{"id":73989,"date":"2016-04-10T11:05:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T15:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=73989"},"modified":"2025-01-09T06:40:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T11:40:59","slug":"officials-group-hit-brussels-planned-2nd-france-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/04\/10\/officials-group-hit-brussels-planned-2nd-france-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials: Group that hit Brussels planned 2nd France attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(ShutterStock image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BRUSSELS \u2013 The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, Belgian authorities said Sunday.<\/p>\n

But the perpetrators were \u201csurprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation\u201d and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead of going back to France, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. It didn’t provide any details on the initial French plot or its targets.<\/p>\n

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said it amounted to \u201ca dirty war\u201d when more attacks could be expected in Belgium, France or beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the intention is there, the place of execution is rather secondary,\u201d Geens told VRT network. \u201cIf we secure one place, another target opens up.<\/p>\n

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\u201d<\/p>\n

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels\u2019 Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning. Investigators have found links between the cell behind those attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s statement provides confirmation of what many had suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks \u2013 including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam \u2013 pushed the killers to action.<\/p>\n

A laptop seized from a garbage can on a street outside the suicide bombers last known address contained a message purportedly from Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport attack, that indicated he was expecting to be arrested imminently following the arrest of Abdeslam.<\/p>\n

In it, prosecutors said El Bakraoui wrote that he felt \u201cin a hurry,\u201d and \u201cno longer knowing what to do,\u201d and \u201cbeing hunted from everywhere\u201d \u2013 all indications they might have looked for a speedier attack than initially planned.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Belgian police detained four men in Brussels raids over the weekend who were charged with participating in \u201cterrorist murders\u201d and the \u201cactivities of a terrorist group\u201d in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Abrini has acknowledged being the \u201cman in the hat\u201d spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport, officials said. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre.<\/p>\n

Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers\u2019 ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18 \u2013 four days before the attacks there \u2013 after a four-month manhunt.<\/p>\n

Geens insisted people should not get their hopes up too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can hope that the cell around Abdeslam and Abbaoud is just about caught but we should not believe it. In any case we need to remain very alert and new cells can pop up at any moment. The facts have already taught us that,\u201d Geens said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a dirty war which is unpleasant for France, for Belgium, or for the other nations in western Europe, because no one is immune,\u201d Geens said.<\/p>\n

The French government had similar thoughts. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the news was one more reason to stay alive to the threat of extremism in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t relax our vigilance,\u201d he told reporters in Algiers, where he is on an official visit.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The other suspects charged over the weekend were identified as Osama Krayem, who left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria and was described by one relative as having been \u201cbrainwashed.\u201d Also charged were Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.<\/p>\n

The past couple of days\u2019 developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. Despite the progress, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely.<\/p>\n

In a separate development, Brussels\u2019 STIB transport network announced that 12 stations closed since the attacks would reopen on Monday. Eighteen of the capital\u2019s 69 stations will remain closed until further notice, including Maelbeek.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Raphael Satter reported from Paris. Jan M. Olsen in Malmo, Sweden, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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