Paris Attacks: Two More Suspects Arrested in Belgium

Belgian authorities have detained two more suspects in connection with the November 13 Paris attacks.

One man was held on November 29 at an airport in Brussels trying to leave for Morocco, prosecutors said. Another was held the same day in Brussels’ Molenbeek area.

This brings the number of people detained in Belgium to eight.

Attackers armed with automatic rifles and suicide belts killed 130 people at a number of sites in Paris. Some of the attackers had lived in Belgium.

Belgian prosecutors said a 20-year-old Frenchman, listed as Samir Z, had been stopped at Zaventem airport, north-west of Brussels, preparing to board a flight to Morocco in the early hours of Sunday.

They said he was “considered to be part of the entourage of Bilal Hadfi”.

Bilal Hadfi was said to have blown himself up in a street after failing to get into the Stade de France at the soccer match between France and Germany on November 13.

Prosecutors said Samir Z was “under the suspicion of having attempted to leave for Syria at least twice in 2015”.

The second arrest was at dawn on Sunday, November 29. A Belgian national listed as Pierre N and born in 1987 was detained in his home in Molenbeek.

Both were placed in custody “on grounds of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization”, the prosecutors’ statement said.

They have appeared before a court, which has extended their detention.

Since the attacks, Belgian authorities have carried out a series of raids searching for key suspects believed to have lived in the Molenbeek area.