One of them, Khalid had rented an apartment using a false name in the Brussels neighbourhood of Forest, where police killed a gunman in a shootout last week. The Belgian authorities have reportedly arrested a third suspect.
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Laachraoui is believed to have made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks, a French police official said, adding that Laachraoui’s DNA was found on all of the vests as well as in a Brussels apartment where they were made.
Laachraoui, 25, is wanted in connection with the Paris attacks.
“The despicable attacks today struck at the heart of Belgium and the center of the European Union”, said a statement from Ban’s office.
Laachraoui is believed to have worked with the two brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui to carry out Tuesday’s bombings.
Two of the suicide bombers who targeted Brussels Airport and the city’s subway system were identified Wednesday as brothers Khalid and Brahim Bakraoui, and Belgian media reported that a third man – the suspected ISIS bomb-maker behind the attacks, was arrested.
The brothers, aged 27 and 30 respectively, were already known to police for gang-related crime but until now were not connected to the terror investigation, RTBF quoted unnamed police sources as saying.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned Tuesday’s deadly attacks in Brussels, calling them “despicable” and demanding that those responsible face justice.
The airport explosions, followed little over an hour later by another blast at a Metro station, left at least 31 dead and 250 wounded.
Police conducted raids overnight and circulated a photo of three men seen at the airport wheeling trollies that presumably contained explosives-filled suitcases.
“These attacks have left many dead and seriously injured”. Both men had been sought by Belgian authorities since the March 15 raid that captured Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks.
He is believed to have made the suicide vests used in the November attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, according to a French police official who said Laachraoui’s DNA was found on all of them and in a Brussels apartment where they were made. The Belgian authorities have shut down all transport networks since the attack, while the country’s Prime Minister Alexandre Michel said: “What we feared has happened”. A minute’s silence was scheduled for midday local time to commemorate the victims.
A taxi driver who transported Ibrahim el Bakraoui and two other attackers to the airport helped police investigate the attacks.
Belgium kept its terror alert at the highest level after police raided houses in Brussels.
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Life began to return to normal in Brussels on Wednesday, with some public transport working and cars returning to the European district, but the metro system remained closed and the airport was still shut to travellers.
