Belgian police renew appeals for tips into ‘man in white’ bomb suspect

BRUSSELS — Belgian police on Monday issued a fresh call for help to identify “the man in white,” one of the three bombers at the Brussels airport and the only one believed to have survived the attack.

The new appeal suggested that they had not yet concluded that a man currently in custody and charged with participating in a terrorist attack, Faysal Cheffou, is the same attacker shown in the airport surveillance image.

One Belgian official familiar with the case said that authorities did not currently believe Cheffou was the one in the shot. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

This could open another manhunt and raise further questions about the extent of the network behind last week’s bloodshed.

[How Belgian prisons feed militant ranks]

Belgian prosecutors released a video Monday showing the third airport bombing suspect in a floppy hat and white jacket pushing a luggage cart shortly before bombs exploded March 22. A photo from the video was made public shortly after the attacks.

Meanwhile, police across Europe widened anti-terrorism crackdowns Monday as prosecutors in Belgium charged three people suspected of having links to militant networks, adding further to signs that the multi-nation probes were moving rapidly beyond last week’s bombings in Brussels.

Yet even as the authorities chased new leads, there was still more reckoning from last Tuesday’s attacks claimed by the Islamic State. Belgium’s health minister raised the death toll to 35.

In Brussels, the federal prosecutor identified the three people charged with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group” only as Yassine A., Mohamed B. and Aboubaker O. They were among 13 people detained Sunday morning by police for questioning; the rest have been was released.

It was not immediately clear whether the latest suspects had alleged roles in planning the suicide blasts at Brussels Airport and a metro station. But the police sweeps in Belgium — and among its European Union partners — suggests moves aimed at heading off possible new attacks. They also add to an emerging picture of multinational networks behind recent attacks — another striking indication of the reach of the Islamic State beyond its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

On Monday the Dutch police said they arrested three other men allegedly linked to terrorism planning. A day earlier, Dutch authorities captured a 32-year-old French citizen in Rotterdam who was suspected of ties to an apparent foiled attack in France last week. They gave his name only as Anis B.

Wim de Bruin, spokesman for the Dutch prosecutor’s office, said in an interview that police found mobile phones, SIM cards, ammunition, money and drugs when capturing him.

Dutch police said two of the three other men arrested, age 43 and 47, were of Algerian origin. No information was released about the third suspect. De Bruin said all three were arrested while police were looking for Anis B. He said none of them would be extradited to France.

Italian police, meanwhile, were holding an Algerian man suspected of having provided false documents to the Islamic State militants behind the attacks in Paris and Brussels.

[VIDEO: Protestors disrupt memorial to bombing victims]

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, 40-year-old Djamal Eddine Ouali had been the subject of a Belgian arrest warrant since January. ANSA said he was suspected of having given falsified papers to Salah Abdeslam, a suspected member of the cell that carried out the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, who is now in Belgian custody.

Ouali is also believed to have furnished documents to Najim Laachraoui, suspected to have been one of the suicide bombers at Brussels Airport, and to a man killed by Belgian authorities in a raid this month before the attacks.

In central Brussels, widespread anxiety was visible as riot police with shields and white helmets fanned out Sunday afternoon around a memorial site for victims. Police briefly fired water cannons after several hundred men dressed in black, apparently soccer fans, advanced into the area. The fans waved a giant banner against the Islamic State and, according to some media reports, shouted nationalist slogans.

Hours before the street clashes, Belgian prosecutors charged another suspect linked to the attacks. The man, identified by authorities only as Abderrahmane A., has been in custody since Friday and faces charges of belonging to a terrorist organization. Belgian police did not provide details.

The new steps in the investigation come as Belgian authorities seek to beat back criticism of their handling of terrorism threats.

Investigators acknowledged late last week that they did not question Abdeslam extensively after his March 18 arrest, possibly missing clues that might have helped them avert the attacks four days later.

On Sunday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon defended to local media the government’s decision-making during last week’s attacks. He has come under fire for failing to protect other Brussels residents after the initial attack at the airport.

That criticism made the weekend announcement that authorities may have captured the most-wanted remaining suspect from Tuesday’s attacks even more welcome news.

[The Islamic State is on the retreat on multiple fronts]

According to a European security official, the man is Fayçal Cheffou, whose is suspected to be the third attacker at Brussels Airport. His explosives-laden suitcase apparently did not detonate.

