The deputy head of the Greek Ministry of Interior, Nikos Toskas, said Friday that one of the suspect got into Greece by October, “escaped as an immigrant on the island of Leros in the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea and “was there identified in accordance with the principles of the European Union”.
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Belgian police, meanwhile arrested several suspects in Brussels on Saturday during raids connected to the Paris attacks, including one who was in the French capital at the time of the carnage, Prime Minister Charles Michel said.
The authenticity of the passport, and whether or not it belonged to the attacker, was being check, but the confirmation now indicates a possibly Syrian connection which has been a working hypothesis for investigators. “We do not know if the passport was checked by other countries which the holder is likely to have passed through”. Four died at the Bataclan concert hall, one on the Boulevard Voltaire near the venue, and three at the stadium.
At least one of the suspects, believed to have blown himself up inside the Bataclan concert hall, was a young Frenchman who was known to intelligence services. The prosecutors said he couldn’t disclose certain sensitive details of the investigation. For example, Islamic State executioner Mohammed Emwazi or “Jihadi John”, who was likely killed Thursday in an American drone strike, was a naturalized British citizen who was born in Kuwait.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that France and other Western nations were at least partly responsible for the attacks, criticising Holland for turning a blind eye to its allies which supported anti-regime groups in Syria.
ISIL said that its fighters strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns carried out the attacks in various locations which had been carefully studied.
“The most logical assumption is that it’s the same person, sent on a mission to Europe”, said a European security expert speaking on condition of anonymity. “Even though it’s only one individual, all fingers will be pointed at refugees, blaming them for attacks like these”.
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France is part of the US-led coalition that has been striking the Islamic State group in Iraq, and more recently Syria, and has been targeted by jihadists in the past because of its perceived tolerance of speech deemed offensive to Islam.
