Arrest warrant issued for new suspect in Brussels attacks

Belgian prosecutors have identified and issued an arrest warrant for a new suspect in Tuesday’s attacks on the Brussels airport and a metro station.

The federal prosecutor's office said in a statement Saturday that it issued an arrest warrant for a man it only identified as Faycal C. for “involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist killings and attempted terrorist killings.”

The statement did not confirm that Faycal C. is the third Brussels airport suicide bomber seen in airport security camera video alongside two men who blew themselves up there.  
 
Belgian media reported that a man named Faycal Cheffou was suspected of fleeing the Brussels airport.

3 detained in counterterrorism raids

On Friday Belgian prosecutors said three people were detained in a counterterrorism operation in Brussels prompted by the arrest Thursday of a Frenchman in the Paris area suspected of plotting a new attack.
 
The Belgian prosecutor's office confirmed in a statement that Friday’s arrests were conducted in three districts of the capital — Schaerbeek, Forest and Saint-Gilles. Two of the three suspects were wounded in the leg.

The statement also said that investigators used DNA tests to determine that Najim Laachraoui was one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up in the Brussels airport on Tuesday.

Laachraoui was also linked to the November 13 Paris attacks, in which 130 people died. His DNA was found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth discovered at the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed.

Kerry honors victims

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Brussels on Friday for talks with Belgian and European leaders about the attacks. During his visit, he said U.S. and coalition members had a message for anyone who would kill and wound innocent civilians going about their everyday lives.

"We will not be deterred. We will come back with greater resolve, with greater strength, and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of the Earth."

Speaking with VOA and other reporters in Brussels, Kerry declined to blame the Belgian government for not thwarting the attacks, saying, "carping" afterward was "inappropriate."  He said the U.S. and Belgium had already scheduled a number of counterterrorism training sessions. 

2 Americans killed

The three blasts touched off Tuesday in Brussels killed 31 people and injured about 300. A senior U.S. official confirmed that two Americans were among the dead.

U.S. officials have told reporters that the brothers who carried out the attacks, Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, were on a terrorism watch list in the United States.

Belgian federal prosecutors said six people had been detained for possible links to the attacks.

Meeting Thursday near one of the attack sites, European Union justice and interior ministers pledged to deepen joint intelligence gathering and swiftly push through measures to share airline passenger information and step up the fight against terrorism.

“We don’t need new plans; we need to fully implement the plans and measures that have been taken,” said Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk of the Netherlands, which currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency.

The emergency meeting offered a stark counterpart to the EU’s usually staid gatherings, especially since it took place near the Maalbeek metro station, one of the targets of the attacks.

"Everybody feels the attack on Belgium was an attack on Europe and the values we stand for together," Plasterk said. "Europe has been under attack before, but we’ve always defended liberty and democracy and we will do that together."