The man, whom Belgian officials have not fully identified, was charged Saturday with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders.”

According to Belgian media, Cheffou has described himself as a journalist in the past and has promoted radical Islamist beliefs.

Belgian authorities also have charged a man identified as ­“Rabah N.” with taking part in a terrorist group and another man, identified as “Aboubakar A.,” with a terrorism-related offense.

The latest person to be charged may be Abderrahmane Ameroud, whom Belgian media has reported as linked to the attacks. Ameroud was sentenced by a French court to seven years in prison for involvement in a plot to assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud, a legendary Afghan guerrilla leader. Massoud was killed in 2001.

It is not known what exactly each person is suspected to have done.

Over the weekend, militants continued to celebrate attacks that they said demonstrated the weakness of Western defenses. In a video released Saturday, a Dutch-speaking fighter, identified as Abu Hanifa al-Beljiki, addressed the government of Belgium.

“You learned nothing from the lessons of Paris, because you continued fighting Islam and the Muslims,” he said, according to a transcript from the SITE Intelligence Group. “For this I want to tell you that the attack in Brussels is reaping what you had sown with your own hands.”

More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks. Nearly half of those killed were foreign nationals, including at least four Americans. According to Belgium’s Foreign Ministry, not all of those wounded have been identified because some remain comatose.

Annabell Van den Berghe contributed to this report.

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Probe into Brussels bombings expands across Europe

BRUSSELS — The investigation into last week’s deadly attacks in Brussels extended farther across Europe on Sunday after Italian police arrested a new suspect thought to have helped Islamic State militants slip into Western Europe unnoticed.

Italian authorities said late Saturday that they had captured an Algerian man suspected of providing several Islamic State supporters with false identification documents, allowing them to evade authorities as they plotted attacks in Belgium and France.

“The Algerian arrested today in Salerno is part of a network of forgers of residency” documents, police said in a message on Twitter.

The arrest added to an emerging picture of the network behind the worst attack on Belgian soil since World War II and is another striking indication of the growing reach of the Islamic State beyond its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, 40-year-old Djamal Eddine Ouali had been the subject of a Belgian arrest warrant since January. ANSA said he was suspected to have given the falsified papers to Salah Abdeslam, a suspected member of the cell that carried out the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, who is now in Belgian custody. Ouali is also believed to have furnished documents to Najim Laachraoui, suspected to have been one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport on Tuesday, and another man killed by Belgian authorities in a raid this month.

 In Belgium, another suspect linked to the attacks was charged, local media reported Sunday. The man, identified as Abderrahmane A., has been in custody since Friday and faces charges of belonging to a terrorist organization

Belgian police did not provide additional details on Sunday, as they expanded their hunt for new clues. Authorities conducted 13 searches in Brussels and other areas on Sunday, the federal prosecutor’s office said. Four people remain in custody.

The growing charge list may help ease tensions that were visible on Sunday even as Belgium, a largely Catholic country, marked Easter Sunday.

In a sign of the nervousness, riot police were deployed around a memorial site in the center of Brussels on Sunday afternoon after several hundred men dressed in black poured into the area. The men, apparently soccer fans, disrupted a mostly quiet vigil and began shouting slogans against the Islamic State and, according to some media reports, immigrants. The crowd later dispersed.

Authorities had hoped to avoid this kind of alarm when they urged organizers to postpone a solidarity rally planned for Sunday, acknowledging that police could not provide adequate security.

Across the continent, fears of renewed attacks remain elevated. In St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, worshipers were subject to tight security as they flocked to hear Pope Francis deliver his Easter address. Speaking to the crowed, the pope labeled terrorism a “blind and brutal form of violence,” according to the Associated Press.

In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State remains defiant even as it faces pressurefrom the United States and its allies from the air and from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the ground. On Saturday, Syria claimed to have recaptured the historic city of Palmyra, under Islamic State control for months.

[Security forces missed chances before the Brussels attacks]

Over the weekend, militants continued to celebrate attacks that they said had demonstrated the weakness of Western defenses. In a video released Saturday, a Dutch-speaking fighter, identified as Abu Hanifa al-Beljiki, addressed the government of Belgium.

“You learned nothing from the lessons of Paris, because you continued fighting Islam and the Muslims,” he said, according to a transcript from the SITE Intelligence Group. “For this I want to tell you that the attack in Brussels is reaping what you had sown with your own hands.”

