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Questions grow about why authorities couldn’t stop attacks Belgian officials acknowledge warning signs missed
(about 1 hour later)
BRUSSELS — Belgium’s interior minister and justice minister tried to resign Thursday ahead of an emergency meeting of European security chiefs held amid growing questions about why authorities couldn’t prevent deadly Islamic extremist attacks on Brussels despite increasing signs of a threat. BRUSSELS — Belgium’s prime minister refused to accept the resignations of his justice and interior ministers Thursday despite increasing evidence of intelligence and law enforcement failures to prevent this week’s attacks by Islamic militants.
Prosecutors announced a direct connection between the Brussels bombings that killed 31 people and injured 270 others and last year’s attacks on Paris, which appear to have been carried out by the same Islamic State network. The attacks have laid bare European security failings and prompted calls for better intelligence cooperation. “We don’t have to be proud about what happened,” Justice Minister Koen Geens said of the government’s failures to halt the attacks. “We perhaps did things we should not have done, at the same time.”
Interior Minister Jan Jambon said after a government meeting Thursday that “If you put all things in a row, you can ask yourself major questions” about the government’s handling of the threat from Islamic extremists. Authorities, meanwhile, lowered Belgium’s terror-threat level by one notch, although they said the situation remained grave and another attack is “likely and possible.”
One notable question was raised by Turkey’s announcement that it had warned Belgium last year that one of the Brussels attackers had been flagged as a “foreign terrorist fighter.” Belgium had been on its highest alert ever since Tuesday’s bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 31 people and wounded 270.
But the prime minister asked Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens to stay on, given the current challenge the government is facing. The country lowered its threat level late Thursday, but said the potential for attacks remains likely. Less than a mile from the bombed subway station, European justice and home ministers held an emergency meeting where they condemned the “terrorist acts” as “an attack on our open, democratic society.” They also urged the European parliament to adopt an agreement allowing authorities to exchange airport passenger data.
“The danger has not gone away,” said Paul Van Tigchelt, the head of the terror assessment authority. A manhunt continued for one of the Brussels airport attackers who was recorded on a surveillance video and had fled the scene.
The meeting came as Belgian and French media reported a second attacker is suspected of taking part in the bombing this week of a Brussels subway train and may be at large. Prosecutors declined to comment on reports from Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and France’s Le Monde and BFM television that a fifth attacker may also be at large: A man seen on surveillance cameras in the Brussels metro carrying a large bag alongside one of the suicide bombers. It is not clear whether that man was killed in the attack or is a fugitive.
Belgian prosecutors have said at least four people were involved in Tuesday’s attacks on the Brussels airport and a subway train, including brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, identified as suicide bombers. European security officials identified another suicide bomber as Najim Laachraoui, a suspected bombmaker for the Paris attacks. Authorities drew a line between the Brussels bombings and the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 dead in Paris. Both appeared to have been carried out by the same Belgium-based Islamic State cell.
Prosecutors have said at least four people were involved in the Brussels bloodshed, including brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, identified as suicide bombers. European security officials identified another suicide bomber as Najim Laachraoui, a suspected bombmaker for the Paris attacks.
Khalid El Bakraoui blew himself up on the train, while Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Laachraoui died in the airport.Khalid El Bakraoui blew himself up on the train, while Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Laachraoui died in the airport.
Prosecutors have said another suspected participant in the airport attack is at large, a man in a hat seen in surveillance images who has not been publicly identified. It is clear that some of the Brussels attackers had been on the run from authorities in France and Belgium but were still able to hide in safe houses, assemble bombs and carry out linked attacks.
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. It is not clear whether that man was killed in the attack. “If you put all things in a row, you can ask yourself major questions,” about the government’s performance, said Interior Minister Jan Jambon, who along with Geens had tendered his resignation.
Prosecutors, who have not said how many people overall may have taken part in the bombings, did not respond to the reports. Notable among the questions were those raised by Turkey’s announcement it had warned Belgium last year that one of the Brussels attackers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, had been flagged as a “foreign terrorist fighter.”
The federal prosecutors’ office issued a statement Thursday saying that Khalid El Bakraoui had rented a house used as a hideout for the Paris attackers, and that he had been hunted by police since December. But Prime Minister Charles Michel asked Jambon and Geens to stay on, given the current challenge the government is facing.
Several of the Paris attackers were Belgian or had links to Belgium, and the country has been on high alert for possible attacks. Turkey said Wednesday that Ibrahim El Bakraoui was apprehended in June 2015 near Turkey’s border with Syria and deported to the Netherlands. He was later set free by the Dutch for lack of proof of his involvement with jihadis.
Turkey’s president said Wednesday that one of the Brussels suicide bombers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, was caught in June 2015 near Turkey’s border with Syria and deported to the Netherlands, with Ankara warning Dutch and Belgian officials that he was a “foreign terrorist fighter.” Turkish officials said he was later released from Dutch custody due to lack of evidence of involvement in extremism. Geens appeared on a Belgian TV news show and was asked who was to blame for the failure to follow up on the Turkish warning.
The Dutch justice minister has confirmed that one of the Brussels suicide bombers was flown from Turkey to Amsterdam in July, but says that authorities weren’t told why and had no reason to detain him. “It is clear it is not one single person, but it is true that we could have expected from Ankara or Istanbul a more diligent communication, we think, that perhaps could have avoided certain things.”
