Belgium on Friday said it was hunting for two unidentified terror suspects it said are “armed and dangerous” and who used false ID papers to help Salah Abdeslam, wanted over the Paris attacks claimed by Isil.
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They identified themselves as Belgian nationals Soufiane Kayal and Samir Bouzid.
The men traveled in a Mercedes and used fake Belgian identity cards with the names “Samir Bouzid” and “Soufiane Kayal”, the prosecutor’s office said. Following the attacks, Belgian police carried out a series of anti-terrorist operations.
The other false identity card, for Samir Bouzid, was used four days after the attacks to transfer 750 euros at a Western Union office in Brussels to Hasna Aitboulahcen, who died in a police assault in St Denis on November 18.
Investigators haven’t detailed what they believe Abdeslam’s role was in the Paris attacks, though Paris prosecutor Francois Molins has said he may have dropped off suicide bombers at the Stade de France just outside the capital, and then made his way to a Paris neighborhood before associates picked him up and drove him to Belgium.
Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen were both killed the next day in a police raid north of Paris, along with a still unidentified third person.
These two people are being sought by the Belgian and French police, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The prosecutor’s office did not elaborate on the goal of the trip or say in which direction they were traveling.
The attacks on 13 November left 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded.
“Anyone who sees those men is asked not to undertake any initiative and to contact immediately the police”, the wanted notice said. A total of eight individuals have already been placed under arrest in Belgium in connection with the attacks.
Two suspects were charged on Thursday in relation to the Paris attacks, including a Frenchman reportedly held at Brussels airport as he tried to board a flight to Morocco.
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Meanwhile the AFP news agency cited the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as saying that several people suspected to have ties to Abdelhamid Abaaoud were based in the United Kingdom.
