Investigators questioning Mohamed Abrini, the prime suspect in last month’s bombings in Belgium, have also identified previously unknown links between the terror cell and Britain.
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In a separate report, BFM TV, the French rolling new channel, said investigators possess a taped conversation between Najim Laachraoui, the suspected bomb maker for the Paris and Brussels attacks, and a “foreign contact” in which Britain is also mentioned.
The terrorist cell that killed 32 people in attacks on Brussels last month had initially meant to strike France again after carrying out the Paris attacks, but swiftly chose to strike closer to home as police closed in, Belgian prosecutors said on Sunday. Prosecutors say Abrini has also acknowledged accompanying the two suicide bombers at the Brussels airport.
Over the weekend, one of the key suspects in both incidents was charged with terrorism offences, and it is being reported today that Mohamed Abrini has told police this summer’s championships were a major target.
Frank Leboeuf discusses the current security climate in France ahead of the upcoming Euro competition in the region.
“It’s hardly a scoop to learn that the terrorists were hoping to attack during the Euro”. Belkaid was killed in a raid that led to the terror mastermind Abdel Salaam’s arrest.
The attacks in Zaventem and Brussels came just four days after Salah Abdeslam was taken into custody.
However, the extremist group was not prepared with the tremendous speed with which the ongoing investigation would progress in Paris and changed their mind instead.
There are “indications” that the suspects can be linked to the rental of an address in the Brussels suburb of Etterbeek that was raided by police on Saturday, the prosecution said. Though there have been a series of quick arrests made after the bomb attacks, a warning was issued by both Belgium and France that it is not the time to relax and be cool. In November, the same cell carried out three suicide bombings outside the French national stadium while Germany was playing France.
Abrini had not resurfaced since the emergence of surveillance video placing him in the convoy with the attackers headed to Paris.
Abrini was already the object of a massive European manhunt following the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.
“Next to his body was a Kalashnikov, a book on Salafism and an Islamic State flag”, according to Thierry Werts, of the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office.
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The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the two who have been charged, identified only as Smail F. and Ibrahim F.
