Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam wants to be extradited to France “as soon as possible” to face charges following his arrest in Brussels, his lawyer said Thursday.
Advertisement
The raid in Schaerbeek is one of a number of operations said to have taken place across Europe in connection with the Brussels bombings.
The raids began Thursday night.
The first official said Ibrahim El Bakraoui’s initial deportation in July 2015 had been based on police suspicions that he was a militant fighter, but no crime was committed in Turkey, describing his expulsion as an “administrative deportation”. Authorities said they believed al-Hamed had also played a role in the Paris attacks.
French newspaper Le Monde said it had based its report on the minutes of two hours of interrogation on March 19, the only questioning Abdeslam faced between his arrest a day earlier and the attacks three days later.
A series of police operations in Brussels on Thursday March 24 resulted in the arrest of six suspects, the federal prosecutor confirmed.
Authorities are still searching for a third suspect they say was caught on surveillance video planting a bomb at
the airport before fleeing the scene.
Asked how he felt about Tuesday’s terror attacks, Mr Laachraoui, 20, considered one of Belgium’s big Taekwondo talents, said he was “sad” and “overwhelmed”.
The arrests came as the Belgian government admitted to making errors related to at least one of the suspected Brussels Airport suicide bombers – Ibrahim El Bakraoui.
He will pay tribute to the victims of the attacks during a visit to the airport – and a special committee is convening this afternoon to discuss a draft law on additional measures to combat terrorism.
El-Bakraoui’s brother, Khalid, has been identified as suicide bomber in the blast at the Maelbeek train station.
The latest raid forced Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to cancel a wreath-laying ceremony with visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry at the airport, an AFP reporter travelling with Kerry said.
Advertisement
Investigators are convinced that all five of the Brussels attackers are part of the same Islamic State network involved in the November strikes that killed 130 people at a stadium, rock concert and cafes in Paris.
