Brussels bomber linked to Paris
Police find explosives, suicide note, on tip from taxi driver
Airport attacker suspected of building explosives.
Belgian police, tipped off by a taxi driver after a pair of terror bombs killed at least 31 people, discovered a bomb-making factory in a Brussels neighborhood and a note left in a computer by a suicide bomber who feared being swept up in an manhunt, officials said Wednesday.
In response to Tuesday’s attacks at Brussels airport and a downtown subway stop, Belgian authorities launched a massive manhunt for several suspects they believe are linked to a Belgian terror network and may be preparing to strike again. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosions.
Paul Van Tigchelt, head of Belgium’s terrorism threat body, said Wednesday that the country is keeping the terrorism threat level at its highest mark, indicating danger of an imminent attack.
Police are especially keen to find one man seen in a surveillance photo with two other terrorists at the airport Tuesday morning. The man, wearing a hat and light-colored clothing, was pushing a cart carrying a 35pound bomb, but abandoned it and fled for unknown reasons. Authorities said a higher death toll was avoided because the bomb did not go off. It was later detonated by police in a controlled explosion.
Authorities have not identified the man, but confirmed the names of two of the four terrorists as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, an airport suicide bomber identi- fied by a fingerprint, and his brother, Khalid, 27, who was the subway suicide bomber at the metro station. The two brothers were known to the police for past crimes unrelated to terrorism, RTBF reported.
Authorities caught a break when a taxi driver who saw the surveillance photo came forward to direct them to a house in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek where they discovered a bomb-making factory, complete with explosives, chemicals and nails used as shrapnel. They also found an Islamic State flag.
While scouring the neighborhood, police also found in a trash can the computer containing a suicide note from Ibrahim El Bakraoui.
In the note, El Bakraoui expressed worry that he might be caught in a manhunt spawned by the arrest 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.
“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 the suicide note in an apparent reference to Abdeslam.