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Islamic State threat in Europe ‘more urgent’ than feared, security chief warns Islamic State threat in Europe ‘more urgent’ than feared, security chief warns
(about 7 hours later)
BRUSSELS — A top European security official warned Thursday that the threat of Islamic State attacks is greater than previous assessments, underscoring calls for tighter security even as police widened the hunt for accomplices in the Brussels blasts. BRUSSELS — The French interior minister said that police foiled a terrorist plot with the arrest of a man who was believed to be at “an advanced stage” of planning an attack on French soil.
Rob Wainwright, chief of Europol, said that the terrorist group has adopted a "more aggressive" posture toward Europe and that security authorities were focused on about 5,000 suspects who had become radicalized in Europe and traveled to Syria to fight. Many have now returned. The arrest infiltrated the upper level of a terrorism network, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, and was the culmination of several weeks of investigation. There was no apparent link to the attacks in Brussels, he said.
The French arrest came as the Belgian prosecutor’s office announced six arrests in Brussels’s Schaerbeek and Jette neighborhoods, part of its investigation into Tuesday’s attacks. Belgian authorities have been scrambling to track down suspects who remain at large as officials confront accusations that they had failed to disrupt the plot that claimed dozens of lives this week in blasts at Brussels Airport and on a subway car. It was not clear whether the six participated in the attacks, Belgian authorities said, nor is it known yet how many were involved as it became clearer that the Brussels attacks had links to the November massacres in Paris.
A top European security official warned Thursday that the threat of Islamic State attacks is greater than previous assessments, underscoring calls for tighter security even as police widened the hunt for accomplices in the Brussels blasts.
Rob Wainwright, chief of Europol, said that the terrorist group has adopted a “more aggressive” posture toward Europe and that security authorities were focused on about 5,000 suspects who had become radicalized in Europe and traveled to Syria to fight. Many have now returned.
[Security forces missed chances before the Brussels attacks][Security forces missed chances before the Brussels attacks]
“We are faced by a more dangerous, a more urgent security threat from so-called Islamic State," Wainwright told the BBC on Thursday. "It threatens not just France and Belgium but a number of European countries at the same time. . . . It is certainly the most serious threat we have faced in at least a decade.” “We are faced by a more dangerous, a more urgent security threat from so-called Islamic State,” Wainwright told the BBC on Thursday. “It threatens not just France and Belgium but a number of European countries at the same time. . . . It is certainly the most serious threat we have faced in at least a decade.”
Wainwright spoke ahead of an emergency session of European security chiefs in Brussels. European leaders have been criticized for not acting more quickly to integrate security strategies, and they will be under pressure Thursday to produce results. Wainwright spoke ahead of an emergency session of European security chiefs in Brussels. European leaders have been criticized for not acting more quickly to integrate security strategies and were under pressure Thursday to produce results.
The bloodshed struck directly at “the liberty upon which the European project was built,” said Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, in a speech to mark a national day of mourning. The bloodshed struck directly at “the liberty upon which the European project was built,” Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, said in a speech to mark a national day of mourning.
Meanwhile, police pressed ahead with a manhunt for a suspected accomplice who is believed to have fled Tuesday's attack at the Brussels airport. Meanwhile, police pressed ahead with a manhunt for a suspected accomplice who is believed to have fled Tuesday’s attack at Brussels Airport.
[A quiet morning in Brussels ends in gruesome terrorist attacks]
The French newspaper Le Monde and the Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that video monitors had captured images of another possible accomplice, who is believed to have slipped away on the Brussels subway. The report could not be immediately confirmed.The French newspaper Le Monde and the Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that video monitors had captured images of another possible accomplice, who is believed to have slipped away on the Brussels subway. The report could not be immediately confirmed.
In a sign of the intense pressure on Belgian authorities following what are widely regarded as a host of security failures in the lead-up to Tuesday's attacks, the country's interior and justice ministers offered to resign on Thursday, according to Belgian media reports. Both Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens have come under criticism for their departments' inability to disrupt the terror cell before it struck, despite links between the Brussels plotters and the attackers in Paris last November. Criticism has also been leveled at the Dutch government, which on Thursday released a letter from Turkish authorities announcing their decision to deport Ibrahim el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands in July, after he was apparently detained at the Turkey-Syria border.
