Paris suspect charged in Brussels shootout

BRUSSELS: Key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has been charged over a deadly shootout with police in Brussels, three days before his arrest, prosecutors said on Thursday.

“He was charged with attempted murder over the shooting in Forest,” a spokesman for Belgium’s federal prosecutors said, adding that he did not believe charging Abdeslam would delay his extradition to France.
An Algerian suspect was killed and four police officers were wounded in the shooutout, which led to Abdeslam’s arrest in the Molenbeek area of Brussels on March 15 after a four-month European manhunt.
Abdeslam, who is due to be extradited to France in the next few weeks over his part in the attacks in Paris by Daesh militants that killed 130 people, appeared before a Belgian judge on Thursday.
Investigators found fingerprints of Abdeslam, who was born in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, at the scene.
Abdeslam has told a magistrate he had planned to blow himself up at a sports stadium in Paris on Nov. 13 but backed out at the last minute.
He has also told investigators he arranged logistics for the Paris attacks.
Abdeslam’s elder brother Brahim, a Brussels barkeeper, blew himself up outside a Parisian cafe on the night of the attacks.
Salah Abdeslam’s lawyer has said his client has admitted being in Paris during the attacks but has given no further details.
Abdeslam, 26, is due to be extradited to France in coming days over the November Paris attacks, in which he is believed to be the last surviving member of the terror squad that killed 130 people.
But Belgian police have also tried to question him over his links to the three suicide bombers who struck Brussels airport and metro on March 22, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds.
The Daesh group has claimed both attacks.
Asked if Abdeslam admitted being present at the Forest shootout, Mary said: “We won’t discuss that, I won’t comment.”
Abdeslam will appear before a Belgian court again on April 28 and his extradition to France will come “perhaps two days after his court appearance,” Mary added.
Abdeslam and alleged Paris accomplice Mohamed Abrini, who has also charged over the Brussels attacks, were moved to different jails in Belgium last week.
Abrini, 31, has confessed to being “the man in the hat” caught on video with suicide bombers at Brussels airport.
Abrini was also linked to the Nov. 13 Paris massacre after being caught on video at a motorway gas station with Abdeslam.