Prosecutors: Group that hit Brussels planned France attack

Abrini was already the object of a massive European manhunt following the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

Sunday’s announcement came two days after Belgian authorities arrested Mohamed Abrini and three other suspects, all of whom were charged with the participating in “terrorist murder” and the “activities of a terrorist group”.

Prosecutors say the Brussels attackers were originally targeting Paris in a second wave of attacks.

Within four days of Abdelslam’s arrest, they struck at the Brussels airport and subway station killing 32 people. Most of the participants of the Paris attacks were later identified as Belgian nationals or French citizens who had lived in Belgium, where the attacks were believed to have been planned. He was a childhood friend of brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the attackers’ ringleader.

The suspected surviving bomber in the Brussels attacks has admitted the group was initially planning a new attack on France, Belgian prosecutors say.

His testimony could provide further insight into the network that planned attacks in Paris and Brussels. In the vehicle with him was Abdeslam, who is now awaiting extradition from Belgium to France.

“After being confronted with the results of the different expert examinations, he confessed his presence at the crime scene”, the federal prosecutors said later on Saturday evening.

It said: “The Investigating Judge specialised in terrorism cases has put Mohamed Abrini in detention in connection with the investigation into the Brussels and Zaventem attacks”.

After leaving the airport, Abrini threw his light coat in a dust bin and later sold his hat, prosecutors added.

Authorities said Abrini confessed to being the “man in the hat”.

“He took police through the CCTV footage that was released last Thursday, showing his escape route from the airport”.

The three other men charged on Saturday by Belgian prosecutors have been named as Osama K, Herve BN, and Bilal EM.

The French targets were La Defense, a large office and commercial complex just northwest of Paris, and an unidentified Catholic association, said Claude Moniquet, a former French intelligence officer who now works in Belgium and who has been in regular contact with investigators.

The 23-year-old Swedish national was also allegedly filmed in a shopping centre buying the luggage used in the airport bombings.

The weekend’s developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation.

Abrini, who was arrested in Brussels on Friday, reportedly told interrogators that the arrest of Abdeslam on 18 March had prompted the plotters to change track.