Top members of Belgium’s embattled government are facing criticism over the country’s counterterrorism efforts since – and before – last November’s Paris attacks, which killed 130 people and which authorities believe were plotted from Belgium.
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He will pay tribute to the victims of the attacks during a visit to the airport – and a special committee is convening this afternoon to discuss a draft law on additional measures to combat terrorism.
Belgian public broadcaster VRT said investigators believed Abdeslam had probably planned to carry out a shooting and suicide bomb attack in Brussels, similar to Paris.
Abdeslam’s lawyer Sven Mary said Thursday his client now did not want to fight extradition to Paris and insisted he “didn’t know” in advance about the Brussels attacks. China and Britain said one each of their nationals were also among the dead.
Unconfirmed reports say another of the Brussels airport attackers was the wanted jihadist Najim Laachraoui, whose DNA was found on explosives linked to the attacks in Paris.
The El Bakraoui brothers were two of the three suicide attackers Tuesday in Brussels.
A fourth suspect who failed to explode at the airport is on the run; the suspect at large was a man wearing a white coat and hat, security camera images revealed.
Belgian police arrested six people in their probe of Tuesday’s Islamic State suicide bombings in Brussels, while authorities in France said they thwarted a militant plot there “that was at an advanced stage”. It is not clear whether that man was killed in the attack.
Meanwhile Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said that Abdeslam, who was arrested last week, had stopped co-operating with police since Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels. The judge specializes in terrorism and is in charge of the Paris attack investigation in Belgium. He was later set free by the Dutch for lack of proof of his involvement with jihadis. They detained three people and shot two of them in the leg, including one who was carrying a suspicious bag while accompanied by a young girl.
His comments came as more news emerged about the Britons injured in the attacks.
Less than a mile from the bombed station, European justice and home ministers held an emergency meeting where they condemned the “terrorist acts” as “an attack on our open, democratic society”.
Two suspects in the deadly bombing were thought to be still at large Thursday as police carried out raids around Brussels.
The first victim to be identified was Adelma Marina Tapia Ruiz, who was killed in the attack at the airport, according to Peruvian state news agency Andina. The statement, from spokesman Mark Toner, added, “We must emphasize that a number of USA citizens remain unaccounted for and the Kingdom of Belgium has not yet released nationality information for reported fatalities”.
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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, in a speech Thursday, said the attacks on the European Union’s capital targeted the “liberty of daily life” and “the liberty upon which the European project was built”.
