French police Tuesday were also analyzing a suicide belt that was found in a dustbin in the southern suburb of Montrouge.
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The device was found Monday in the same area where a cellphone belonging to fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam was located on the day of the Paris attacks but the vest has not been formally linked to him, said two police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Belgian authorities charged a fourth person in connection with the bloodshed in Paris, when gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group, as an global manhunt continued for key suspect Salah Abdeslam. The official wasn’t authorised to speak publicly and couldn’t be identified by name.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that “when they made the crossing they were free citizens, not sought-after terrorists”.
In the meantime, Abdeslam is still at large despite the numerous police operations in Belgium and France.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, meanwhile, announced Brussels would remain at the highest alert level for at least another week, maintaining security measures that have severely disrupted normal life in the Belgian capital since the weekend.
They released all 15 others detained in police raids on Sunday. A police official said the vest contained bolts and the same type of explosive used in the Paris attacks.
Speaking at the White House, Mr Hollande said the USA and France have agreed to step up strikes targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. This undated photo released on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 by the Police Nationale shows police dog named Diesel who was killed in the siege of an apartment where some of the Paris attackers were holed up.
His companion was Ahmet Dahmani, a Belgian man of Moroccan origin who was arrested in Turkey last week on suspicion of involvement in the Paris attacks, the investigative source said.
“The Investigating Judge, specialised in terrorism cases, has placed one person under arrest warrant for participation in the activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders”, a statement from Belgium’s federal prosecutor said.
NATO, which raised its alert level after the Paris attacks, said its headquarters in the city were open, but some staff had been asked to work from home.
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Abrini, 30, was filmed with Abdeslam at a fuel station in northern France on November 11 and was driving the Renault Clio auto that was later used by the attackers in the French capital.
