Belgian prosecutors have confirmed that Najim Laachraoui, 24, whose DNA was found on explosive belts used in the November 2015 Paris attacks, was one of the suicide bombers at Brussels Airport on Tuesday. The bomb-maker and Islamic State veteran killed 11 people at the airport, marking a direct link between the two deadliest Islamic State attacks on European soil.
In the wake of the Brussels bombings, which killed 31 and injured 300, authorities in Belgium, France, and Germany made further arrests. The Belgian state prosecutor named two of three detained suspects as Fayçal C and Abou A, while a third remained unnamed. Three other individuals arrested on Thursday were released.
A separate raid in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek led to the shooting and arrest of an unnamed man, part of an investigation into a foiled terror plot in France. Two other suspects, Tawfik A and Salah A, were detained in connection with that plot. Witnesses reported hearing blasts and gunfire during the raid, which involved at least 50 officers.
French authorities said the arrest on Thursday of a man with known links to the Paris attackers, named as Reda Kriket, thwarted a militant plot at an advanced stage. Police found an arsenal including Kalashnikovs, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment in his flat. Kriket, a French national with a criminal record, was a member of the Zerkani network, a jihadi group responsible for sending Belgian extremists to Syria.
Belgian security services faced criticism for failing to prevent the attacks despite prior knowledge of the bombers. It emerged that local police in Mechelen had information as early as December 2015 suggesting Abid Aberkan, a relative of Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, had become radicalised, but did not act on it. Abdeslam was arrested at Aberkan's home in Molenbeek last week and is expected to be extradited to France within weeks.
