Five of the nine accused who appear in Belgium have already been convicted in France for their participation in the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, illustrating the interweaving of these two terrorist operations.
By Soren Seelow
A simple glance in the box of the accused of the trial of the attacks of March 22, 2016 in Brussels allows us to understand: this attack was in the direct operational continuity of the attacks of November 13, 2015. Five of the nine accused Judged in Belgium, from Monday, December 5, were already convicted in June by French justice for their involvement in the assassination of one hundred and thirty people in Paris and Saint-Denis: Mohamed Abrini, Salah Abdeslam, Osama Krayem, Sofien Ayari and Ali El Haddad Asufi. A sixth, judged in absence at the two trials, alone embodies the interweaving of these two operations: the principal of this terrorist cell, the Belgian Osama Atar, presumed dead in Syria.
The trial of the attacks which left thirty-two dead in the Belgian capital constitutes the judicial epilogue of the deadliest terrorist operation carried out in Europe by the Islamic State organization (IS). This jihadist cell, projected from the Irako-Syrian zone with the logistical support of accomplices in Belgium, had split in two, on November 13, 2015: while a commando of ten men sowed terror in the streets of Paris, Their accomplices, stayed in Brussels to coordinate the operation, were already preparing the next attack. This operational plasticity – The “logisticians” of an attack turn into martyrdom candidates for the next – it is up to some accused of being tried twice.
“Avoid typing Belgium”
Two of them, Mohamed Abdi and Salah Abdeslam, childhood friends from the Brussels commune of Molenbeek, were initially to explode in Paris on November 13, 2015. Mohamed Abrini had defeated, the day before Operation, to return to Brussels, where he was hosted in an apartment rented by the other members of the cell: the Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui brothers, chief logisticians of the operation – they will explode four months later in the Belgian capital -, and Najim Laachraoui, the group’s fireworks, who will die in suicide bombers at Zaventem airport, March 22, 2016.
The day after his return to Brussels, Mohamed Abri was joined by another member of the Parisian commandos: in the night, Salah Abdeslam abandoned his explosive vest in a town in the south of Paris before being exfiltrated. In their hideout, the two friends meet two other martyrdom candidates: Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari, who made a suspicious round trip to Amsterdam on November 13, where an attack was also planned.
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