The prosecutor’s comment comes after a Belgian minister said Abeslam had stopped talking to investigators since Tuesday’s bombings at the city airport and metro. At least one suspect in those attacks is at large, and it is unclear whether there were other accomplices. American Brussels survivor describes airport explosionHeavily armed officers wearing hoods began the operation about 1:30 p.m., when there were “two big explosions”, said resident Marie-Pierre Bouvez, and it lasted about two hours. Earlier today, we heard Belgian police had arrested six people, while German police are reported to have arrested two people.
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On Friday, Belgian prosecutors announced three new arrests in Brussels, related to the Kriket arrest.
According to Belgian authorities those killed in the attack, have so far, been identified as nationals of the U.S., Belgium, Holland, Peru, Great Britain, China and France.
So-called Islamic State (IS) claimed to have carried out both the Brussels and Paris attacks.
The Western alliance would continue its fight to destroy IS, Mr Kerry said. “We will come back with greater resolve – with greater strength – and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of the Earth”.
The Netherlands’ foreign minister revealed Friday that three of the dead at the airport were Dutch citizens. Top members of Belgium’s embattled government are facing criticism over its counterterrorism efforts since – and before – the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and that authorities believe were plotted from Belgium. One had received phone messages with the name of the metro station bomber and the word “fin” – French for “end” – three minutes before the metro blast, it said.
Officials are looking for another unidentified man seen on a surveillance video with Ibrahim at the Brussels airport on Tuesday.
Laachraoui also used the false name Soufiane Kayal and was with suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam in Hungary in September 2015, according to the prosecutor.
“The United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us, including Americans, and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks”, Kerry said after meeting Prime Minister Charles Michel.
Highlighting the threat, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said police Thursday had arrested a suspect in the Paris area who was in “the advanced stages” of a plot to attack France.
It means that Good Friday in heavily Catholic Belgium was overshadowed by more anxiety.
Immediately after Tuesday’s attacks, security was boosted around Belgium’s nuclear sites and hundreds of staff were sent home.
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Harrowing new footage of the moments after the airport attack meanwhile emerged on Belgian television, showing a lone baby left crying in the wreckage next to the lifeless body of a woman.
