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Probe into Brussels bombings expands across Europe Probe into Brussels bombings expands across Europe
(about 3 hours later)
BRUSSELS — The investigation into last week’s deadly attacks in Brussels extended farther across Europe on Sunday after Italian police arrested a new suspect thought to have helped Islamic State militants slip into Western Europe unnoticed.BRUSSELS — The investigation into last week’s deadly attacks in Brussels extended farther across Europe on Sunday after Italian police arrested a new suspect thought to have helped Islamic State militants slip into Western Europe unnoticed.
Italian police said late Saturday that they had arrested an Algerian man suspected of providing several Islamic State supporters with false identification documents, allowing them to evade authorities as they plotted attacks in Belgium and France. Italian authorities said late Saturday that they had captured an Algerian man suspected of providing several Islamic State supporters with false identification documents, allowing them to evade authorities as they plotted attacks in Belgium and France.
“The Algerian arrested today in Salerno is part of a network of forgers of residency” documents, police said in a message on Twitter.“The Algerian arrested today in Salerno is part of a network of forgers of residency” documents, police said in a message on Twitter.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, 40-year-old Djamal Eddine Ouali had been the subject of a Belgian arrest warrant since January. ANSA said he was suspected to have given the falsified papers to Salah Abdeslam, arrested this month in Belgium on suspicion of involvement in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks; Najim Laachraoui, believed to have been one of the suicide bombers on Tuesday at the Brussels airport; and another man killed by Belgian authorities in a raid this month. The arrest added to an emerging picture of the network behind the worst attack on Belgian soil since World War II and is another striking indication of the growing reach of the Islamic State beyond its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Belgian police did not provide additional details on Sunday. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, 40-year-old Djamal Eddine Ouali had been the subject of a Belgian arrest warrant since January. ANSA said he was suspected to have given the falsified papers to Salah Abdeslam, a suspected member of the cell that carried out the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, who is now in Belgian custody. Ouali is also believed to have furnished documents to Najim Laachraoui, suspected to have been one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport on Tuesday, and another man killed by Belgian authorities in a raid this month.
The arrest may offer investigators additional clues about how an increasingly complex militant network pulled off the devastating attacks that killed 130 people last year in Paris and left at least 31 more dead in the Brussels airport and subway on Tuesday. The attackers killed at least 28 people on Tuesday at Brussels Airport and, an hour later, in a crowded subway car.
Belgian authorities extended their hunt for new clues on Sunday, conducting 13 searches in Brussels and other areas, the federal prosecutor’s office said. Four people remain in custody. In Belgium, another suspect linked to the attacks was charged, local media reported Sunday. The man, identified as Abderrahmane A., has been in custody since Friday and faces charges of belonging to a terrorist organization
Authorities have also charged another person believed to be linked to the attacks, local media reported Sunday. The man, identified as Abderrahmane A., has been in custody since Friday and was charged with participation in a terrorist organization. Belgian police did not provide additional details on Sunday, as they expanded their hunt for new clues. Authorities conducted 13 searches in Brussels and other areas on Sunday, the federal prosecutor’s office said. Four people remain in custody.
The growing list of arrests may help ease tensions across a country that remains on edge even as largely Catholic Belgians mark Easter Sunday. On Saturday, authorities called for a planned solidarity rally in Brussels to be postponed because, they acknowledged, they could not provide adequate security. The growing charge list may help ease tensions that were visible on Sunday even as Belgium, a largely Catholic country, marked Easter Sunday.
At the site of a memorial to bombing victims in central Brussels, riot police with shields and helmets arrived Sunday after a crowd formed that appeared to be more rowdy than the mourners who have gathered in recent days. [VIDEO: Protestors disrupt memorial to bombing victims]
At the Vatican, Pope Francis used his Easter address to label terrorism a “blind and brutal form of violence,” according to the Associated Press. In a sign of anxiety about attacks across the continent, worshipers were subject to tight security as they flocked to St. Peter’s Square. In a sign of the nervousness, riot police were deployed around a memorial site in the center of Brussels on Sunday afternoon after several hundred men dressed in black poured into the area. The men, apparently soccer fans, disrupted a mostly quiet vigil and began shouting slogans against the Islamic State and, according to some media reports, immigrants. The crowd later dispersed.
Authorities had hoped to avoid this kind of alarm when they urged organizers to postpone a solidarity rally planned for Sunday, acknowledging that police could not provide adequate security.
Across the continent, fears of renewed attacks remain elevated. In St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, worshipers were subject to tight security as they flocked to hear Pope Francis deliver his Easter address. Speaking to the crowed, the pope labeled terrorism a “blind and brutal form of violence,” according to the Associated Press.
In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State remains defiant even as it faces pressure from the United States and its allies from the air and from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the ground. On Saturday, Syria claimed to have recaptured the historic city of Palmyra, under Islamic State control for months.In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State remains defiant even as it faces pressure from the United States and its allies from the air and from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the ground. On Saturday, Syria claimed to have recaptured the historic city of Palmyra, under Islamic State control for months.
[Security forces missed chances before the Brussels attacks][Security forces missed chances before the Brussels attacks]
Over the weekend, militants continued to celebrate attacks that they said demonstrated the weakness of Western defenses. In a video released Saturday, a Dutch-speaking fighter, identified as Abu Hanifa al-Beljiki, addressed the government of Belgium. Over the weekend, militants continued to celebrate attacks that they said had demonstrated the weakness of Western defenses. In a video released Saturday, a Dutch-speaking fighter, identified as Abu Hanifa al-Beljiki, addressed the government of Belgium.
