BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Law enforcement agencies had been searching for the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks for four months before arresting him in the course of a large-scale counterterrorist raid in the Brussels commune of Molenbeek on Friday, just days before the attacks on the Belgian capital.
Two suicide blasts hit the departures hall of Brussels' Zaventem international airport and an explosion destroyed a subway carriage at Maelbeek station, close to the EU institutions on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people and injuring 300.
Daesh, outlawed in many countries including the United States and Russia, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Daesh had previously said it was responsible for the November attacks in the French capital, in which 130 people were killed and over 350 were injured.