As clear connections emerged between the militants involved in the two sets of attacks, French President Francois Hollande warned of a threat from other similar networks.
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Some suspect that a possible infiltration of a nuclear power plant had been averted because ISIS ringleader Salah Abdeslam, a participant in the Paris shootings, was finally captured last week, and that his arrest triggered the Brussel bombings.
A veteran Islamist fighter in Syria, Najim Laachraoui is also suspected of making explosive belts for the Paris attacks in November, in which 130 people were killed.
On Tuesday, he, along with another suicide bomber, blew himself up at Zaventem airport. They acknowledged that top officials failed to act expeditiously on leads including Turkey’s request past year to take custody of Ibrahim El Bakraoui.
Investigators had previously suspected Laachraoui’s involvement in the Brussels bombing, but publicly confirmed his association Friday.
Abdeslam was detained in a raid on March 18th and charged in relation to the Paris attacks, and his lawyer insisted that “he was not aware” that the attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station in the government district were being planned.
European Union Justice and Interior Ministers were meeting in an emergency session on Thursday as pressure intensified on the bloc to improve cooperation against terror attacks in the wake of the bombings in the Belgian capital, which killed at least 31 people and injured 270 more from almost 40 countries.
There are also reports in French and Belgian media that police suspect a second attacker may have been working with Khalid El Bakraoui in the attack on the metro station. Laachraoui was a citizen of Belgium, and authorities said he traveled to Syria in 2013.
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The police came to see them at the time and came back to search the family home after the November 2015 Paris attacks. Belfast City Hall displays the colours of the Belgium Flag as a tribute following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels. With Belgium at its maximum state of terrorist alert and numerous police raids underway, Prime Minister Charles Michel rejected the resignation offers. Other suspects have been arrested in Belgium, Germany and France. We’ve rounded up some of what’s known about the victims here.
