Belgian prosecutors charged three men on Saturday with terrorist offences over the Brussels bomb attacks and authorities called off a planned 'march against fear' in the jittery capital to relieve pressure on an over-taxed police force.
BRUSSELS: Belgian prosecutors charged three men on Saturday
with terrorist offences over the Brussels bomb attacks and authorities
called off a planned 'march against fear' in the jittery capital to
relieve pressure on an over-taxed police force.
The suicide bomb attacks targeting Brussels airport and a rush-hour
metro train on Tuesday killed 31 people, including three of the
attackers, and injured hundreds more. Islamic State has claimed
responsibility.
Amid increasing signs that the attacks were carried out by
the same militant network that was behind bombings and shootings in
Paris last November that killed 130 people, German lawmakers said Europe
urgently needed to improve the way its security agencies share
information.
Of the three men charged on Saturday, Belgian prosecutors
named one as Faycal C. Belgian media identified him as Faycal Cheffou
and said he was the man wearing a hat and a light-coloured jacket in
last Tuesday's airport CCTV footage that showed three men pushing
baggage trolleys bearing luggage.
The two others in the picture are believed to have blown themselves up.Cheffou was charged with taking part in the activities of a terrorist group, and actual and attempted terrorist murder.
The other two charged on Saturday, Aboubakar A. and Rabah
N., were accused of terrorist activities and membership of a terrorist
group.
Rabah N. was wanted in connection with a related raid in France this week that authorities say foiled an apparent attack plot.
Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur told Le Soir newspaper that
Cheffou, who said he was a freelance journalist, was "dangerous" and
that he had been detained a number of times at a park where he sought to
encourage asylum seekers camped there to turn to radical extremism.
The authorities also said that a man arrested on Friday
after being shot in the leg at a tram stop in the Brussels district of
Schaerbeek was being held for a further 24 hours.
He was identified as Abderamane A. and was one of three people arrested on Friday.That operation was linked to the arrest in Paris on Thursday of an Islamist convicted in Belgium last year and suspected of plotting a new attack, Belgian prosecutors said.
BRUSSELS MARCH
With Brussels still on high alert, organisers called off a
"march against fear" planned for Sunday after officials including the
city's mayor urged people to stay away in order to spare the over-taxed
police force.
"The security of our citizens is an absolute priority," said march organiser Emmanuel Foulon.
"We totally agree with the authorities' request to delay
this plan for a later date. We in turn ask citizens not to come to
Brussels this Sunday."
Officials said 24 victims from nine different nationalities
had been identified so far from the attacks in Brussels, which is the
headquarters of the European Union and NATO. Four people remain
unidentified.
Sweden's foreign ministry confirmed the death of a Swedish
woman in her 60s who had been missing since Tuesday. It said one Swedish
citizen was still unaccounted for.
Highlighting the jittery national mood, the murder this week
of a security guard employed at a site in Belgium holding radioactive
materials has stoked debate about the risks of militants attempting some
kind of nuclear attack.
On Saturday prosecutors denied media reports that the
security guard had had his access badge stolen and the implication it
could have been a motive for his murder.
On Thursday, French language newspaper DH (Derniere Heure)
had reported the suicide bombers who blew themselves up on Tuesday
originally considered targeting a nuclear site, but a series of arrests
of suspect militants forced them to speed up their plans and instead
switch focus to Brussels.
Late last year, investigators found a video tracking the
movements of a man linked to Belgium's nuclear industry during a search
of a flat as part of investigations into the Islamist militant attacks
on Paris on Nov. 13.
In a gesture of solidarity with Brussels on Saturday, the
Lebanese capital Beirut - itself often the target of bombings - lit up
one of its landmarks in the colours of the Belgian flag.
The Pigeon Rocks are striking natural rock arches by Beirut's seashore.
"We say to everyone, quite simply, that life must triumph over death," Beirut governor Ziyad Chebib said.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Foo Yun Chee, Writing Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Gareth Jones)
- Reuters
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