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November 25, 2015

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Judge quizzes man linked to Paris attacks

FRENCH authorities yesterday questioned a top suspect linked to attackers who terrorized Paris, while Belgium’s capital remained locked down under the threat of a possible similar attack.

Jawad Bendaoud, the only person in France facing potential terrorism charges linked to the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more, was handed over to an anti-terrorism judge in Paris yesterday morning, according to a judicial official.

Bendaoud was detained last week for providing lodging to the suspected mastermind of the attacks in an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Three people were killed during a raid on the apartment on November 18. They included suspected attacks orchestrator Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a female cousin and one other person. Bendaoud acknowledged in a television interview giving shelter to two people from Belgium but said he didn’t know who they were or what they planned. Bendaoud, 29, told BFM television: “I didn’t know they were terrorists. I was asked to do a favor. I did a favor, sir.”

Four people have been handed terrorism charges in Belgium since the Paris attacks, which have been traced to a network of people with ties to both France and Belgium.

Brussels remains on high alert after Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel cited a “serious and imminent threat” to the city which houses the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. Belgium’s crisis center said the alert level would only change if a significant breakthrough warranted it.

Increased security measures in the wake of the massacre in Paris have virtually shut down the Belgian capital, with the subway system, many shops and schools remaining closed. But Michel said schools would reopen today.

Businesses in Brussels were starting to feel the pain, and while few question the need to protect the public, some shop owners said the shutdown was too extreme.

“It’s not a very good decision,” said Esther Willems, assistant manager at the Galler chocolate shop in the city center. “In the last two days, we have only had about 10-11 clients” compared with about 100 normally.

Many questions remain as investigators try to piece together what happened in Paris and who might still be at large. Only one fugitive has been publicly named: Salah Abdeslam, who crossed into Belgium the morning after the attacks.

On Monday, a street cleaner in a Paris suburb found an explosive vest near where Abdeslam’s cellphone was found, raising the possibility that he aborted his mission, either ditching a malfunctioning vest or fleeing in fear.

France’s security chiefs met yesterday to discuss protection for next year’s European soccer championships, being hosted in cities around the country. Concerns are especially high because one of the targets on November 13 was the national stadium.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also held a meeting with French Muslim leaders, who have denounced the attacks and expressed concern about a backlash on France’s Muslim community.

Meanwhile, French police released a photo of a dog killed in the Saint-Denis apartment siege, a 7-year-old Belgian shepherd named Diesel. The National Police said Diesel, a SWAT team assault dog, was “killed by terrorists.”




 

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