Brussels suicide bombers identified as brothers: media

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two suicide bombers who struck Brussels were identified Wednesday, March 23 as brothers linked to the prime suspect in the November 13 Paris attacks, as a manhunt for a third assailant in Belgium's bloodiest terror assault gained pace, AFP reports.

A day after the triple blasts that killed some 30 people and left around 250 injured, in an operation claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, RTBF television said police had identified two suicide attackers as Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui.

Police had already been hunting the pair over their links to Salah Abdeslam, the key suspect in November's Paris terror attacks, who was arrested in Brussels on Friday after four months on the run.

Two suicide blasts hit Brussels' Zaventem airport on Tuesday morning followed soon after by a third on a train at Maalbeek station, close to the European Union's institutions, just as rush-hour commuters were heading to work.

RTBF said Khalid El Bakraoui had rented an apartment in Brussels last week under a false name where Abdeslam's fingerprints were found, according to AFP.

He is also linked to another apartment in southern Belgium that Abdeslam and other jihadists used before the Paris attacks.

The link to Abdeslam -- who told prosecutors he was planning an attack on Brussels -- has underscored fears about authorities' inability to undermine jihadist networks in Belgium, Europe's top exporter of jihadist fighters to Syria per capita, AFP says.