French newspaper Le Monde said it had based its report on the minutes of two hours of interrogation on March 19, the only questioning Abdeslam faced between his arrest a day earlier and the attacks three days later. However, no arrests were made there. There is no word yet on the identities of the suspects or their possible connection to the attacks.
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At least 11 people have so far been arrested in Belgium, France and Germany since the Tuesday bombings at Brussels’ airport and a nearby subway station.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Belgian media is also reporting that a man was “neutralized” by police during the raid.
The arrest was linked to the detention of 34-year-old Kriket, who was caught with heavy weapons and explosives in his apartment near Paris.
Last November, 130 people died after militants opened fire and detonated bombs in a number of locations in the French capital.
Notable among the questions is those raised by Turkey’s announcement that it had warned Belgium previous year that one of the Brussels attackers had been flagged as a “foreign terrorist fighter”.
Europol chief Rob Wainwright said authorities are facing an unprecedented threat, right across Europe. But authorities are looking for the third man in the photo that has been circulating showing all suspects walking together with luggage trolleys. It is unclear what the fifth man did-or if he survived-after helping el-Bakraoui carry the large bag that was presumably filled with explosions. Turkish officials said he was later released from Dutch custody due to lack of evidence of involvement in extremism. That man was seen in airport surveillance footage walking alongside two of the other suspects shortly before the explosions.
Investigators believe the massacres may have been carried out by the same terror cell responsible for the Paris attacks in November.
Links have also emerged with Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris attacks.
“We already knew that Khalid El Bakraoui blew himself up in the metro at Maelbeek station”.
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“Appearing on national television, the ministers acknowledged Belgium should have arrested Bakraoui, as his travel violated his parole”.
