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| Expanding Portraits of Brussels Bombers, Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui | Expanding Portraits of Brussels Bombers, Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui grew up in Laeken, a working-class neighborhood in northwest Brussels, not far from the Royal Palace. Their father, a retired butcher, is a devout Muslim who emigrated from Morocco; their mother is conservative and reclusive. Just two years apart in age, the brothers shared burly features, and, by their mid-20s, had amassed a formidable record of violent crime. | Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui grew up in Laeken, a working-class neighborhood in northwest Brussels, not far from the Royal Palace. Their father, a retired butcher, is a devout Muslim who emigrated from Morocco; their mother is conservative and reclusive. Just two years apart in age, the brothers shared burly features, and, by their mid-20s, had amassed a formidable record of violent crime. |
| Belgian investigators are racing to assemble a fuller portrait of the brothers, who — along with at least two accomplices — carried out the suicide attacks in Brussels on Tuesday that killed 31 people. | |
| Here is a summary of what is known about each man, based on details from public records, official announcements, and interviews with neighbors, lawyers and law enforcement officials. | Here is a summary of what is known about each man, based on details from public records, official announcements, and interviews with neighbors, lawyers and law enforcement officials. |
| Born in Brussels on Oct. 9, 1986, he was raised in Belgium. | Born in Brussels on Oct. 9, 1986, he was raised in Belgium. |
| • Jan. 30, 2010: Acts as a lookout for two accomplices in an attempted raid on a Western Union office in central Brussels. Surprised by a police patrol, Mr. Bakraoui opens fire with a Kalashnikov rifle, hitting a police officer in the leg. When the three try to escape, they crash their car and hide in a house in Laeken until they surrender. | • Jan. 30, 2010: Acts as a lookout for two accomplices in an attempted raid on a Western Union office in central Brussels. Surprised by a police patrol, Mr. Bakraoui opens fire with a Kalashnikov rifle, hitting a police officer in the leg. When the three try to escape, they crash their car and hide in a house in Laeken until they surrender. |
| • August 2010: Receives a nine-year prison sentence for attempted murder. His accomplices are also sentenced: Belkacem Boulkoumite, the planner of the heist, to four years; and Jawad Benhattal, the driver, to six. | • August 2010: Receives a nine-year prison sentence for attempted murder. His accomplices are also sentenced: Belkacem Boulkoumite, the planner of the heist, to four years; and Jawad Benhattal, the driver, to six. |
| • October 2014: Paroled by a court, against the recommendations of a prison board. The conditions include mandatory monthly visits with a probation officer, and Mr. Bakraoui is prohibited from leaving Belgium for longer than a month. | • October 2014: Paroled by a court, against the recommendations of a prison board. The conditions include mandatory monthly visits with a probation officer, and Mr. Bakraoui is prohibited from leaving Belgium for longer than a month. |
| • June 20, 2015: Detained in Gaziantep, Turkey, along the border with Syria. | • June 20, 2015: Detained in Gaziantep, Turkey, along the border with Syria. |
| • July 14, 2015: The Turkish authorities notify Belgian officials that they have detained Mr. Bakraoui. They put him on a plane to the Netherlands, at his request. | • July 14, 2015: The Turkish authorities notify Belgian officials that they have detained Mr. Bakraoui. They put him on a plane to the Netherlands, at his request. |
| • July 20, 2015: Belgian officials tell Turkish officials that they were aware of Mr. Bakraoui but did not know of any links he had to terrorism, according to the Turkish government. | • July 20, 2015: Belgian officials tell Turkish officials that they were aware of Mr. Bakraoui but did not know of any links he had to terrorism, according to the Turkish government. |
| • Aug. 21, 2015: A judge in Belgium revokes Mr. Bakraoui’s probation, according to the Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure. | • Aug. 21, 2015: A judge in Belgium revokes Mr. Bakraoui’s probation, according to the Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure. |
| • March 22: Mr. Bakraoui blows himself up at 7:58 a.m. in the departure hall at Brussels Airport, along with a second suicide bomber who has not been identified. At least one accomplice flees. Hours later, a taxicab driver leads the authorities to a house in the Schaerbeek section of Brussels, where they find large quantities of explosives and bomb-making equipment. In a trash can outside, investigators find a computer with Mr. Bakraoui’s will. In the document, he says that he is being sought and no longer feels safe and that if he dallies, he risks ending up “next to him in a cell” — referring, possibly, to Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris attack who was arrested in Brussels on March 18. | |
| • March 23: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey discloses that his government had detained Mr. Bakraoui last year. “Despite our warnings that this person was a foreign terrorist fighter, the Belgian authorities could not identify a link to terrorism,” he said. | • March 23: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey discloses that his government had detained Mr. Bakraoui last year. “Despite our warnings that this person was a foreign terrorist fighter, the Belgian authorities could not identify a link to terrorism,” he said. |