The video followed Belgian authorities’ announcement Saturday that they may have found the most-wanted remaining suspect in Tuesday’s attacks. It was a welcome development for the government in Brussels, facing widespread criticism over its failure to chase down leads that might have helped prevent the attacks [The Islamic State is on the retreat on multiple fronts

According to a European security official, the man is Fayçal Cheffou, whose explosives-laden suitcase apparently did not detonate.

The man, whom Belgian officials have not fully identified, was charged Saturday with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders.”

According to Belgian media, Cheffou has identified himself as a journalist in the past and has promoted radical Islamist beliefs.

Belgian authorities also have charged a man identified as “Rabah N.” with taking part in a terrorist group and another man, identified as “Aboubakar A.,” with a terrorism-related offense.

Belgian media has reported that Abderrahmane Ameroud, presumably the same person as the one charged on Sunday, is another person linked to the attacks. France sentenced the Algerian to seven years for recruiting fighters for Afghanistan. The case was tied to the 2001 assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary Afghan guerrilla leader.

It is not known what exactly each person is suspected to have done.

The new charges come as Belgian authorities admit missteps in their handling of terrorism investigations.

Investigators acknowledged late last week that they did not question Abdeslam extensively after his March 18 arrest, possibly missing clues that might have helped them avert the disaster four days later.

[Families still in desperate wait for news after attacks]

On Sunday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon defended to local media the government’s decision-making during last week’s attacks. He has come under fire for failing to protect Brussels after the initial attack at the airport.

More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks, Belgian officials have said. Nearly half of the victims were foreign nationals, including at least two Americans. According to Belgium’s Foreign Ministry, not all of those wounded have been identified because some of them remain in a coma.

Annabell Van den Berghe contributed to this report.

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Missing U.S. couple died in Brussels attacks, family says

This story has been updated.

Stephanie and Justin Shults, an American couple living in Brussels who had been missing since the attacks in the Belgian capital, were declared dead on Saturday, according to members of Justin Shults’s family.

“We found out today that cowards took my brother’s life,” Shults’s brother, Levi Sutton, posted on his Twitter profile. In another posting, he wrote: “The world lost two amazing people today. It’s not fair.”

Relatives and friends of Justin Shults also posted memorials and notices of the couple’s death on his mother, Sheila Shell’s Facebook page.

The Shultses never planned on living abroad, but when the chance to move to Brussels fell in their lap two years ago, they decided to embrace the spirit of adventure and go.

On Tuesday morning, the pair were at the airport, dropping off Stephanie’s mother, Carolyn Moore, to catch a flight home to Kentucky after a week’s visit. They parked the car, walked her into the terminal to get her boarding pass, said goodbye and walked away, according to Moore’s sister and Stephanie’s aunt, Betty Gragg Newsom. Then the first blasts of coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels by the Islamic State ripped through the airport’s departure hall.

The couple’s car was found, Sutton posted on Twitter Saturday, but the family continued to wait without word about the couple, as they had for several days.

There was much the family didn’t know about what the Shults couple did after they parted ways with Moore. If they exited the airport to retrieve their car, they might have been far enough from the explosions to be injured but alive. If they opted instead to wait and watch Moore’s flight take off, they could have been much closer to the deadly blasts.

Newsom wasn’t sure where Moore was during the explosions, save that she had not yet gone through airport security. But the force of the blasts knocked Moore off her feet and left her with strange, dusty substances in her hair and without hearing in one ear, Newsom said.

Moore was taken to a nearby hotel, and was later joined in Brussels by her husband, Geary Moore. Shell, Justin’s mother, also traveled to the Belgian capital, to find out what happened to the couple.

On Friday morning, State Department officials said that at least two Americans had been confirmed dead in the blasts without listing their identities — raising speculation that Stephanie and Justin, the only American citizens to have been identified in the news media, might be among the deceased. But as the day wore on, it appeared that the announcement also could be referring to Alexander Pinczowski, 29, and Sascha Pinczowski, 28, Dutch nationals who lived in New York.

