Belgium’s federal prosecutor named Ibrahim El Bakraoui as one of the two men who blew themselves up at Brussels airport Tuesday, while his brother Khalid El Bakraoui struck a crowded metro train in coordinated blasts that left 35 dead and 270 injured.
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Belgian investigators believe Belkaid was probably the commander of the ISIS terrorist cell behind the Paris and Brussels attacks, the senior official told CNN.
One of the suicide bombers who launched a deadly attack at Brussels airport left a note in which he said: “I don’t know what to do”.
The apartment was being rented by Khalid El Bakraoui, according to media reports in Belgium. Even if we failed to prevent these attacks, we can say that magnitude could have been much greater if the terrorists were able to implement their plan as they had originally planned.
But officials said his DNA has been verified as that of one of the suicide bombers – meaning the identity of the infamous “man in white” remains a mystery as security services continue to search for him. Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and France’s Le Monde and BFM television reported Thursday that a fifth attacker may also be at large: a man filmed by surveillance cameras in the Brussels metro on Tuesday carrying a large bag alongside Khalid El Bakraoui.
The three identified suspects behind the twin assaults, which killed 31 and injured 300, have been linked to the Paris attacks last November, underscoring the threat European nations face from the jihadist group.
One of those suspected local extremists, Abdeslam, may still have been operational while on the run, warned Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders at the weekend. The explosions, which took place at city’s airport and in the subway, are believed to be linked to the same network responsible for November’s Paris attacks and shed light on the EU’s porous borders and liberal refugee policy, said Valls.
Last September Abdeslam travelled twice to the Hungarian capital Budapest in a rental auto with two men believed to be Laachraoui and Samir Bouzid – who was shot dead by Belgian police in a terror raid last week.
Belgium is observing three days of national mourning.
These insights, and the presence of 400 Islamic State or ISIS fighters within Europe paint a portrait of an organization that is adapting to global pressure, and to its own losses on the battlefield.
Those who did so could now contact their airline to get their luggage back, it said, but they would still not be able to retrieve their cars.
When police arrived at the Forest apartment on March 15, they had intelligence linking it to the Paris attacks but expected the property to be empty. It’s not clear if he has any connection to the Brussels attack.
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Belgium’s crisis coordination center kept the level of security alert at the maximum as the man hunt continued. The Brussels airport announced that it will remain closed to passenger flights for at least another day, right up to the start of the busy Easter weekend.
