{"id":71331,"date":"2016-03-27T11:17:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T15:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/?p=71331"},"modified":"2016-03-27T11:19:32","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T15:19:32","slug":"hunt-cell-behind-isis-attacks-extends-across-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/hunt-cell-behind-isis-attacks-extends-across-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt For Cell Behind ISIS Attacks Extends Across Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS – The investigation into last week’s deadly attacks in Brussels extended farther across Europe on Sunday after Italian police arrested a new suspect believed to have helped Islamic State militants slip into western Europe unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Italian police said late Saturday that they had arrested an Algerian man suspected of helping several of Islamic State plotters obtain false identification, allowing them to evade authorities as they laid plans for attacks in Belgium and France.<\/p>\n
“The Algerian arrested today in Salerno is part of a network of forgers of residency” documents, police said in a message on Twitter.<\/p>\n
According to Italian news agency ANSA, 40-year-old Djamal Eddine Ouali had been the subject of a Belgian arrest warrant since January. ANSA said he was believed to have provided falsified papers to Salah Abdeslam, arrested this month in Belgium for involvement in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks; Najim Laachraoui, believed to have been one of the men who detonated a suicide package Tuesday at the Brussels airport; and another man killed by Belgian authorities in a raid this month.<\/p>\n
Belgian police could not immediately provide additional details Sunday.<\/p>\n
The arrest might provide additional clues about how the cell of Islamic State supporters planned the coordinated assaults that killed 130 people in Paris and, on March 22, killed at least 31 more in suicide bombings in an airport terminal and in the Brussels subway.<\/p>\n
A series of new arrests in recent days might help ease tensions across a city that remains palpably on edge five days after its worst attacks since World War II. On Saturday, Belgian authorities urged postponement of a planned solidarity rally because, they admitted, they could not provide adequate security.<\/p>\n
In Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State remains defiant even as it faces pressure from the United States and its allies from the air, and from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad on the ground. On Saturday, the Syrian government claimed to have recaptured the historic city of Palmyra, under Islamic State control for months. Over the weekend, militants continued to celebrate attacks that they said demonstrated the weakness of western defenses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n In a video released Saturday, a Dutch-speaking fighter, identified as Abu Hanifa al-Beljiki, addressed the government of Belgium.<\/p>\n “You learned nothing from the lessons of Paris, because you continued fighting Islam and the Muslims,” he said, according to a transcript from SITE Intelligence. “For this I want to tell you that the attack in Brussels is reaping what you had sown with your own hands.”<\/p>\n The video followed an announcement Saturday that Belgian authorities might have found the most-wanted remaining suspect in Tuesday’s attacks. It was a welcome development for the Belgian government, which has come under widespread criticism for failing to chase down leads that could have prevented the attack.<\/p>\n Authorities say the man, identified by a European official as Faycal Cheffou, may be the third attacker at the Brussels airport. It’s believed that his explosive-laden suitcase did not go off.<\/p>\n The arrested man appeared before a judge after he was detained Thursday night while sitting in a car in front of the Belgian prosecutor’s office. He was charged with “participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders.”<\/p>\n A spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, Eric Van der Sypt, confirmed that the man identified by his office only as “Faycal C.” was being investigated as the possible third airport attacker. But he said the link “cannot be confirmed yet.”<\/p>\n “We have to be 100 percent sure,” he said. “These are very heavy charges.”<\/p>\n Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported that Cheffou was third airport attacker, citing an unidentified source who said that a taxi driver who took the attackers to the airport the morning of the bombings positively identified him.<\/p>\n Belgian media reported that Cheffou has in the past identified himself as “an independent journalist” and has a history of advocacy on behalf of radical Islamist causes. He was reportedly once arrested for trying to recruit refugees in a public park and later received an order to stay away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n