Turkey Detained, Deported Suspected Brussels Attacker in 2015
by Lisa Bryant, William Gallo March 23, 2016
One of the men identified as a suicide bomber in the deadly terror attacks in Brussels had been detained by Turkey and deported to Europe, where he was released about eight months ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
Erdogan said his government warned authorities in Belgium about Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who was detained in southern Turkey near the Gaziantep border crossing into Syria. The Turkish president said el-Bakraoui was deported last July but was subsequently released, "despite our warnings that this person was a foreign terrorist fighter."
Erdogan said those holding el-Bakraoui after he was deported "could not establish any links with terrorism," so they released the 29-year-old Belgian national. The Turkish president said el-Bakraoui actually was deported to the Netherlands, apparently at his own request, and he did not explain how or when the man was moved from the Netherlands to Belgium.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara Wednesday, Erdogan did not name el-Bakraoui, but accounts leaked to Turkish media specifically identified the terrorist who was deported, then released.
Authorities in Brussels, which honored the victims of the attacks with a minute of silence Wednesday, confirmed that 29-year-old Ibrahim el-Bakraoui detonated explosives and was killed Tuesday at the capital city's main airport. His brother, 27-year-old Khalid, blew himself up aboard a metro train in Brussels at about the same time. They were identified from their fingerprints.
Attack claimed by Islamic State
The attacks, which killed at least 31 people and wounded 271 others, were claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The two brothers, both Belgian nationals, had criminal records for armed robbery, and Khalid was wanted on charges of "terrorism," according to a red notice issued by Interpol.
Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was one of three men seen in an airport surveillance video pushing luggage carts believed to contain suitcases full of explosives, moments before the blast, said Van Leeuw.
2nd bomber a mystery
A man walking beside el-Bakraoui was the second suicide bomber at the airport, but has not yet been identified. The third man seen on the video is believed to be on the run.
Belgian media named the third man earlier as 25-year-old Najim Laachraoui, and reported he was under arrest. After authorities denied those accounts they were retracted.
Several leads have been uncovered. Acting on a tip from a taxi driver, authorities found a large amount of explosives, detonators and a suitcase full of nails during a raid at a house in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of the capital, according to Leeuw. Investigators also recovered Ibrahim's will, found discarded in a trash can, the prosecutor said.
On The Scene: Heather Murdock reports from Brussels
Moment of silence
During the silent memorial in Brussels Wednesday, the Place de la Bourse in Brussels was filled with people bundled against the spring chill and dark skies. The public square is the site where mourners have been bringing flowers and mementos to remember the victims.
All stood silent for a full minute, then spontaneously broke into applause in a defiant show of solidarity. A shout of "Long live the Belgians!" was met with another round of applause.
City Hall worker Suzanne Ibrahim told VOA she is worried about a close friend who was in the metro when it was attacked.
"I only have a few details, because he's still in a critical situation. But he was in the explosion at the metro and he was hit by the blast, and he's still in intensive care and we don't know yet whether he's going to make it," she said.
Much of the city remains on lockdown. The airport is closed at least through Thursday; a statement said "the forensic investigation is still underway."
"Until we can assess the damage, we are unable to confirm when operations at the airport can be resumed," authorities added.
Under investigation
Investigators are studying the backgrounds of the attackers. Although the el-Bakraoui brothers were known to police and had criminal records, broadcaster RTBF said they had no previous history of terrorist activity in Belgium.
Khalid el-Bakraoui used a false name to rent the Brussels apartment that police raided last week, RTBF said. The raid found weapons and a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested Friday. Abdeslam is believed to be the lone surviving member of the terrorist gang that staged multiple, simultaneous attacks in Paris on November 13.
The newspaper La Derniere Heure says Najim Laachraoui's DNA also was found in houses used by those who carried out the Paris attacks. He is believed to have traveled to Hungary with Paris suspect Abdeslam.
After two explosions at the airport Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up less than an hour later at the Maelbeek subway station, near European Union headquarters in downtown Brussels. Searchers at the airport also found a third unexploded bomb and at least one Kalashnikov rifle, authorities said.
Belgium's terror alert is at maximum level. Authorities throughout Europe have boosted security at airports and other public spaces in response to the Brussels attacks, and a friendly soccer match set for next week between Belgium and Portugal has been moved from Brussels to the Portuguese city of Leiria as a precaution.
Obama speaks out on attacks
U.S. President Barack Obama, who is on a trip to Argentina, on Wednesday expressed his "extraordinary sorrow" to Belgium, saying the U.S. has also felt the "scourge of terrorism."
"The U.S. will continue to offer any assistance we can to help investigate these attacks and bring the attackers to justice," Obama said at a news conference alongside Argentina's president. "We will also continue to go after ISIL (another name for Islamic State) aggressively until it is removed from Syria and Iraq and finally destroyed," he added.
About a dozen U.S. citizens were injured in the attacks, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.
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