But all involved had already ridden out a heartbreaking moment of dashed hope, after some of Justin’s family reported receiving information that the couple had been found alive.

n Wednesday afternoon, Sutton took to his Twitter account to announce that an official from the State Department had contacted his mother to tell her that the Shultses had been found. The news spread quickly — even the mayor of Lexington, Ky., Stephanie’s hometown, joined in the online cheering.But it was confusing for Stephanie’s relatives, who had been in regular touch with officials and hadn’t heard anything. It soon became clear that the celebration was premature, and that Justin and Stephanie wSutton apologized later Wednesday via his Twitter account, saying he was “disgusted” that his family had received bad information and explaining that an official social worker helping Carolyn Moore in Belgium had helped straighten things out.

On Thursday, State Department spokesman Mark C. Toner told reporters that “we certainly apologize for any misunderstanding,” but he would not confirm that any department officials had contacted Shell or told her that her son had been found.

“They’re seeking information; we’re trying to respond and get them accurate information,” Toner said. “It’s incumbent on us to really try to get accurate information, and we just, we don’t have that yet . . . as soon as we have accurate information, we’ll obviously be back in touch with those families.”

Stephanie Shults’s relatives also want the mystery cleared up.

“We’re just trying to find out who she had gotten her information from,” Betty Gragg Newsom said of Justin’s mother. She took a deep breath before adding, “It was a little frustrating.”

Stephanie Moore, from Lexington in the heart of bluegrass country, and Justin Shults, from the mountain town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., met in graduate school while they were studying for master’s degrees in accounting at Vanderbilt University, where Justin had received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2008. Both were remarkably bright, Newsom said. They married two years after graduation, in 2011.

Stephanie worked for the Mars company, in its pet-food division, and Justin for Clarcor, which makes filtration systems. They were based in Nashville, but they headed for Europe after Stephanie, who had majored in business and French at Transylvania University in Lexington, was offered a three-year position in Brussels by her company, Newsom said. Justin’s company let him make the move, too, in order to handle its international business accounts.

In Brussels the Shultses lived near the center of town, Newsom said, and they weren’t scared even as the Belgian capital began to gain a reputation as a hub for terrorist activity in Europe in recent months.

“They’ve just really enjoyed the experience of being in Europe,” Newsom said. “They had not mentioned feeling unsafe at all.”

Whenever they weren’t working, Newsom said, they traveled — to the running of the bulls in Spain, to London, to Paris, to Germany and other parts of Europe. They had been enjoying “the 30-something lifestyle before they have children,” Newsom said.

Justin Shults turned 30 this month, while Stephanie’s 30th birthday is in September.

Moore, who is retired, had made a few trips to Brussels to visit the couple and was squeezing one more in before the expected birth of her first grandchild — Stephanie’s older sister is due to have a baby soon.

Justin Shults, American Missing in Belgium, Confirmed Dead

Justin Shults, an American who hadn't been heard from since Tuesday's terror attacks in Belgium, is dead, his brother said Saturday.

"We found out today that cowards took my brother's life," Levi Sutton wrote on Twitter.

Shults, 30, was with his wife, Stephanie, waving goodbye to her mom at the Brussels airport when the explosions went off. His employer, Clarcor, confirmed in a statement that Shults was killed and Stephanie remains unaccounted for.

The couple moved to the Belgian capital in 2014. Justin, originally from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Stephanie, from Lexington, Kentucky, were both accountants.

Sutton said Saturday that Shults was "smart and kind and generous" and worked hard to achieve his dreams.

"He traveled the world leaving each destination better than when he arrived. Knowing that I'll never be able to see him again hurts, but it's worse that my future children will never get to know their uncle Justin as he would've been a tremendous role model," he wrote.

Clarcor, a filtration company that Shults worked for, said in a statement on its website that he would be remembered as an "intelligent, kind and loyal friend and employee."

"We do not have news yet about Justin's wife, Stephanie, and ask that you keep her and her family in your prayers," it added.

Reports: 'Man in hat' in Brussels video arrested, charged

Belgian prosecutors charged three men for terrorist offenses Saturday, including a man identified by Belgian media as the "man in the hat" shown on surveillance video at Brussels Airport minutes before Tuesday's attacks.

While prosecutors have not officially identified a suspect as the man in the video, they confirmed they have charged a man identified as "Faycal C." for “involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder.”

Belgian state TV and the newspaper Le Soir, using a different spelling, identified the suspect as Faisal Cheffou, a Belgian freelance filmmaker and journalist.

