Belgium charges ‘man in hat’ over airport bombing

Suspect arrested on Thursday night is believed to be third bomber whose device did not detonate.

Faycal Cheffou, reported to be one of the main suspects of the Brussels attacks, speaks in a video posted by him on YouTube in 2014 in which he calls himself an independent journalist demanding the auShow more

BRUSSELS // Belgium charged three men on Saturday with terrorist offences over the Brussels attacks, including a man believed to be the third airport bomber.

A huge manhunt netted the suspected airport bomber, who has been officially identified as Faycal C, but identified by local media as Faycal Cheffou. He has been charged with terrorism murder. Investigators are now working on the theory that he could be the man in a hat and white jacket pictured with two other airport bombers, but whose device failed to go off.

The other two charged on Saturday, officially identified Aboubakar A and Rabah N, are accused of terrorist activities and membership of a terrorist group.

It came as the organisers of a “March Against Fear” planned for Sunday to mark Tuesday’s terror attacks cancelled the event after Belgian authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.

The authorities had earlier asked for the march to be put off, perhaps for several weeks, to allow the police to concentrate their resources on the investigation into the bombings which left 31 dead and 300 wounded.

Meanwhile, Brussels airport said it will not reopen before Tuesday at the earliest as it implements new security measures and repairs the departure hall wrecked by the bombers, believed to be from ISIL.

The Belgian government faces a torrent of criticism at home and abroad, with key ministers on the back foot saying they had done everything possible to prevent Tuesday’s attacks and track a network also linked to last November’s attacks in Paris.

French president Francois Hollande has described a single terror cell straddling both France and Belgium.

Many believe Belgian security forces failed to stop young fighters going to Syria to join ISIL – which claimed the attacks – and then returning home battle-hardened and more extremist than before.

"It is an endless nightmare for a country turned upside down," said Belgium's Le Soir newspaper in a front-page editorial.

Heavily armed soldiers and police remained on patrol in the capital and Brussels’ Zaventem airport.

In an indication that the city is still on edge, a bomb disposal squad carried out a controlled detonation on a southern Brussels street to destroy a suspect backpack.

Pop singer Mariah Carey cancelled a show in Brussels on Friday, saying she was advised to do so “for the safety of my fans, my band, crew and everyone involved with the tour”.

In contrast, however, veteran French rock star Johnny Hallyday was going ahead with two planned concerts in Brussels on Saturday and Sunday.

Prosecutors said Faycal C was one of three people arrested outside the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels on Thursday night as part of a huge sweep of detentions across Europe.

“He has been charged with taking part in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder,” the prosecutor said.

Asked if Faycal C was the suspected third airport bomber dubbed the “man in the hat”, a source close to the inquiry said: “That is a hypothesis the investigators are working on.”

Local media named the suspect as Faycal Cheffou, a freelance journalist.

Rabah N, meanwhile, was wanted in connection with a related raid in France earlier this week that authorities say foiled an apparent attack plot.

French police said on Friday that they had foiled a terror strike by 34-year-old Reda Kriket after arresting him and discovering explosives at his home. Kriket was previously convicted in Belgium in a terror case alongside Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

A suspect shot in the leg on Friday at a tram stop in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels is being held for another 24 hours as investigations into the French plot continue.

He was identified by authorities as Abderamane A.

Belgium's ageing nuclear power plants have also come under scrutiny as a possible terror risk, with the EU's antiterror chief, Gilles de Kerchove, telling La Libre Belgique newspaper they face the threat of a terrorist cyberattack over the next five years.

According to reports, a security guard at a Belgian nuclear power plant was murdered on Thursday and his access badge stolen. Prosecutors denied any terror link, Belga news agency reported, and said that in fact the man worked at a medical research facility that used radioactive isotopes.

These reports follow the discovery by investigators last year of surveillance footage of a nuclear plant official in the flat of a suspect linked to the Brussels and Paris attacks.

* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting by Reuters