The prosecutor has identified two of the attackers in Tuesday’s bombings at the airport and a subway station as brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui.
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Abdeslam was arrested by Belgian and French police last week.
“There are still a number of people possibly involved, remaining, who have not been arrested and who still pose a danger”, Paul van Tigchelt, director of the government’s Center for Analysis of Threats, told reporters on Wednesday.
The attacks began Tuesday morning when two bombs were detonated at the airport.
One blast took place outside the security checkpoints for ticketed passengers and near the airline check-in counters, according to an airline official briefed on the situation.
The hunt is on for a third remaining suspect – a man in light-colored clothing who appeared next to the El Bakraoui brothers at the airport in security footage.
European Command is working to account for all service members, including those on preapproved leave, the Air Force said in a news release.
In London, Downing Street said one British national was missing and four were injured, three of whom were being treated in hospital. “Islamic State fighters opened fire inside the Zaventem airport, before several of them detonated their explosive belts, as a martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Maalbeek metro station”.
Mr van Leeuw said the attack at Maalbek metro station happened while the train was leaving the station, in the second carriage which was still at the platform.
Brussels is the home of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters and the capital of Belgium and Europe.
Before the attacks, Frederic Van Leeuw, the lead Belgian investigator, said Laachraoui’s DNA had been found in houses in Belgium used by the Paris attackers, Reuters reported.
Could he be the man in the hat pictured moments before Tuesday’s airport bombing?
The federal prosecutor confirmed on Wednesday that the two brothers had carried out the attacks, adding that airport bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui had left a will on a computer that was found.
The attackers took a taxi to the airport from the suburb of Schaerbeek, and police had spoken to the taxi driver, van Leeuw said.
A third, also unidentified man in the picture is the suspect investigators say planted a bomb at the airport that later exploded without hurting anyone.
The brothers had “very heavy” police files, “but no connection to terrorism”, the prosecutor said. Police found a nail bomb, chemicals that may been ingredients for explosives and an Islamic state flag at the residence.
An image made from a security camera and released on March 22, 2016 by the Belgian federal police shows what the police say are possible suspects in the Brussels airport attack.
The first victim to be identified is Adelma Marina Tapia Ruiz, who was killed in the attack at the airport, according to Peruvian state news agency Andina. Another 230 people were injured.
“We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world”, said US President Barack Obama.
Last week, Belgian police said they were hunting for Laachraoui a suspected Abdeslam accomplice.
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At the end of his public audience in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday, Francis expressed his closeness to the “dear Belgian people” and asked the crowd of pilgrims and tourists to join him silently in prayer. “France and Belgium are united in pain more than ever”. Abdeslam was arrested in Belgium late last week, and officials have suggested that the attacks may have been in response to his capture.
