Two of the men were injured in the leg during separate operations, the prosecutor said, the first in the Brussels district of Forest where a previous raid led to the arrest of top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.
Advertisement
“These searches follow an arrest by the [French intelligence agency] on Thursday morning that allowed us to stop a planned bombing in France that was at an advanced stage”, he said late Thursday.
French national Reda Kriket, 34, was arrested Thursday and during a raid on his home in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil police seized assault rifles including Kalashnikovs and TATP – the homemade explosive of choice of the Islamic State group. He said that the person arrested was implicated at a “high level” in the plot.
Cazeneuve added that the man arrested “is suspected of high-level involvement in this plan”.
Laacharoui’s DNA was found on all but one of the explosive vests used for the Paris attacks, which were plotted out of Brussels.
Top members of Belgium’s embattled government are being criticized over its counterterrorism efforts since – and before – the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and that authorities believe were plotted from Belgium.
On his five-hour visit Kerry is set to meet with European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders as well as King Philippe.
So far three suicide bombers have been identified: Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui as well Najim Laacharoui.
The identity of the French national was not immediately clear, nor was the terror network to which the individual is accused of belonging.
Islamic State posted a video on social media calling the Brussels blasts a victory and featuring the training of Belgian militants suspected in the Paris attacks.
Investigators could be seen carrying what appeared to be bags of evidence from at least one of the raid sites.
Meanwhile in Belgium’s capital, police arrested six people during raids in Brussels’ northern borough of Schaerbeek and western borough of Jette, as well as in the city center, the country’s federal prosecutors office has announced.
People of around 40 nationalities were killed or wounded in the attack, that struck the symbolic heart of Europe and has left security agencies across the continent on edge. He’s now incarcerated in Bruges and awaits extradition to France.
Among those who went to Syria through the network were Abaaoud and another Paris attacker, Chakib Akrouh.
Advertisement
Mourad Laachraoui, 20, told reporters: “I feel bad, that’s all – scared and saddened”.
