Belgian prosecutors charged three men on Saturday with terrorist offences over the Brussels bomb attacks and authorities called off a planned “march against fear” in the jittery capital to relieve pressure on an over-taxed police force.
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Federal prosecutors in Belgium announced Saturday that the man they arrested and identified as Fayçal C. had been deeply involved in the Brussels plot and was being charged with participating in a terrorist group, in terrorist murders and in attempted terrorist murders.
Belgium’s ageing nuclear power plants have also come under scrutiny as a possible terror risk, with the EU’s anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove telling La Libre Belgique newspaper they face the threat of a terrorist cyber-attack over the next five years.
More police raids will doubtless come in the future as authorities try to capture the missing men. He says US officials are working with allies to root out the group’s operations in Europe, telling Belgians that “America has their back” in the fight against terrorism. Sources said he was being sought for his “complicity” in the Brussels attacks.
At the last moment Cheffou pulled out of the suicide mission (either willfully or because the 35 pound bomb he was pushing in a cart failed to go off) whilst the other two men self detonated killing 14 and injuring hundreds at Brussel’s Zaventem airport. “We so far have no tangible indication to suggest the two men have something to do with the Brussels attacks”, said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
A second man, referred to as Aboubakar A, was arrested separately on Thursday night while he was in a vehicle in another part of the city.
Michel said, “We need to accept that we need to improve the fight against terrorism in Europe and in Belgium”.
Prosecutors on Saturday charged three people including Faycal C, who is the first person formally accused over the suicide attacks on the airport and the Maalbeek metro station. Prosecutors denied any terror link, Belga news agency reported, and said that in fact the man worked at a medical research facility that used radioactive isotopes.
Belgian authorities have carried out a number of raids in central Brussels and the neighborhood of Schaerbeek since Tuesday’s deadly attacks on the airport and subway system.
Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport, had been arrested and deported from Turkey and labelled a “foreign terrorist fighter”, Pizzey reports. Because Bakraoui was not on any watch lists at the time and because he had a valid Belgian passport, van der Steur said, “there was no reason to take any action”.
The person, whose full name has not been publicly disclosed, was arrested Thursday by Belgian authorities and formally charged Friday, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
A man identified as Faycal Cheffou has been charged with terrorist murder after the Brussels attacks which left 31 people dead. During his visit, he said USA and coalition members had a message for anyone who would kill and wound innocent civilians going about their everyday lives.
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The third man, wearing a hat and pale jacket, also had luggage packed with explosives.