They say he was fingered by a taxi driver who picked up three men on Tuesday, including two of the suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the airport in the terror attacks that killed at least 31 people.

Prosecutors are awaiting DNA evidence before making any official statement on whether they believe they have the third terrorist in custody, RTBF, Belgian state TV, reported. Prosecutors did say that they have searched the latest suspect's home and turned up no weapons or explosives.

In a statement Friday, the prosecutor's office said "Faycal C" was one of three men police detained near the federal prosecutor's office. Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the three were picked up while standing "outside our door."

On the surveillance video, the third terrorist, wearing a hat and light-colored clothing on the right, is shown walking beside the two other terrorists. Authorities said the man was pushing a cart with luggage containing a 35-pound bomb that did not detonate. The man fled and has been the main target of a manhunt since the attacks. The bomb was later set off in a controlled explosion.

Prosecutors say two other suspects arrested Thursday and identified as Rabah N. and Aboubakar A. have been charged with “involvement in the activities of a terrorist group,” according to the Associated Press

A fourth man, taken into custody Friday after he was shot by police at a Brussels tram stop, is being held for at least 24 hours longer.

The other two men in the airport surveillance video have been identified as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, seen walking in the middle, and Najim Laachraoui, a bombmaker linked by DNA to the Paris terror attacks in November that killed 130 people. Also identified in the Brussels attacks is Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, Ibrahim's brother, who blew himself up in a subway car at a metro station.

Meanwhile, organizers postponed plans for a march Sunday from the Place de la Bourse in Brussels to the city’s Gare du Nord that was intended as a show of solidarity for the victims of the terror attacks, Belgian state TV reported.

The cancellation followed an appeal by Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon, who said police are too stretched with the investigation into the attacks to provide proper security.

In addition, Brussels Airport officials say flights won’t resume before Tuesday as they assess the damage caused by twin explosions in the terminal. Brussels Airport handles 23.5 million passengers annually. It links Brussels with 226 destinations worldwide and is served by 77 different airlines.

Journalist Charged With ‘Terrorist Murder’

A man identified as Faycal Cheffou has been charged with terrorist murder after the Brussels attacks which left 31 people dead.

Cheffou has also been charged with participation in a terrorist group and attempted terrorist killings, Belgian prosecutors said in a statement.

The self-styled journalist was one of several men detained in police raids on Thursday.

No weapons or explosives were found in a search of his home.

Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur told Belgium's Le Soir newspaper Cheffou was known to authorities and is "dangerous".

3 Face Terror Charges in Belgium After Attacks

The Belgian federal prosecutor's office charged three men Saturday as part of widespread anti-terror operations following this week's attacks in Brussels that killed 28 people and injured 340 others.

All three men were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office. One of the men, identified only as Faycal C., was also charged with terrorist murder and attempt of terrorist murder in connection with the attacks in Brussels, the statement said.

Another of the men, identified as Rabah N., was charged in connection with a terror plot in France that was foiled by police, according to the statement. The prosecutor's office didn't say what led to the arrest of the third man, identified as Aboubakar A.

In Germany, police and prosecutors are investigating whether a 28-year-old Moroccan man arrested at a German train station with no valid identification Thursday has connections to the Brussels attackers, police said. Police found documents on him suggesting he had been in Brussels recently and police learned he had entered Germany several times under different aliases, according to a police press statement.

Amid the raids and arrests, a man was shot by law enforcement officials Friday at a Brussels tram station. In video obtained by ABC News, he was seen being dragged away by police.

Authorities arrest new suspect in Belgian terror attack

Belgian prosecutors on Saturday arrested a new suspect in the attacks on the Brussels airport and subway that killed 31 people.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office told Fox News that Faycal Cheffou had been taken into custody.

Belgian media are reporting that Cheffou has been identified as the man in a light-colored jacked suspected of fleeing Brussels airport after two alleged accomplices blew themselves up there in Tuesday's attack. Prosecutors refused to comment on those reports.

Cheffou is being charged with participation in a terrorist attack, terrorist murder and attempting terrorist murder, Fox News reported.

He was taken into custody Thursday, according to prosecutors who said police raided his home but the search turned up no weapons or explosives.

Prosecutors said two other suspects were arrest Thursday and identified as Rabah N. and Aboubakar A. They were charged with “involvement in the activities of a terrorist group."

ISIS has claimed credit for the coordinated suicide attacks at the Brussels international airport and a subway station that killed 31 people and injured more than 300.