The Brussels attackers had been on authorities' radar. One of the men who would become a suicide bomber, Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, had even been subject to an international arrest warrant. The Belgian prosecutor's office said Thursday that the warrant was issued on Dec. 11 last year and that he was wanted for using a false name to rent an apartment in the Belgian city of Charleroi that was used as a hideout for the Paris attackers. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said Wednesday that Turkey explicitly warned Dutch authorities that Bakraoui was “a foreign terrorist fighter.”
On Wednesday, authorities had suggested that Bakraoui and his older brother, Ibrahim, were spurred to carry out their attacks as security crackdowns and raids closed in. But the letter does not explain why Bakraoui was deported, and Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said Turkey did not explain its decision. Because Bakraoui was not on any watch lists at the time and because he had a valid Belgian passport, van der Steur said, “there was no reason to take any action.”
Days before the attacks, counter­terrorism police raided their Brussels safe houses. An ally who took part in a terrorist rampage in Paris last November was shot and captured by authorities. And Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, a 29-year-old Belgian with a long rap sheet, wrote that he did not want to wind up in a prison cell, Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said Wednesday. In a sign of the intense pressure on Belgian authorities after what are widely regarded as a host of security failures in the lead-up to Tuesday’s attacks, the country’s interior and justice ministers offered to resign Thursday, according to Belgian news media reports.
The Bakraoui brothers were among three suicide bombers who struck Tuesday, tearing apart a Brussels subway car and shattering the city’s main airport terminal. At least 31 people were killed and 300 injured in the bloodiest attack on Belgian soil since World War II. [ Quiet morning in Brussels ends in gruesome terrorist attacks]
[Obama sticks to strategy against Islamic State] Both Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens have come under criticism for their departments’ inability to disrupt the terrorist cell before it struck, despite links between the Brussels plotters and the attackers in Paris in November.
Bakraoui detonated a suitcase full of nails, screws and powerful explosives at the airport, killing himself in the process, Van Leeuw said. So did Islamic State bombmaker Najim Laachraoui, 24, who is also believed to have prepared explosives for the Paris attacks, according to an Arab intelligence official and a European intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The Brussels attackers had been on authorities’ radar. One of the men who would become a suicide bomber, Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, had even been subject to an international arrest warrant. The Belgian prosecutor’s office said Thursday that the warrant was issued Dec. 11 and that he was wanted for using a false name to rent an apartment in the Belgian city of Charleroi that was used as a hideout for the Paris attackers.
An unidentified man who left an even larger suitcase of explosives at the airport is believed to still be at large, he said. That suitcase did not detonate, sparing Belgium even more casualties. A photo, released to Turkish media Thursday, showed a police mug shot of the elder Bakraoui — smiling and unshaven, wearing a dark T-shirt — prior to his deportation to the Netherlands in July.
Laachraoui’s involvement draws the boldest line yet between the Paris attacks and those in Brussels. His DNA was found on explosives in the Paris attacks, and authorities believe that he was versed in assembling powerful explosives from ingredients readily available. His participation in two attacks suggests that the Islamic State is increasingly able to strike on European soil — although his death may also mean that he feared imminent capture by European authorities. A variety of personal details about the bombmaker trickled out on Thursday. Najim Laachraoui, hailed in an Islamic State video for devising the explosive packages that killed 31 people in Brussels, was once a Catholic schoolboy and his younger brother has become an international Taekwondo competitor.
Terrorism experts regard bomb­makers, especially those trained in handling sensitive explosives, as among the most valuable and protected members of a terrorist organization. It is highly unusual for them to participate in suicide attacks themselves. Yet a news conference Thursday with the bombmaker’s brother and an interview with the director of the Catholic school did little to shed light on what led Laachraoui, described as a good student and “kind and intelligent” brother, down the path so many others have followed to violent extremism.
[Why is Brussels under attack?] The Catholic school in the ethnically mixed Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek welcomed non-Catholics. “He was a good student,” recalled Veronica Pellegrini, the director of the Institut de la Sainte-Famille d’Helmet. Pellegrini said he spent six years at the school and studied humanities.
