon as he returned from Syria in March.
Police are searching a home belonging to a man in Belgium where they believe Mr Nemmouche may have been staying. The suspect re-entered Europe through Germany and then moved on to Belgium, Mr Hollande pointed out. Soon after he entered France, he was arrested. This suggests, however, that European cooperation in following ex-Syrian fighters is inadequate or non-existent.
Roger Cukierman, president of the council of Jewish organisations in France, said that it would be a “huge relief” if the suspect did prove to be the Brussels killer. “We are determined to track these jihadists and to ensure that they can do no harm when they return from a war which has nothing to do with them and nothing to do with us,” President Hollande said.
“While he was free, another attack was likely,” he said. “It it seems that the worst fears of western governments are being realised. The European jihadists in Syria are a time bomb waiting to go off.” “The message to the jihadists is that we will fight them, we will fight them, we will fight them.”
If the suspect’s involvement is proved, French security services may face criticism.  Mr Nemmouche has been under surveillance since he returned France from Syria last year. Joel Rubinfeld, head of the Belgian League against Anti-semitism said the arrest of a suspect was a relief but that his Syrian djihadist profile was a source of deep anxiety. “It is crucial that countries who have citizens who have gone to Syria take all necessary measures to make sure this does not happen again,” he said.
His alleged involvement will also provoke comparisons with the Toulouse scooter killer, Mohamed Merah, 23, who was also under surveillance when he killed seven people, including three Jewish children, in 2012. Roger Cukierman, president of the Council of Jewish Organisations in France, said that it would be a “huge relief” if the suspect did prove to be the Brussels killer.
Like Merah, the Brussels killer is believed to have been carrying a Go Pro-type miniature film camera to record his attack. “While he was free, another attack was likely,” he said. “On the other hand, it seems that the worst fears of western governments are being realised. The European jihadists in Syria are a time bomb waiting to go off.”
Merah’s sister, Saoud, also slipped the net of security surveillance in France last month and left the country. She is believed to have travelled to the Turkish-Syrian border with her husband and four children. French security sources said that Mr Nemmouche’s behaviour was “amateurish”, suggesting that he was acting alone rather than part of an organised network. To have carried guns in his luggage on a bus from Amsterdam to Marseille – a route under high surveillance for possible drugs couriers -  was not the action of a highly trained or well-organised individual, they said.
If evidence is found linking Mr Nemmouche to the Brussels killngs, there will inevitably be comparisons with Mohamed Merah, the  Toulouse scooter killer. Merah, 23, was also under surveillance when he killed seven people, including three Jewish children, in 2012.
Like Merah, Mr Nemmouche had a history of petty crime. He left prison in 2012 after serving six years for the robbery of a corner-store. Soon afterwards, he left France for Belgium, Britain and the Syria – implying that he may have been radicalised while in prison in France.
An unnamed woman described as Mr Nemmouche’s aunt told French TV: “We are very shocked, We heard about this on the television news, We didn’t expect anything like this.” She described Mr Nemmouche as a “nice, intelligent, educated” young man but “very quiet”  and “not someone  to confide easily in others”.
Mohamed Merah’s sister, Saoud, also slipped the net of security surveillance in France last month and left the country. She is believed to have travelled to the Turkish-Syrian border with her husband and four children.
There are believed to be as many as 11,000 foreign fighters in Syria. The great majority come from other Muslim nations but around  3,000 come from Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States.
France, with around 700, and Britain, with 400, are thought to provide the biggest contingents of European-born fighters.
There are also Belgians, Dutch, Scandinavians, Albanians and Bosnians.