– ‘Not a surprise’ –
Belgium’s interior and justice ministers offered to quit Thursday after widespread criticism the attackers – at least three of whom were known to authorities – had been allowed to slip through the net.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Thursday the “attacks did not come as a surprise”, raising further questions why international authorities failed to stop the bombers.
Prosecutors confirmed Thursday that Khalid El Bakraoui, who bombed Maalbeek metro station while his brother Ibrahim blew himself up at the airport, was the subject of an international warrant for terrorism in relation to the Paris attacks.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel refused to accept resignations of Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens, however, over claims Ibrahim had been arrested and deported by Turkey, which had warned Belgium he was a “terrorist foreign fighter”.
“There were errors at Justice and with the (Belgian) liaison officer in Turkey,” Jambon was quoted as telling the Le Soir daily.
Belgian authorities are now seeking a new suspect with a large bag captured on CCTV talking to Khalid El Bakraoui at Maalbeek station, who then did not get on to the train with the bomber, police sources told AFP.
Television network NBC reported late Thursday that the El Bakraoui brothers were known to US authorities and listed in American terrorism databases as a “potential terror threat”.
The National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinates US intelligence on extremist threats, did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.
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