Laachraoui’s DNA was found in a Brussels apartment raided last week. The discovery of a militant cell there eventually led to the arrest of Salah Abdeslam last Friday. Abdeslam is believed to have been involved in logistics for the Paris massacres, which claimed 130 lives.
Before Laachraoui allegedly learned to make bombs in Syria with the Islamic State, he attended a Catholic school in the ethnically mixed Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek.
“He was a good student,” Veronica Pellegrini, the director of the Institut de la Sainte Famille d’Helmet, said of the bomber who killed himself and dozens of others at the airport on Tuesday. Pellegrini said he spent six years at the school and studied humanities, and that he never had to fail and repeat a class.
In an interview, Pellegrini said the school never asks the students what religion they observe. And she said that the school has not heard from Laachraoui since he graduated in 2009.In an interview, Pellegrini said the school never asks the students what religion they observe. And she said that the school has not heard from Laachraoui since he graduated in 2009.
The school’s Web site describes its philosophy: "For us, school is a place of learning and a space for a common life. Each student acquires knowledge and skills, learns to live and to work with others.” On another page, describing the school’s philosophy, it quotes from the Bible: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers ... Do not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." The school’s website describes its philosophy: “For us, school is a place of learning and a space for a common life. Each student acquires knowledge and skills, learns to live and to work with others.” On another page, describing the school’s philosophy, it quotes from the Bible: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. . . . Do not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.”
It was another fragment in the lives of violent Islamic extremists who grew up in Brussels in a manner that gave no hints at what they would later become. It was another fragment in the lives of violent Islamist extremists who grew up in Brussels in a manner that gave no hints at what they would later become.
After a court hearing Thursday, Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, said the suspected terrorist is not fighting extradition to France, reversing his earlier position. In response to reporters' questions, the lawyer said the 26-year-old suspect had not known about the plans to attack Brussels and that his client "wants to leave for France as quickly as possible" so he can "explain himself." Laachraoui’s brother Mourad, a well-known athlete for his taekwondo skills, said that while his family was a practicing Muslim family, he did not notice any changes in his brother’s behavior.
[Brussels terrorists probably used explosive nicknamed ‘the Mother of Satan’] After Najim left for Syria, Mourad said that tried to find him and get him to return. He tried using Facebook, but Najim stopped using his real name. Their parents called the police in 2013 and saw police again in December after the Paris attacks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Turkey had deported the elder Bakraoui to Europe in July and warned European counter­terrorism officials that it believed the man was a militant, suggesting a serious lapse by Belgian authorities. Mourad said he felt sorrow for the victims of the bombings. Asked about his sports career, he said, “I want to continue my sports. I am fighting. I have always been fighting and I will continue fighting.” As for his younger brothers and Syria, he said, “I am now the oldest one, and I will prevent the others from going.”
The Reuters news agency, citing another Turkish government official, said Bakraoui was deported again in August after arriving in Antalya on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Najim Laachraoui’s DNA was found in a Brussels apartment raided last week. The discovery of a militant cell there eventually led to the arrest of Salah Abdeslam last Friday. Abdeslam is believed to have been involved in logistics for the Paris massacres, which claimed 130 lives.
A photo, released to Turkish media Thursday, showed a police mug shot of Bakraoui — smiling and unshaven, wearing a dark T-shirt — prior to his deportation to the Netherlands in July. After a court hearing Thursday, Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, said the suspected terrorist is not fighting extradition to France, reversing his earlier position. In response to reporters’ questions, the lawyer said that the 26-year-old suspect had not known about the plans to attack Brussels and that his client “wants to leave for France as quickly as possible” so he can “explain himself.”
Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to visit Brussels on Friday. Brian Murphy in Washington and Michael Birnbaum in Brussels contributed to this report.
Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.
Read more:Read more:
Here’s what we know about the attacks in BrusselsHere’s what we know about the attacks in Brussels
Explosives called ‘The Mother of Satan’ were likely used in the attackExplosives called ‘The Mother of Satan’ were likely used in the attack
Why are brothers teaming up to launch terror attacks?Why are brothers teaming up to launch terror attacks?
Who is Najim Laachraoui, suspected Islamic State bombmaker?Who is Najim Laachraoui, suspected Islamic State bombmaker?