Belgium launches international manhunt for Paris attack suspect

Belgium has issued an international arrest warrant for a man suspected of having taken part in the Paris attacks with two of his brothers, a judicial source said Sunday.

Sources close to the investigation say they believe that the three brothers were involved in Friday’s attacks that claimed at least 129 lives.

One of the brothers is on the run, one is in custody in Belgium — though it is unclear whether he took part in the rampage — while the third blew himself up outside a cafe on the bustling Boulevard Voltaire, sources said.

French police released a photo of the suspect they were looking for in connection with the attacks, naming him as 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam and describing him as a “dangerous individual”.

The Belgian authorities are holding seven people for questioning in connection with the gun and suicide attacks in the French capital, and investigators have found that two cars used in the operation were rented in Belgium, prosecutors said.

It was previously announced that police made several arrests when they carried out raids Saturday in the poor immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, which has been linked to past terror plots.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Molenbeek, known as a hotbed of radicalisation, was a “gigantic problem”.

As the investigation into the bloodshed widened, French police found an abandoned car containing assault rifles on the outskirts of Paris. Witnesses said the black Seat was used by one of three groups who carried out the deadliest attacks in France since World War 2.

Another car was found near the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed.

source:AFP