Menu-Bar

Drop Down MenusCSS Drop Down MenuPure CSS Dropdown Menu

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Bomb Attacks in Belgium: ....updates. Three suspects in custody in connection with brussels bomb attacks


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/03/22/17/article-3504151-32767B5C00000578-336_964x499.jpg
The trio were apparently captured on CCTV in the minutes before 14 people died and dozens more were maimed in the check-in area at Brussels Airport this morning (top right). Belgian media said the two men on the left, wearing black, had blown themselves up and the third suspect, wearing a hat, is believed to have left a nail bomb and fled. The two suspected suicide bombers were both wearing black gloves on their left hands, which security sources say would have hidden the triggers for their explosive vests. It is not known if the fugitive in white then sped to Maelbeek station to carry out the blast that killed 20 people in a subway train just 79 minutes later. He may have joined the hundreds who ran from the shattered building in the aftermath of the bombing (bottom right). It came as ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacres, which have killed 34 in total and badly injured close to 200.

'Armed police have already arrested three suspects in the hours after the attacks and already have CCTV of one of the Brussels airport bombers including the moment he detonated his suicide belt.'


















The moment of capture as Abdeslam is snared by armed officers following a tense siege in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels
The moment of capture as Abdeslam is snared by armed officers following a tense siege in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/03/22/14/3274BCD200000578-0-image-a-40_1458657958235.jpg
Shocking images from Maelbeek station show the mangled remains of the train, smoke pouring out of the building and casualties littered on the pavement outside. Witnesses heard a loud bang at 9.19am - just over an hour after two explosions killed at least 14 and seriously injured 50 in a suicide attack on the Belgian capital's main airport. Commuters on the Brussels Metro network were evacuated into smoke-filled tunnels and along the tracks to safe stations in scenes reminiscent of the 7/7 attacks in London. The image above is being used by the Belgian media who claim this is the damage caused by the bomb at the Maelbeek Metro station in central Brussels this morning.
Salah Abdeslam (left), one of the most wanted men in Europe, has been wounded and caught by police (right, an officer at the scene of the raid
Police officers bundle out a man, thought to be Abdeslam
Salah Abdeslam (left), one of the most wanted men in Europe, did plan to carry out a suicide bomb attack at the Stade de France. However, his lawyer claims the French prosecutors' statement alleging Abdeslam's involvement breached his client's confidentiality


Both MI5 and the CIA have stations in Brussels and its teams have 'unique expertise' that will help trace those behind the bombings.
The National Crime Agency, Britain's FBI, will also be in the city already because of the heightened terror threat.
British Prime Minister David Cameron offered his support to victims and called a COBRA emergency committee meeting to address the events in Brussels.
He tweeted: 'I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help.
'I will be chairing a COBRA meeting on the events in Brussels later this morning.' 
U.S. President Barack Obama said: 'The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the people in Belgium.
'We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people




'We will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally Belgium to bring to justice those who are responsible.
'This is just another example that the world must unite; we must be together regardless of nationality, or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism.
'We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world.' 
Tech specialists will be scanning the phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, GPS records and forums known to be used by terrorists - and tracing links to Britain and America. 
The explosions came as the Belgian capital was on a state of high alert following the arrest of Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
Belgium's Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, said the country was on high alert for a possible revenge attack following the capture of 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam in a flat in Brussels on Friday.
'We know that stopping one cell can... push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,' he told public radio.



Something appears to drop from inside the trouser leg of Salah Abdeslam as he is arrested by police and bundled into a car
Something appears to drop from inside the trouser leg of Salah Abdeslam as he is arrested by police and bundled into a car


France is seeking Abdeslam's extradition so he can stand trial for his alleged role in the November 13 rampage of gunfire and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in Paris.
After the Paris attacks, security forces searched far and wide for Abdeslam, who vanished after returning to Brussels, believing ISIS could have spirited him away to Turkey, Syria or Morocco.
But it appears Europe's most wanted man never left the Belgian capital.
And it was family, friends and petty criminals who helped him evade a manhunt for four months before he was arrested on Friday in the neighbourhood he grew up in, not far from his family home or the district's police headquarters. 
Abdeslam relied on two friends to drive him back to Brussels after his brother Brahim blew himself up at a Paris cafe. Others drove him around Molenbeek and its environs between safe houses.
Police, who were eventually able to move in to seize him at a house in the rundown North African neighbourhood of Molenbeek, have charged a man and a women whom they suspect of being part of a family who harboured the fugitive. 



It is understood that intelligence services located the fugitive's hideout after listening in on phone conversations at the funeral of his brother, Brahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up in the Paris attacks.
One mourner is thought to have let slip vital information which allowed police to close the net around Abdeslam in Molenbeek.
They finally snared him after they noticed a large number of pizzas being delivered to a flat they had under surveillance – too many for the number of people who should have been in the apartment. 
He was interviewed three times on Saturday, the day after his capture - once by prosecutors and twice by an investigating judge - and 'wasn't in great shape' because he had been shot in the leg by police during his capture, Mr Van Leeuw said. 
Abdeslam has a court hearing on Wednesday. France has requested his extradition but Abdeslam's lawyer says his client will fight the request.
Police are also hunting a newly-identified ISIS suspect whose DNA was found on bombs used in the Paris terror attacks.




The accomplice was named today as Najim Laachraoui, a militant previously known by the pseudonym Soufiane Kayal which he used to rent a flat where the massacre was planned.
He left for Syria in 2013 before returning to Europe last year and travelled around the Continent with logistics chief Salah Abdeslam and another senior member of the cell in the days before the attacks.

