Najim Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian brought up in Brussels, was one of the bombers at the airport, according to security sources. A man who said he knew the brothers and their family told dpa that they seemed like normal, if angry, young men who had recently been released from prison.
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Officials are looking for another unidentified man seen on a surveillance video with Ibrahim at the Brussels airport on Tuesday.
The chief suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was summoned to court in Brussels on Thursday morning after his arrest last week in the Belgian capital.
According to investigators’ information, obtained by Dernier Heure, the El Bakraoui brothers were the ones suspected of planting the cameras and were following the movements of the nuclear boss.
Prime Minister Charles Michel, who turned down their offers to quit, meanwhile pledged the government would “shed light” on the attacks in Brussels as Belgium faced growing criticism for alleged security breaches.
Belgian prosecutors said the arrests were made during raids in central Brussels, Jette and the Schaerbeek neighbourhood – where police found a large stash of explosives and other bomb-making material earlier this week in a flat believed to be used by the suicide bombers.
The news comes as Belgian police arrested six more people linked to the Brussels attacks that killed at least 31 people.
In a second claim of responsibility Wednesday, the Islamic State group warned of further attacks and what it called “dark days” for countries involved in attacking IS positions in Syria and Iraq.
So who is the man police arrested in Schaerbeek with ties to the Brussels attacks? Kriket was convicted in absentia of terrorist activities previous year along with the suspected ringleader of the deadly November 13 attacks on Paris.
Mary also indicated Abdeslam wants to be extradited to France.
Shortly after the fatal Brussels attacks, personnel from Belgium’s two nuclear power stations in Doel and in Tihange were promptly evacuated.
Turkey had arrested and deported Brahim el-Bakraoui last June, issuing a warning to Belgium which has been ignored.
Two of the people swept up in yesterday’s raids were shot, both in the legs – one of whom was sitting on a tram bench with a suspicious bag,
officials said.
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Brussels Airport is expected to remain closed until Monday.
