A higher death toll was avoided in the twin terror attacks in Brussels when a huge bomb failed to detonate at the international airport in the city’s suburbs, Belgian officials said Wednesday, providing the first details of the rampage that left at least 31 dead.
Authorities are furiously searching for the man who fled before the bombs went off, leaving behind a bag full of explosives that police later detonated in a controlled blast.
After a day of confusion, authorities confirmed the identity of the two of the four attackers as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, an airport suicide bomber, and his brother, Khalid, 27, the subway suicide bomber who detonated his device an hour later at a downtown metro station.
The two brothers were known to the police for past crimes, RTBF reported. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosions.
Tipped off by a taxi driver, police raided a bomb-making house in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek and confiscated additional explosives. They found a computer in a street trash can that contained a suicide note from Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who wrote he felt increasingly unsafe and “did not want to end up in jail.”
His concern could have been triggered by the recent arrest in Brussels of Salah Abdeslam, who police say confessed to his role in the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 people. Abdeslam’s lawyer said his client is cooperating with police. Belgian authorities said Abdeslam planned to commit another attack and had a large network of associates.
“Being in a hurry, I don’t know what to do, being searched for everywhere, not being safe. If it drags on it could end up with me in a prison cell next to him,” El Bakraoui wrote in an apparent reference to Abdeslam.
Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw spoke at length about a surveillance photo showing the three airport suspects at a Wednesday news conference. He said the culprit in the middle is Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who police identified based on fingerprints. Authorities don’t yet know the identity of the second suicide bomber, pictured on the left, Van Leeuw said, dismissing earlier claims he was Khalid.
Authorities are searching for the unidentified third suspect, shown dressed in a pale coat and a dark hat on the right side of the image. Van Leeuw said that man is shown pushing a cart with luggage containing a 35-pound bomb that failed to go off. He was seen leaving the airport before the attacks.
The third suspect was earlier identified in some media reports as Najim Laachraoui, who is also linked to the Paris attacks. Belgian state TV and some Belgian media reported, and later retracted, that police arrested Laachraoui.
At the Wednesday news conference, Van Leeuw said police detained one suspect in the case, but he did not elaborate.
Brussels Airport remained closed Wednesday as investigators continued to gather evidence. Government offices, schools and residents across the country held a moment of silence for the victims.
Authorities got a big break Tuesday when a taxi driver came forward to say he picked up the three men seen in the airport video. Police raided the house in Schaerbeek based on the driver’s information.
There, authorities confiscated more than 30 pounds of explosives, trigger devices and nails used in bombs as shrapnel, Van Leeuw said. They also found an Islamic State flag.
Visiting Brussels on Wednesday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called on the European Parliament to vote on a proposal that would provide security officials better access to airline passenger’s data, according to the Associated Press.
“The European Parliament has waited too long to adopt this text,” he said. “It must examine and adopt it in April, it’s time.”
“They found a computer in a street trash can that contained a suicide note…”
WOW! Wasn’t THAT convenient!
“Authorities are searching for the unidentified third suspect, shown dressed in a pale coat and a dark hat on the right side of the image.”
They’ll never find him… or they’ll come up with a patsy.
Mossad.
The police will never find the culprit who left the explosives behind because he ran amongst them and “blended” in.