Naiim Laachraoui, also known as Soufiane Kayal, left for Syria in 2013 before returning to Europe last year and travelled around the Continent with logistics chief Salah AbdeslamPolice issued this photograph of Najim Laachraoui, one of the suspects of the Paris terror attacks

Police issued this photograph of Najim Laachraoui, one of the suspects of the Paris terror attacks who has gone on the run

 CCTV images released today by Belgium Federal Police shows Najim Laachraoui, who was previously identified in a false passport as Soufiane Kayal, during a money transfer on November 17 - four days after the Paris terror attack - in a Western Union bank in the BrusselsCCTV images released today by Belgium Federal Police shows Najim Laachraoui, who was previously identified in a false passport as Soufiane Kayal, during a money transfer on November 17 - four days after the Paris terror attack - in a Western Union bank in the Brussels




Other CCTV images released by Belgium Federal Police shows Paris suspect Mohamed Belkaid, who is believed to have used the alias Samir Bouzid, in the same branch of Western Union on the same day as Laachraoui. Belkaid was shot dead two days before Abdeslam's capture in a police raid CCTV images released today by Belgium Federal Police shows Najim Laachraoui, who was previously identified in a false passport (pictured) as Soufiane Kayal, during a money transfer on November 17 - four days after the Paris terror attack - in a Western Union bank in the Brussels




 Other CCTV images released by Belgium Federal Police shows Paris suspect Mohamed Belkaid, who is believed to have used the alias Samir Bouzid, in the same branch of Western Union on the same day as Laachraoui. Belkaid was shot dead two days before Abdeslam's capture in a police raidOther CCTV images released by Belgium Federal Police shows Paris suspect Mohamed Belkaid, who is believed to have used the alias Samir Bouzid, in the same branch of Western Union on the same day as Laachraoui. Belkaid was shot dead two days before Abdeslam's capture in a police raid


 Photograph of Najim Laachraoui, one of the suspects of the Paris terror attacks who has gone on the run suspect: CCTV images released today by Belgium Federal Police shows Najim Laachraoui, who was previously identified in a false passport (right) as Soufiane Kayal, during a money transfer on November 17 - four days after the Paris terror attack - in a Western Union bank in the Brussels Police issued this New Other CCT
Other CCTV images released by Belgium Federal Police shows Paris suspect Mohamed Belkaid, who is believed to have used the alias Samir Bouzid, in the same branch of Western Union on the same day as Laachraoui. Belkaid was shot dead two days before Abdeslam's capture in a police raid

Prosecutors revealed traces of the 24-year-old's DNA were found on explosives at the scene of the suicide bomb attacks, suggesting he could be a bomb maker or armourer. 
The announcement came as a secret police dossier revealed there could be up to 90 'kamikazes' waiting to launch suicide bomb attacks in Europe after returning from Syria disguised as migrants.
The report also lifted the lid on just how shocked security chiefs were by the scale and complexity of the ISIS operation that killed 130 people in the French capital last November.




Investigators were caught off-guard by how skilled the attackers were in a range of tactics such as using co-ordinated strikes at multiple locations to place the greatest strain on emergency services.
The sophistication of the explosives used by the cell's suicide bombers also surprised officials.
Experts say that could only have been achieved with the help of an, as yet unidentified, bomb maker in an, as yet undiscovered, bomb factory. 
The findings were revealed in a 55-page report compiled in the weeks after the attack by the anti-terrorism police for France's interior ministry, which has been obtained by the New York Times.
The document, along with hundreds of pages of interrogation and court records, suggests there are still questions about how many others were involved in the attacks.




There are already 20 people being held in six countries on suspicion of assisting the attackers, but officials are identifying other accomplices at large almost on a weekly basis. 
The suspected mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed in a raid days after the attacks, is said to have bragged about how he was one of 90 terrorists who had gone to ground in Europe until called upon to strike.
The police said the friend had told them: 'Abaaoud clearly presented himself as the commander of these 90 kamikazes-in-waiting and that he had come directly to France to avoid the failures they had experienced in the past.'
Officials also don't know how many bomb-makers were sent to Europe after being trained in Syria or the exact encryption technology that allowed the ISIS death squad to evade detection for three months leading up to the attacks when they were planned the atrocity. 
French police began to understand the level of expertise used when they found traces of the same bomb ingredients at each of the places where the suicide vest went off: three times at the Stade de France Stadium, once at the Comptoir Voltaire bistro and twice inside the Bataclan concert hall.
The peroxide-based explosive, known as triacetone triperoxide or TATP can easily be made with everyday products such as bleach or nail polish remover which is why it has become increasingly become the terror group's explosive of choice.
However, it is difficult to create a stable bomb and equally as tricky to detonate it, suggesting the group had developed their skills over the last two years, the report said.
Until then, they did not believe ISIS was capable of pulling off such a co-ordinated attack.
Dr Natasha Underhill, an expert on terrorism in the Middle East at Nottingham Trent University, said: 'This was no doubt a warning strike to European leaders and there may be more to come. 
'The group has time and time again issued statements that it will have no mercy in targeting those who are supporting the US and who are fighting against the group. 




'The likelihood of further attacks in Europe is now in very little doubt. The promotion of fear is one of the strongest assets that Islamic State possesses and it is sadly doing an excellent job in spreading this message across Europe. 
'Strong responses and a unified reaction by European leaders and their allies needs to take place. However, care needs to be taken in terms of not overreacting to these events and responding in the most strategic and effective way against this growing threat.'  





Lets us know what you think of this article. Like? Dislike? Funny? Interesting? Cool?  Drop us a line in the comment box or join us on facebook to help us give you a better reading experience

Courtesy: mail

No comments:

Post a Comment