Islamic State attacks in France and Belgium may have been part of one larger, coordinated plot, prosecutor says
Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed for the first time what investigators have been saying privately about the possible links
The Paris and Brussels attacks, a botched shooting on a high-speed train and a foiled plot in Belgium may have all been part of one big Islamic State (IS) operation, Belgium’s federal prosecutor said Monday.
Speaking on the second anniversary of the November 13 Paris attacks, chief prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed for the first time what investigators have been saying privately about the possible links.
“We indeed realise that Verviers, Thalys, November 13 and the March 22 attacks may have been one big operation by Daesh,” Van Leeuw told Belgian radio, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
Verviers is a city in French-speaking Belgium where an armed police raid on January 15, 2015 – shortly after an attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris – led to the dismantling of a cell suspected of plotting to attack the police.
We indeed realise that Verviers, Thalys, November 13 and the March 22 attacks may have been one big operation
The investigation found that the Verviers cell was directed from abroad by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Moroccan Belgian who fought for IS in Syria and played a key role in the November 13 Paris attacks before he was killed by a French police raid days later.
