Belgian leader’s home and office photos found on bomber’s laptop

BRUSSELS — A laptop used by one of the Brussels bombers contained images of the Belgian prime minister’s home and office, an official said Wednesday, heightening fears after last week’s attacks on the airport and subway system.

A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “it is alarming that they were apparently scouting the terrain” around the lush Royal Park where both his office, “Le 16,” and his residence are located.

Security around Prime Minister Charles Michel has increased since the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and in Brussels last week. Michel also has had several unspecified death threats over the past years, the official said.

A laptop found near the hideout of the suspects of the March 22 airport bombing first gained notoriety because it contained a sort of will of suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui, in which he spoke of being “in a haste” and “no longer know what to do.”

The computer was also “full of stuff” on many locations around Brussels in information garnered from the Internet, said an official linked to the investigation. The official, who asked not to be identified, said that at the moment there were “absolutely no” specific indications that Michel was under threat from the attackers.

In propaganda material distributed Tuesday, ISIL described the Brussels attacks as part of “a war against all their tyrants and pagans; a war against secularism.” The material showed a cropped still of surveillance footage showing the two airport bombers. The attacker who escaped with his life, wearing a dark hat, was cropped out.