But officials said his DNA has been verified as that of one of the suicide bombers – meaning the identity of the infamous “man in white” remains a mystery as security services continue to search for him.
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Officials said Laachraoui’s apparent death supports evidence that links an ISIS terror cell believed to have coordinated the attacks on Paris last November and the bloodshed in Brussels at the airport as well as a subway station, killing at least 31 people between the two sites.
Authorities have not identified him, but Belgian newspaper DH reported that he might be Najim Laachraoui, whom Belgian authorities have been searching for since last week as a suspected accomplice of Abdeslam.
Now, as more clues emerge about the deceased suspects’ terrorist ties, authorities are scrambling to find two suspects believed to be alive and on the run.
A cab driver who took the three men to the airport also led police to a home in Brussels where a bomb squad discovered about 33 pounds of TATP explosives-the same type used in the Paris attacks. Abdeslam’s lawyer said his client was cooperating with police, which could have provoked El Bakraoui’s to think that police might be closing in on his terrorist network.
Earlier reports from Belgian media indicated the third suspect had been arrested Wednesday, but those reports were later withdrawn as factually incorrect. Those attacks killed 130 people.
Speaking about the Bakraoui brothers, Van Leeuw said, “These two deceased suicide bombers had lengthy criminal records but (were) not linked to terrorism”. But in September, he traveled through Austria and Hungary with Saleh Abdeslam – the only surviving suspect from the Paris attacks.
Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and France’s Le Monde and BFM television reported Thursday that a fifth attacker may also be at large: a man filmed by surveillance cameras in the Brussels metro on Tuesday carrying a large bag alongside Khalid El Bakraoui.
The airport and several Brussels metro stations remained closed Wednesday.
Authorities believe the Paris attacks were at least partly plotted in Belgium.
In the raid, investigators found an Islamic State flag, an assault rifle, detonators and a fingerprint of Abdeslam, who was arrested three days later.
The Belgian police found 15 kilograms of explosives in an apartment of suicide bombers in Brussels, the federal prosecutor said.
Belgium’s terror alert is at maximum level. Authorities throughout Europe have boosted security at airports and other public spaces in response to the Brussels attacks, and a friendly soccer match set for next week between Belgium and Portugal has been moved from Brussels to the Portuguese city of Leiria as a precaution.
A Belgian official working on the investigation told the AP that it is a “plausible hypothesis” that Abdeslam was part of the cell linked to the Brussels attack.
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Meanwhile, Belgians observed a minute of silence on Wednesday in memory of the victims of the bombings, the country’s worst-ever terror attacks.
