All three suspects identified in connection with the Brussels bombings, which killed 31 and injured hundreds, have links to the Paris attackers, underscoring the challenge Europe faces in tracking terror suspects across borders, reports FRANCE 24.
Three suicide bombers who struck Brussels airport and a metro train in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group were identified Wednesday as the manhunt for a fourth man whose suitcase bomb failed to detonate intensified.
Prosecutors said brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui had carried out attacks at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station, while bomb-making expert and Paris attacks fugitive Najim Laachraoui was identified by police sources as the second airport bomber.
Authorities stepped up the manhunt for a third airport attacker, seen wearing a hat and white jacket on CCTV footage from Zaventem departure hall, whose explosive-packed suitcase failed to go off with the two other suicide bombers.
Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw revealed that Ibrahim had left a desperate "will" on a computer that he dumped in a trash can, in which he said he felt "hunted" and added "I don't know what to do."
In an apparent reference to Salah Abdeslam, the key suspect in the Paris massacre arrested in Brussels on Friday, Ibrahim added: "I don't want to end up in a cell next to him."
Belgian broadcaster RTBF said Wednesday that it was Khalid El Bakraoui who had rented the apartment at 60 rue du Dries in the Brussels district of Forest, using a false name. It was at that apartment that Abdeslam's fingerprints were later found, leading police to his hideout and his subsequent capture last week.
Laachraoui, 24, was suspected of being one of the explosive experts and co-ordinators of the Paris attacks after his DNA was found on explosive belts used in both the attack on the Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France.
Under the alias of Soufiane Kayal he rented a home in the town of Auvelais, in southern Belgium, which was used by the jihadists to prepare the November attacks. Investigators also believe he was in phone contact with the terrorists on the night of the attacks, November 13.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.
See also Mediapart's report on the background to the attacks here.