Brussels bombers were criminals with ties to the Paris attackers
This story was updated on March 23 at 5 p.m. ET.
Belgian authorities have released information about the attackers believed to have carried out Tuesday's deadly bombings in Brussels Airport and metro.
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Speaking on Wednesday, Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric van Leeuw, said two of the men were brothers and Belgian nationals with criminal records who had ties to those who carried out the November Paris attacks.
The prosecutor's remarks are here (in French):
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One of the brothers bombed the airport and the other the metro station.
Two others, both seen on surveillance video taken moments before the airport blasts, remain unidentified. One is on the run, police. It is unclear if the other unidentified man in the surveillance video died in the explosion or is missing as well.
The Islamic State claimed credit for the attacks, referring to them as "fighters."
Here's what we know so far:
Ibrahim El Bakraoui
The older of two brothers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, was identified on Wednesday as one of the men who blew himself up at Brussels Airport. He is a Belgian national with a criminal record but no evidence so far of previous ties to terrorist attacks.
He is the larger man seen pushing a luggage cart in a surveillance photo released on Tuesday.
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He apparently left a "will" on a computer that was found in a trash can in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek. On it, police reportedly found a note from El Bakraoui saying he felt increasingly unsafe, and feared landing in prison.
“I don’t know what to do," it read. "I am in a hurry, I am on the run. People are looking for me everywhere."
Inside his apartment, they found a true terrorist's cache: 33 pounds of TATP explosives, 150 liters of acetone, detonators and a suitcase full of nails, according to the Washington Post.
To make matters worse for the Belgian intelligence services, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said later on Wednesday that Ibrahim was deported from Turkey last June after he was identified as a "foreign fighter."
"We informed the Brussels Embassy of the deportation process of the attacker with a note on July 14, 2015," said Erdoğan. However, he added, "the Belgians released the attacker despite his deportation."
Khalid El Bakraoui
Ibrahim's younger brother, Khalid, 27, was also named on Wednesday. Authorities say he is the bomber who killed 14 people and injured over 130 in an explosion at the Maelbeek metro station in the heart of Brussels.
He was identified based on a fingerprint.
Like his brother, he, too, is a Belgian national with a criminal record, although he was also the subject of a "red notice" issued by Interpol in 2015, which called for his arrest on unspecified terrorism charges.
That notice says that he is also a national of the Bahamas and that he spoke both French and Arabic.
The brothers apparently played a supporting role in the Paris attacks, with one of them renting at least two hideouts and providing weapons and ammunition to the attackers, authorities said.
Khalid, the Belgian state broadcaster RTBF reported, was named on an apartment lease which was raided by police last week in the operation that led authorities to top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.
In addition, a massive amount of explosives were found in the home of the suspects, which was the same type as used in the Paris attacks.
Those revelations, made on Wednesday by Belgium's federal prosecutor, appear to mean the Brussels bombings were carried out by remaining members of the terror cell that conducted the November attacks in Paris.
Unknown airport bomber #2
Brussels police issued an appeal on Tuesday for more information about the man seen on airport surveillance cameras wearing a white jacket and pushing a large duffel bag later that was revealed to be a massive bomb.
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The bomb exploded long after the initial bombings and no one was hurt.
He is believed to have fled the terminal after the blasts — perhaps that bomb didn't explode as he intended — and is at the center of a massive manhunt.
Unknown airport bomber #3
Multiple outlets in the U.S. and in Belgium are reporting, citing anonymous sources, that this man was Najim Laachraoui, a Belgian citizen who was wanted for his role in the Paris attacks. It has been suggested that he was the bomb maker in both attacks, though the Belgian prosecutor has not said so as of Wednesday night.
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Laachraoui, 24, has been wanted by police ever since he was named as a suspected accomplice of the Paris attackers.
It is not confirmed what role he played in Tuesday's Brussels attacks, but French and Belgian law enforcement officials have suspected since the start that he was the one who assembled the bombs used in both attacks — his DNA was found at two apartments visited by the Paris attackers alongside traces of a chemical used to make the explosives.
Belgium's media reported Wednesday morning that he was arrested in connection with the bombings but later rescinded those reports. Later on Wednesday, reports emerged that he died in the blasts.
Some information in this report is provided by the Associated Press.
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