Bombings Stun Brussels Just Days After Final Paris Attacker Captured in Raid
Counterterrorist police forces raided a Brussels apartment building on March 15 in search of suspects from November’s terrorist attacks in Paris. One suspect, Salah Abdeslam (a French national but Belgian resident), was captured during the raid. He is now the only surviving individual believed to have participated in the attacks, after one suspect, Mohamed Belkaid was shot by the police during the raid. The police found material that could have been used to fabricate the explosives used in Paris in the apartment that supposedly belonged to Abdeslam, which led to his arrest. As a result of the raid, one French policewoman and two Belgian policemen were wounded.
Abdeslam purportedly rented the car used by the men who attacked the Bataclan - a famous concert hall in Paris - rented apartments for the attackers, and was also involved in other preparatory stages of the attack. Abdeslam was supposedly able to cross the border into Belgium after the attacks because, at that time, police had not realized his connection to the self-styled Islamic State, which shortly afterward claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Abdeslam’s arrest garnered international attention. Following the raid, French Prime Minister Francois Hollande and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel held a joint press conference to discuss the events. According to Belgian prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt, in addition to Abdeslam, four other people were arrested, including members of his family who reportedly sheltered him after the attacks. The Belgian Minister of the Interior, Jan Jambon said in an interview with RTBF that, “The jihadists must be neutralized, and not a single person more be radicalized.”
Hollande was also adamant in stating that, while the arrest was a significant step, it does not signify the end of France’s efforts to achieve justice following the attacks. During the press conference he said that Abdeslam’s arrest will hopefully give France “the chance to know the whole truth.” Hollande has requested that Abdeslam be extradited from Belgium so that he can be tried by the French, who had been living in a heightened state of trepidation and sometimes fear following the fatal attacks in Paris.
After the Paris attacks, many analysts and heads of state believed that it was only a matter of time until terrorists struck again in a similar fashion, leading large cities like New York and Washington to tighten security in the weeks immediately after.
The bombings at Brussels’ international airport and Maelbeek metro station on the morning of March 22 - just one week after Abdeslam’s arrest - have renewed feelings of anxiety throughout Europe. Current counts indicate 34 individuals were killed in the attacks, according to local Belgian station RTBF and emergency services. The self-styled Islamic State, via the AMAQ news agency, claimed has responsibility for the attacks.
These recent developments represent a duality of Europe’s law enforcement officials. Even as perpetrators are arrested, terrorists seem to strike again with even greater force. The Caravel will continue to report on the March 22 bombings in Brussels as more information becomes available.