A march for solidarity scheduled for Sunday in Brussels was canceled by organizers after the country's interior minister appealed to residents not to attend because police are too stretched with the investigation into the attacks.

Event organizer Emmanuel Foulon said Saturday the event would be held later.

Meantime, Brussels airport officials moved to assess the damage caused by twin explosions at the terminal on Tuesday.

Authorities have wrapped up their investigation of the crime scene at the airport, and will allow engineers into the building to check its structural safety and information technology systems -- and whether any damage can be repaired quickly.

Brussels Airport, which handles 23.5 million passengers annually, said it would be Tuesday at the earliest before flights resume.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Charge against Brussels tweet man dropped

Police have dropped a race-hate charge against a man who allegedly tweeted about confronting a Muslim woman over the Brussels terror attacks.

Matthew Doyle, 46, of south Croydon, was charged on Friday morning under Section 19 of the Public Order Act.

Following discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Met said he was "no longer charged" and will not be appearing in court.

It said police may not make charging decisions over section 19 of the Act.

A Met Police spokesman said it was for the CPS, and not the police, to make the decision to charge, and it was withdrawn.

The incident is still under investigation and Mr Doyle has been released while police consult the CPS.

Guidance on the CPS website about racist and religious crime states that a charge under the act "can only be prosecuted with consent of Attorney General" and requires a referral to the Counter Terrorism Division to "be dealt with by specialist prosecutor".

The offence carries a maximum jail term of seven years.

Mr Doyle, who was arrested on Wednesday, had been charged with publishing or distributing threatening, abusive or insulting material, likely or intended to stir up racial hatred.

It followed the posting of a message on his Twitter profile about confronting a Muslim woman in south London over the Brussels attacks, which was widely shared on social media and spawned a wave of parodies.

The Met said further consultation with the CPS would take place.

Brussels attacks: Suspect's DNA at Paris attack sites

Belgian officials have named the second suicide bomber in Tuesday's attack at Brussels airport as Najim Laachraoui, and said that his DNA was found at sites of the November Paris attacks.

The news came as three people were arrested in Brussels in connection with the attacks.

Prosecutors said the arrests were linked to a raid in Paris on Thursday, where an attack was apparently foiled.

Other suspects have been arrested in Belgium, Germany and France.

Thirty-one people died in bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station.

The attacks came days after the arrest of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam in Brussels.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said on Friday that Abdeslam, who had initially agreed to co-operate with investigators, had ceased to do so.

"The federal prosecutor has just informed me that Salah Abdeslam no longer wants to talk since the attacks on Zaventem [airport] and the Brussels metro," he said in parliament.

Also it emerged that police in Mechelen, north of Brussels, had failed to pass on vital information in December 2015 to colleagues in Brussels that could have led them to Abdeslam.

Local police chief Yves Bogaerts said the information was not deliberately withheld.

So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it carried out both the Brussels and Paris attacks.

On Friday it released a video about the Brussels attacks, presenting them as retribution for coalition attacks against IS territory in Iraq and Syria.

As clear connections emerged between the militants involved in the two sets of attacks, French President Francois Hollande warned of a threat from other similar networks.

"We have had success in finding the terrorists both in Brussels and in Paris," he said.

"There have been some arrests, and we know there are other networks, because even though the one that carried out the attacks in Paris and Brussels is in the process of being wiped out with a number of its members arrested, there's still a threat looming."

What Belgian prosecutors said about Laachraoui:

• Left DNA on a piece of cloth at the Bataclan and on an explosive device at the Stade de France in November
• DNA also found in a flat in Brussels and a house in Auvelais in southern Belgium, both used by the Paris bombers
• Until this week, known only as Soufiane Kayal

Brussels attacks: Man charged with terrorist offences

Belgian prosecutors have charged a man with terrorist offences, in connection with the deadly attacks in Brussels that left 31 dead.

They named him as Faycal C, who was arrested on Thursday.

Suicide bombings, claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS), killed 11 people at Zaventem airport on 22 March. Twenty others died in an attack on the metro.

Zaventem - Brussels international airport - will not reopen before Tuesday, authorities have announced.

Meanwhile a demonstration against the attacks, planned for Sunday in central Brussels, has been cancelled after a request from the authorities.

Organisers said people's security was a top priority.