Security operatives in Belgium have identified two brothers as the suicide bombers behind the Brussels Airport attack that killed scores of people as the search for an on-the-run third suspect intensified.
Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, and 30-year-old sibling Ibrahim blew themselves up in a departures hall on Tuesday morning. Both had been convicted of violent crimes in the past and had links to one of the Paris attackers.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the trio of bombings at the airport and in the city’s subway on Tuesday, which killed more than 30 people and injured at least 260 others.
In 2010, Ibrahim El Bakraoui was sentenced to 9 years in prison for shooting at police with an assault rifle during a robbery.
Khalid El Bakraoui was arrested for possession of Kalashnikovs in 2011 and had been sentenced to 5 years in prison for “carjackings.” He had lived at an apartment in the Forest neighborhood which was the scene of a deadly shootout with police on March 15 during a raid linked to the Paris attacks, according to reports by RTBF and the Belga news agency. An ISIS flag and extremist manual were seized there at the time and NBC News later revealed the name and other personal details of an Algerian who was fatally shot matched those of an ISIS fighter who wanted to be suicide attacker.
Khalid also allegedly rented a house in the nearby city of Charleroi, Belga reported.
Meanwhile, a massive manhunt was also underway for a suspect named by police sources as 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui, who was pictured dressed in white and wearing a hat in airport surveillance footage next to the two brothers. All three were pushing luggage carts.
Counter-terrorism officials told NBC News that the airport attack involved three suitcase bombs. Two of them were detonated, while a third did not explode and was blown up by Belgian authorities.
Authorities had already been seeking Laachraoui, who investigators said had traveled with Paris attacks plotter Salah Abdeslam. He is known to have used the alias “Soufiane Kayal” and went to Syria in February 2013. Laachraoui ARM learnt was arrested this morning by the DSU (Belgian Federal Police’s Counter Terrorism and Swat Unit), according to online reports in the suburb of Anderlecht.
“The federal prosecutor has not confirmed this information.” ARM will keep you updated as events unfold.
