Page 2 - ATD09APRIL2016
P. 2
A2
UP FRONTSaturday 9 April 2016
Arrests provide new links between Paris, Brussels attacks
Police investigate an area where terror suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested earlier today, in After weeks of specula- Brussels used by the Brussels
Brussels on Friday April 8, 2016. The federal prosecutor’s office confirmed a fugitive suspect in the tion about a mysterious bombers.
Nov. 13 Paris attacks was arrested in Belgium on Friday, after a raid Belgian authorities said was “man in the hat” who es- Friday’s detentions were
linked to the deadly March 22 Brussels bombings. The suspect, Mohamed Abrini, is believed to be caped the Brussels attacks a rare success for Belgian
the mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the double bombing at Brussels airport, but further while three suicide bomb- authorities, who have been
investigation is needed to determine Abrini is the third suspect of the airport attack. ers blew themselves up, accused for months of mis-
authorities were checking handling the investigation.
(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) whether that man was in- Both the interior and justice
deed Mohamed Abrini, ministers had offered to re-
RAF CASERT ed of links to the Brussels extent of the Islamic State the last identified suspect sign before the detentions.
JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG bombings, including the cell believed to have car- at large from the Paris at- Despite multiple arrests,
Associated Press last known fugitive in last ried out the intertwined at- tacks until Friday. Another Brussels remains under the
BRUSSELS (AP) — The arrest year’s Paris attacks, raised tacks that left 162 people man arrested in a series of second-highest terror alert,
Friday of five men suspect- new questions about the dead in two countries. raids, identified as Osama meaning an attack is con-
K. by Belgian authorities, sidered likely.
was linked to the Nov. 13 Abrini’s precise role in the
Paris attacks by French au- Paris attacks has never
thorities on March 22, hours been clear, nor his full link
after the Belgium attacks. to the Brussels attacks.
Abrini and Osama K. are Abrini is a 31-year-old Bel-
now suspected of playing gian-Moroccan, known as
a role in the two biggest at- a petty criminal before he
tacks carried out by the Is- was believed to have trav-
lamic State group in Europe eled last summer to Syria,
over the past year, killing where his younger brother
130 people in Paris and 32 died in 2014 in the Islamic
in Brussels. French authori- State’s notorious franco-
ties renewed their call to phone brigade.
arrest an armed and dan- Abrini went multiple times
gerous Abrini within hours to Birmingham, England,
of the Brussels attacks. last year, meeting with sev-
“We are investigating if eral men suspected of ter-
Abrini can be positively rorist activity, a European
identified as the third per- security official has told
son present during the at- The Associated Press. The
tacks in Brussels National official spoke on condition
Airport, the so called ‘man of anonymity because he
in the hat,’” said prosecu- was not authorized to pro-
tor Eric Van der Sypt. vide details on the investi-
The man walked away gation. He said the meet-
from the airport attack, ings, including one later
where two suicide bomb- last summer, took place in
ers blew themselves up, kill- several locations, including
ing 16. Authorities detained cafes and apartments.
four other men on Friday, Abrini had not resurfaced
including Osama K., sus- since the emergence of
pected of having contact surveillance video placing
with the suicide bomber him in the convoy with the
who blew himself up in the attackers headed to Paris.
Brussels subway the same He had ties to Abdelhamid
morning, killing another 16. Abbaoud, the ringleader
Osama K. was filmed by of the Paris attacks who
security cameras in the died in a police standoff on
City 2 shopping mall when Nov. 18, and is a childhood
the bags were bought that friend of brothers Salah
were used by the suicide and Brahim Abdeslam,
bombers who attacked both suspects in the Paris
the airport. attacks. Friday was three
Belgian prosecutors said weeks to the day that au-
Abrini’s fingerprints and thorities arrested in anoth-
DNA were not only in a er Brussels neighborhood
Renault Clio used in the Salah Abdeslam, who had
Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, been on the run for four
but also in an apartment months. Abdeslam is await-
in the Schaerbeek area of ing extradition to France.