| • March 24: Belgian officials acknowledge lapses in communication. “With the passing on of the information from Turkey and with the passing on of the information within Belgium, we have been slower than one could have expected under those circumstances,” Justice Minister Koen Geens tells reporters. “So, the information was passed on, but we have not been diligent, or probably not diligent enough.” Mr. Geens offers his resignation to Prime Minister Charles Michel; it is declined. | • March 24: Belgian officials acknowledge lapses in communication. “With the passing on of the information from Turkey and with the passing on of the information within Belgium, we have been slower than one could have expected under those circumstances,” Justice Minister Koen Geens tells reporters. “So, the information was passed on, but we have not been diligent, or probably not diligent enough.” Mr. Geens offers his resignation to Prime Minister Charles Michel; it is declined. |
| Born in Brussels on Jan. 12, 1989, and raised with his brother there. | Born in Brussels on Jan. 12, 1989, and raised with his brother there. |
| • Sept. 2, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of a Volkswagen Polo. | • Sept. 2, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of a Volkswagen Polo. |
| • October 2009: Suspected of involvement in a home invasion and robbery, but is not charged because of insufficient evidence. | • October 2009: Suspected of involvement in a home invasion and robbery, but is not charged because of insufficient evidence. |
| • Oct. 27, 2009: With two accomplices, Mr. Bakraoui kidnaps a bank employee, forcing her to drive to an AXA bank branch and deactivate the alarm. They steal 41,000 euros ($60,764 at the time). The bank employee later identifies Mr. Bakraoui as one of her abductors, and says he carried a Kalashnikov. | • Oct. 27, 2009: With two accomplices, Mr. Bakraoui kidnaps a bank employee, forcing her to drive to an AXA bank branch and deactivate the alarm. They steal 41,000 euros ($60,764 at the time). The bank employee later identifies Mr. Bakraoui as one of her abductors, and says he carried a Kalashnikov. |
| • Nov. 1-2, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of a Volkswagen Golf. | • Nov. 1-2, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of a Volkswagen Golf. |
| • Nov. 9, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of an Audi S3. That night, he and three accomplices are arrested in a warehouse in Brussels containing stolen cars. Mr. Bakraoui is detained, but is ultimately not charged with the theft of the cars. | • Nov. 9, 2009: Participates in the carjacking of an Audi S3. That night, he and three accomplices are arrested in a warehouse in Brussels containing stolen cars. Mr. Bakraoui is detained, but is ultimately not charged with the theft of the cars. |
| • Sept. 27, 2011: A court convicts him in Belgium of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, possession of stolen cars, possession of weapons, and sentences him to five years in prison, less time served. His accomplices — Yassine Dibi, Mohammed Nouiyer and Youssef Siraj — also receive prison sentences. | • Sept. 27, 2011: A court convicts him in Belgium of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, possession of stolen cars, possession of weapons, and sentences him to five years in prison, less time served. His accomplices — Yassine Dibi, Mohammed Nouiyer and Youssef Siraj — also receive prison sentences. |
| • 2013 or 2014: Released, on condition that he wear an ankle monitor, according to a defense lawyer. | • 2013 or 2014: Released, on condition that he wear an ankle monitor, according to a defense lawyer. |
| • August 2015: Interpol issues an arrest warrant for Mr. Bakraoui at the behest of the Belgian authorities, evidently because he had violated the conditions of his parole. | • August 2015: Interpol issues an arrest warrant for Mr. Bakraoui at the behest of the Belgian authorities, evidently because he had violated the conditions of his parole. |
| • Sept. 3, 2015: Under the alias Ibrahim Maaroufi, Mr. Bakraoui rents an apartment in Charleroi, Belgium, about 40 miles south of Brussels. The apartment is later used as a safe house by participants in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. | • Sept. 3, 2015: Under the alias Ibrahim Maaroufi, Mr. Bakraoui rents an apartment in Charleroi, Belgium, about 40 miles south of Brussels. The apartment is later used as a safe house by participants in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. |
| • Dec. 9, 2015: Fingerprints belonging to two of the Paris attackers, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Bilal Hadfi, are found in the Charleroi house. | • Dec. 9, 2015: Fingerprints belonging to two of the Paris attackers, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Bilal Hadfi, are found in the Charleroi house. |
| • Dec. 11, 2015: A judge in Belgium issues an international and European arrest warrant for Mr. Bakraoui in connection with the investigation into the Paris attacks. | • Dec. 11, 2015: A judge in Belgium issues an international and European arrest warrant for Mr. Bakraoui in connection with the investigation into the Paris attacks. |
| • March 15: A suspect — Mohamed Belkaid, 35 — is killed and four police officers are injured during a police raid on an apartment in the Forest section of Brussels that Khalid al-Bakraoui is believed to have rented, and where the police find a fingerprint of Salah Abeslam, who is suspected of having been one of the paris attackers. Two men escape during the raid, but it is unclear whether they are the Bakraoui brothers. | |
| • March 22: At 9:11 a.m., Mr. Bakraoui blows himself up inside the second car of a subway train as it is pulling out of the Maelbeek station in Brussels toward the Arts-Loi station, to the west. | • March 22: At 9:11 a.m., Mr. Bakraoui blows himself up inside the second car of a subway train as it is pulling out of the Maelbeek station in Brussels toward the Arts-Loi station, to the west. |