Sixth suspect held in Brussels attacks raids

A sixth person was arrested during raids Friday over the Brussels airport and metro bombings which netted top Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini, the Belgian prosecutor’s office said.

The prosecutor had said Friday that five people had been arrested but a spokesman confirmed Saturday that a sixth was being held.

He declined to give any details about the sixth arrest.

A statement is expected later Saturday.

Abrini’s arrest Friday in the gritty Brussels neighborhood of Anderlecht marked an important step forward in the investigation into the November 13 Paris attacks in which 130 died and the March 22 attacks which left 32 dead in Brussels.

Both attacks were claimed by the ISIS militant group based in Iraq and Syria.

Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was seen at a petrol station north of Paris two days before the attacks with Salah Abdeslam, who drove one of the vehicles used in the November 13 attacks.

Abdeslam, whose brother Brahim blew himself up in Paris, fled back to Brussels immediately afterwards and was finally captured March 18 in the capital, just round the corner from his family’s home in the Molenbeek district.

He is now awaiting extradition to France.

Belgian investigators are also trying to establish if Abrini is the third man seen at Brussels airport with the two suicide bombers.