Belgian authorities lower terror alert in Brussels from highest level

Bendaoud was detained last week for providing lodging to the suspected mastermind of the attacks, which were claimed by Islamic State, in an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Belgium issued an worldwide arrest warrant for a man seen before the Paris attacks with Salah Abdeslam, the Brussels resident wanted over his suspected involvement in the attacks.

Revealing the latest findings of the vast investigation into the attacks, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Abdelhamid Abaaoud had aimed to target the area in the west of the capital where many major French companies have their headquarters.

Abaaoud was among three people killed during a police raid on an apartment in the early hours of November 18.

A cousin of Abaaoud’s, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, also died in the explosion, Molins said.

Molins also revealed Abaaoud is believed to have returned to the sites of some of the attacks, including the Bataclan concert hall, while police special forces were at the scene.

“According to the Paris prosecutor, Abaaoud and another person had planned to blow themselves up in Paris’ business district on November 18 or 19, just days after the coordinated assaults on Central Paris that killed 130 people”.

French and Belgian authorities have issued public appeals for help in tracking down two men believed to be directly linked to the Paris attacks.

Security throughout the city remained high on November 25 and the city is still on its highest-level security alert.

He must be either charged or released Tuesday.

Calling it a “barbaric terrorist group”, he said this is an important moment for the USA and France as well as the rest of the world.

President Francois Hollande, seeking to rally global support for the military campaign against Islamic State, met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday where they agreed to scale up operations against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Security officials have also conducted 1,233 searches and seized close to 200 arms – including “weapons of war” such as automatic rifles and explosives, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told parliament.

Abdeslam is now the subject of an worldwide manhunt after the attacks.

With Abdeslam still on the run, a suicide vest similar to those found in the attacks was discovered in the same Paris suburb where a mobile phone belonging to Abdeslam was located.

Abrini – who is described as “dangerous and probably armed” – is seen in the footage driving the Renault Clio vehicle that was used and then abandoned in the attacks, Belgian authorities said.

Belgium reduced the terror alert in Brussels Thursday, five days after it was raised to the highest possible level that saw schools and the metro closed, the government’s crisis centre said.

Investigators had found a 9 mm pistol, fragments of grenades and two suicide vests in the St. Denis apartment.