Key suspect in Paris attacks captured in Brussels raid; two others arrested

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PARIS — Belgian counterterrorism police raided an apartment block in Brussels on Friday and arrested Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last year’s bloody terrorist attacks in Paris, after a shootout that left him wounded, European leaders said.

Two other suspects described as accomplices were also arrested, and one of them was also wounded, the leaders of France and Belgium announced.

Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national of Moroccan descent, was captured with another suspect whose identity was not immediately revealed, the officials said.

Police say Abdeslam drove a car to Paris from Brussels, where he lived, as part of a plan to participate in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded at least 368 others. But he fled the scene, possibly after shedding a suicide vest.

More at:https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...327da6-ed29-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.html

 

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There are many more in line behind him to take his place, these pc egits are fighting a losing battle.

 

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'I was a suicide bomber': Paris suspect charged in Belgium

The prime surviving suspect for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks planned to blow himself up at a sports stadium with fellow Islamic State militants but changed his mind, he told Belgian investigators on Saturday.

The admission by Salah Abdeslam came a day after he was shot in the leg and captured during a police raid in Brussels, ending an intensive four-month manhunt.

"He wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France and ... backed out," said the lead French investigator, Francois Molins,quoting Abdeslam's statement to a magistrate in Brussels before he was transferred to a secure jail in Bruges.

The gun and bomb attacks on the stadium, bars and a concert hall killed 130 people and marked the deadliest militant assault in Europe since 2004.

Molins told reporters in Paris that people should treat with caution initial statements by the 26-year-old French national. But his capture and apparent urge to talk marked a major breakthrough for investigators after the trail had seemed to go cold.

More at:http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-shooting-abdeslam-idUSKCN0WK1KB