The newspaper exclusively reported that the arrest of Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam accelerated the plans of the terrorists.
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Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, told reporters he asked for a one-month delay on any transfer while he studies the large dossier, but Abdeslam “wants to leave for France as quickly as possible”.
Earlier in the day, Belgian police arrested seven people and Germany arrested two in investigations into Islamic State suicide bombings in Brussels.
The attack in Brussels, home to the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, has heightened security concerns around the world and raised questions about EU states’ ability to respond in an effective, coordinated way to the Islamist militant threat.
Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother Khalid, who denoted a bomb at the metro station, were on US watch lists before the assaults in Brussels.
Belgian broadcaster RTBF, citing a police source, had named the two suspected bombers as Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, both residents of Brussels and known to the security services for organised crime.
“So he saw police officers after the attacks”, Mary said.
He told a parliamentary committee: “The federal prosecutor has just informed me that Salah Abdeslam no longer wants to talk since the attacks on Zaventam and the Brussels metro”.
Six people have been arrested in raids connected to attacks on Brussels that killed 31 people and injured 270 other people Tuesday. Thirty-one people were killed, including at least two Americans, according to US officials. On Thursday, Belgian authorities were seen conducting searches in Schaerbeek again, which led to the arrest of the suspect on Friday.
The third suspected airport attacker has not yet been identified and is on the run.
Turkey has said it arrested and deported Brahim el-Bakraoui, last June, warning Belgium he was a “foreign fighter” – but the message was “ignored”. France is seeking his extradition to face potential terrorism charges for his involvement in the November 13 attacks on a Paris rock concert, stadium and cafes, which killed 130 people.
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Brussels Airport is expected to remain closed until Monday.
