A Belgian connection – again – as terror strikes Europe

Belgian prosecutors today said seven people had been detained following raids in Brussels after the attacks on Friday in Paris and that two of the Paris assailants had been living in Belgium.

“It appears that two French nationals, who lived in Brussels … were identified as among the attackers who died on the spot”, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Lacoere also told CNN that a vehicle rented in Brussels was found near one of the sites of the attacks in France and “that’s what triggered the raids”.

French authorities are particularly concerned about the threat from hundreds of French Islamic radicals who have travelled to Syria and returned home, possibly with unsafe skills. The total number who either participated in or supported the assaults is still unclear, the official said, asking not to be identified.

While ISIS’ claims have not been confirmed, a senior USA intelligence official told CNN the US government has “no reason to doubt” Hollande’s attribution of the attacks to the terrorist group.

It was previously announced that police made several arrests when they carried out raids Saturday in the poor immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, which has been linked to past terror plots.

But ISIS says there was an eighth attacker who is still on the run. “There is no place for them in Belgium”, Michel said on Twitter.

A few of the Paris attackers were also known to Belgian intelligence, the source said.

Later, the Paris prosecutor said the number of dead at the hall was “around 80”.

Jambon said that Antwerp and Vilvoorde, which was the scene of a police anti-terror operation days after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris in January, were taking steps to stop people leaving for Syria to be radicalized, thanks to cooperation between police, local authorities and state security forces. Greek police said they have been asked for information on two Syrians who registered as refugees in recent months, but the figure of two has not been confirmed, with French investigators seeking information on just one name, the source said. “I ask our citizens not to travel to Paris unless necessary”. “The terrorists shot at us for 10 to 15 minutes”. “While the neighbors may have seen something going on, they’re not passing it to the police”.

French police patrol at the Monument a la Republique, in the Place de la Republique in Paris, where people are gathering on Sunday.

For the time being, much of the evidence linking Molenbeek to Paris remains sketchy and circumstantial, but the district’s foreign fighters’ syndrome is more substantive and telling.

It’s possible that suspects directly involved in Friday’s Paris terror attacks remain at large, a French counterterrorism source close to the investigation told CNN on Sunday.

The owner of the passport entered the European Union in October through Leros, one of the islands that tens of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in Syria and elsewhere have been using as a gateway.