Report: Belgian Officials Had ‘Precise’ Warnings About Brussels Attacks
Belgian officials reportedly knew terrorists were planning to strike the airport and the subway in Brussels ahead of Tuesday’s attacks, which left 31 dead and hundreds wounded.
Security services in Belgium and Western intelligence agencies had “advance and precise” warnings about the planned attacks, reported Israeli new outlet Haaretz. Belgian security services knew “with a high degree of certainty” that attacks at the airport and subway were planned for the “very near future.”
Belgian authorities determined three men detonated suicide vests, but are still searching for a fourth believed to be on the run, who dropped a bag containing a bomb at the airport and then fled. Haaretz also reported Wednesday the attack was planned from the Islamic State de-facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.
The men behind the Brussels attack are linked with Salah Abdeslam, who masterminded the Paris attacks last November, and Abdeslam’s arrest last week apparently triggered the Brussels attacks.
Abdeslam told interrogators he was “ready to restart something from Brussels,” Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said after his capture. Investigators found “a lot of weapons” and “a new network” of at least 30 terrorists in Brussels, Reynders said, adding: “We have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure that there are others.”
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