“You learned nothing from the lessons of Paris, because you continued fighting Islam and the Muslims,” he said, according to a transcript from the SITE Intelligence Group. “For this I want to tell you that the attack in Brussels is reaping what you had sown with your own hands.”“You learned nothing from the lessons of Paris, because you continued fighting Islam and the Muslims,” he said, according to a transcript from the SITE Intelligence Group. “For this I want to tell you that the attack in Brussels is reaping what you had sown with your own hands.”
The video followed Belgian authorities’ announcement Saturday that they may have found the most-wanted remaining suspect in Tuesday’s attacks. It was a welcome development for the government in Brussels, facing widespread criticism over its failure to chase down leads that might have helped prevent such attacks. The video followed Belgian authorities’ announcement Saturday that they may have found the most-wanted remaining suspect in Tuesday’s attacks. It was a welcome development for the government in Brussels, facing widespread criticism over its failure to chase down leads that might have helped prevent the attacks.
On Sunday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon defended to local media the government’s decision-making during last week’s attacks. He has come under fire for failing to protect Brussels after the initial attack at the airport. A little over an hour passed between that assault and the bombing on the subway.
Authorities said Saturday that a man identified by a European official as Fayçal Cheffou could be the third attacker at the Brussels airport. It’s believed that his explosives-laden suitcase did not go off.
The arrested man appeared before a judge after he was detained Thursday night while sitting in a car in front of the Belgian prosecutor’s office. He was charged with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders.”
A spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, Eric Van der Sypt, confirmed that the man identified by his office only as “Fayçal C.” was being investigated as the possible third airport attacker. But he said the link “cannot be confirmed yet.”
“We have to be 100 percent sure,” he said. “These are very heavy charges.”
Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported that Cheffou was third airport attacker, citing an unidentified source who said that a taxi driver who took the attackers to the airport the morning of the bombings positively identified him.
Belgian media reported that Cheffou has in the past identified himself as “an independent journalist” and has a history of advocacy on behalf of radical Islamist causes. He was reportedly once arrested for trying to recruit refugees in a public park and later received an order to stay away.
The prosecutor’s announcement comes just a day after investigators revealed that they may have missed a crucial opportunity to disrupt plans for the Tuesday killings. In the days before the attacks, investigators were questioning Abdeslam. He had been arrested in Brussels only four days before the Belgium attackers struck.
But the investigators focused their inquiries on the Paris attacks and on the procedures for extradition rather than press ­Abdeslam on plans for future strikes.
French newspaper Le Monde published in Saturday’s edition what it claimed were excerpts from a transcript of prosecutors’ questioning of Abdeslam. At one point, they show him photos of the two brothers who days later would attack the Brussels airport and subway, Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui.
“I did not know them,” Abdeslam replies, according to Le Monde. The prosecutors move on, even though they had already found Abdeslam’s fingerprints in an apartment rented by Khalid el-Bakraoui.
In addition to Cheffou, two others were charged Saturday with terrorism-related offenses, though they were not directly linked to Tuesday’s attack.
[The Islamic State is on the retreat on multiple fronts][The Islamic State is on the retreat on multiple fronts]
Prosecutors said they charged a man identified as “Rabah N.” with “participating in the activities of a terrorist group” in connection with a Thursday raid in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil that French leaders say foiled an imminent attack on France. According to a European security official, the man is Fayçal Cheffou, whose explosives-laden suitcase apparently did not detonate.
Belgian news outlets reported that a man named Abderrahman Ameroud, presumably the same who was charged Sunday, was another person connected to the plot. Ameroud, an Algerian, was sentenced in 2005 in France to seven years in prison for recruiting jihadists to fight in Afghanistan as part of a case tied to the 2001 assassination of anti-Taliban leader Ahmed Shah Massoud. The man, whom Belgian officials have not fully identified, was charged Saturday with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders.”
Another man, identified as “Aboubakar A.,” was arrested and charged Saturday with a terrorism-related offense. But prosecutors did not specify whether he was involved with one of the known plots. According to Belgian media, Cheffou has identified himself as a journalist in the past and has promoted radical Islamist beliefs.
Belgian authorities also have charged a man identified as “Rabah N.” with taking part in a terrorist group and another man, identified as “Aboubakar A.,” with a terrorism-related offense.
Belgian media has reported that Abderrahmane Ameroud, presumably the same person as the one charged on Sunday, is another person linked to the attacks. France sentenced the Algerian to seven years for recruiting fighters for Afghanistan. The case was tied to the 2001 assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary Afghan guerrilla leader.
It is not known what exactly each person is suspected to have done.
The new charges come as Belgian authorities admit missteps in their handling of terrorism investigations.
Investigators acknowledged late last week that they did not question Abdeslam extensively after his March 18 arrest, possibly missing clues that might have helped them avert the disaster four days later.
[Families still in desperate wait for news after attacks][Families still in desperate wait for news after attacks]
Belgium’s federal crisis center increased its estimate of the number of wounded to 340 on Saturday, and it said 27 of the 31 thought to be dead had been identified. Nearly half of the victims were foreign, and they came from eight countries, the center said. On Sunday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon defended to local media the government’s decision-making during last week’s attacks. He has come under fire for failing to protect Brussels after the initial attack at the airport.
A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the status of Americans overseas, said that about a dozen U.S. citizens were wounded in the attacks. At least two Americans were killed. More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks, Belgian officials have said. Nearly half of the victims were foreign nationals, including at least two Americans. According to Belgium’s Foreign Ministry, not all of those wounded have been identified because some of them remain in a coma.
Annabell Van den Berghe contributed to this report.Annabell Van den Berghe contributed to this report.
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