Salah Abdeslam, the surviving suspect of the Paris terror attacks, has asked “to be transferred to France quickly”, his lawyer said Thursday.
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Abdeslam’s lawyer Sven Mary said on Saturday that any hasty extradition to France would be motivated by a sense of guilt because the attacks were coordinated in Belgium.
Officials speaking to the Associated Press say that one of the suicide bombers involved in Tuesday’s bombing of the Brussels airport was also the suspected bomb-maker for the Paris attacks last November.
Ibrahim was one of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the check-in area of the airport terminal while an hour later Khalid blew himself up at the Maelbeek metro station. The working theory seems to be that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and Laachraoui detonated suicide bombs at the airport, while the man in the hat escaped after abandoning his bomb, which was later found by police and detonated in a controlled explosion.
A CCTV grab of one of the three suspects in the Zaventem airport attack in BrusselsBelgium.
France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition to face justice for his involvement in the November 13 attacks on a Paris rock concert, stadium and cafes, which killed 130 people. RTBF has learnt this morning that another man is suspected of having taken part in the deadly attack.
“It has also emerged the airport bombings could have been even more fatal after the taxi driver said the men wanted to place more luggage in his vehicle but he told them there was not enough space”.
Le Monde reported, according to the Guardian, that police officials were searching for a possible second suspect in the metro station blast, which killed at least 20 people and injured over 100.
French and Belgian authorities have said the network behind the Paris attacks was much larger than initially thought – and developments this week suggest the same group could have staged the violence both in Paris and Brussels.
The home-affairs ministers from all 28 European Union countries will meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss ways to boost cooperation in the bloc on counterterrorism and intelligence matters.
Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed that two of the attackers were brothers – Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui.
Mr. Abdeslam’s arrest-and subsequent decision to cooperate with authorities-appears to have prompted other members of the terror cell to speed up their plans to attack, according to officials.
The news comes after Turkish officials claimed they had warned the Belgian authorities that El Bakraoui was a terrorist – but he was allowed to walk free after being arrested in June past year.
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The whereabouts of the second alleged attacker is unknown to authorities, according to senior Belgian security reporting to CNN. The airport will remain closed until at least Saturday.