In a letter to parliament, Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said Thursday that Ibrahim El Bakraoui was put on a plane from Istanbul to the Dutch capital on July 14, but that Turkish officials didn’t say why and his name wasn’t flagged in any Dutch law enforcement databases. “Our own services should perhaps have been more critical about the place where the person had been detained,” he added, referring to Turkey’s border area with Syria.
Van der Steur says that El Bakraoui had a valid Belgian passport when he arrived in Amsterdam “so there was no reason to take any action” at Schiphol Airport. “When someone is arrested there in a city few people know, it is clear enough for insiders that it could be a terrorist,” Geens said. “Here, though, he was not known as a terrorist. It is the only moment we could have linked him to it. And that moment, perhaps, we missed.”
It wasn’t clear what El Bakraoui did after arriving in the Netherlands. The justice minister acknowledged that “we have to be very self-critical.”
European Union justice and interior ministers held an emergency Thursday afternoon to discuss the attacks, and pledged to cooperate more closely on intelligence sharing. They also appealed “as a matter of urgency” for the European Parliament to adopt an agreement that would allow authorities to exchange airport passenger data. But Geens added that “such events have also happened in nations with the best intelligence services in the world,” pointing to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Also Thursday, the chief suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was summoned to court in Brussels after his arrest last week in the Belgian capital. His lawyer, who had initially vowed to fight extradition, said Abdeslam now wants to be sent to France as soon as possible. Authorities had been unable to find Salah Abdeslam, one of the Paris ringleaders and described as one of Europe’s most wanted men, until a breakthrough led them to a Brussels apartment where he was arrested Friday.
Abdeslam evaded police in two countries for four months before Friday’s capture, and the attackers in Brussels may have rushed their plot because they felt authorities closing in. Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, told reporters at the courthouse that he asked for a one-month delay on any transfer while he studies the large dossier, but that Abdeslam “wants to explain himself in France, so it’s a good thing.” Mary said the extradition process should be done by mid-April. The intelligence shortcomings have prompted European authorities to once again call for quicker and more efficient intelligence cooperation.
France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition to face justice for his involvement in the Nov. 13 attacks on a Paris rock concert, stadium and cafes, which killed 130 people. Several attackers were also killed. Rob Wainwright, the head of Europe’s police agency Europol, said his agency is trying to make sure investigators have access to needed information.
Belgium is holding three days of national mourning. “You have a fragmented intelligence picture but we’re trying to help with that,” he said. “Our databases contain thousands of names of suspected foreign fighters which have been submitted by member states, and even the United States. But we also have records on arms smuggling, money laundering, forgery and other elements which are particularly relevant given that many of these guys had petty crime backgrounds.”
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, in a speech Thursday, said the attacks on the European Union’s capital targeted the “liberty of daily life” and “the liberty upon which the European project was built.” He said the threat goes beyond France and Belgium and that it is impossible to reduce it to zero.
“Our country and our population were hit at its heart,” he said in front of the Parliament building. He honored the “children who have lost their papas, who have lost their mamas” in the attacks. “We are looking at large numbers of foreign fighters who have returned as potential terrorists,” he said. “And we are faced with a strategic decision by the Islamic State to aggressively target Europe. These are all very challenging dimensions. As for how large the community is and who has been sent back - that is the golden question.”
Security remains tight, but barriers were removed around the subway station hit by the attack, Maelbeek. The airport will remain closed until at least Saturday. The federal prosecutors’ office said Khalid El Bakraoui had rented a house used as a hideout for the Paris attackers, and that he had been hunted by police since December.
Also Thursday, Abdeslam was summoned to court in Brussels. His lawyer, who had initially vowed to fight extradition to France for the Paris attacks, said he now wants to be sent there as soon as possible.
Abdeslam evaded police in two countries for four months before his capture, and the attackers in Brussels may have rushed their plot because they felt authorities closing in.
Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, told reporters that he asked for a one-month delay on any transfer while he studies the large dossier, but that Abdeslam “wants to explain himself in France, so it’s a good thing.”
Mary said the extradition process should be completed by mid-April.
While Belgium lowered its threat level, it said the potential for attacks remains likely. “The danger has not gone away,” said Paul Van Tigchelt, the head of the terror assessment authority.
Nevertheless, several hundred people gathered at a makeshift memorial to the victim in Brussels’ central Place de La Bourse. They sang peace songs, took selfies and wiped away tears.
Ashraf, a Moroccan-born Muslim who is proud to call himself a Bruxellois, or a Brussels resident, came to light a candle and take photos of the memorial site with his mother, father, aunt and brother.
“It always happens, that people ask Muslims ‘why do you do this?’ But that is not real Islam,” he said. “We must have more understanding of this.”
Because of the climate of suspicion, and because he wanted to protect his family, Ashraf didn’t want his last name published.
Yet he still came to the Place de la Bourse to celebrate this multicultural city.
“This is a special country, it is open. I know people of many, dozens of nationalities,” he said. Behind him, flags or symbols from a dozen countries adorned the square.
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Associated Press reporters Raf Casert and Angela Charlton in Brussels contributed to this report. Associated Press reporters Raf Casert and Danica Kirka in Brussels and Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.
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This story corrects the name of the terror assessment authority chief to Paul Van Tigchelt, not Paul Zan Pigchelt. Dodds can be reached on Twitter at @paisleydodds.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.