After a first arrest at the end of October, three new people, presumed accomplices of the author of the attack of October 16 in Brussels, were arrested on Monday in Belgium, and imprisoned after their indictment, the prosecution announced on Wednesday evening, November 22 federal.
There are now four suspects imprisoned, as part of the investigation opened in Brussels after this attack which cost the lives of two Swedish football supporters, the evening of a Belgium-Sweden match. Other arrests took place in France and Spain, in investigations carried out in parallel in these countries.
The attacker, Abdesalem Lassoued, a radicalized 45-year-old Tunisian who was illegally staying in Belgium, was shot dead by Belgian police the day after the attack, on the morning of October 17, in the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek.
Investigation into the origin of the weapon used by the assailant
The Belgian investigation focuses in particular on the origin of the weapon of war he used, a rifle “AR-15 type”.
The three new suspects were arrested as part of a series of searches carried out in Ninove, in Flanders, and in the Brussels municipalities of Saint-Josse and Ixelles, underlined the federal prosecutor’s office.
Two of them are charged with “assassination and attempted assassination in a terrorist context” also for “participation in the activities of a terrorist group”the third for “weapons offenses”.
No identity has been specified. The federal prosecutor’s office also did not specify whether among them were the supposed supplier(s) of the weapons owned by Mr. Lassoued. Several pistols were also found after the attack.
At the end of October, during the arrest of the first alleged accomplice on October 25, presented as “Lamjed K., born August 17, 1979, of Tunisian nationality”the prosecution had reported“a potential link with the weapon used during the terrorist attack of October 16, 2023”. The man was later charged with “assassination and attempted assassination in a terrorist context” And “participation in the activities of a terrorist group”.
On the evening of October 16, Abdesalem Lassoued shot three Swedish supporters identified with the blue and yellow colors of their national team in the middle of the street. Two of them were killed and the third seriously injured.
In a claim in Arabic, he would have mentioned a link between his gesture and the recent demonstrations in Sweden during which copies of the Koran were burned. These desecrations caused turmoil in the Muslim world.
The day after the attack, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the double assassination perpetrated by the Tunisian.