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Brussels police carry out 13 new raids in one day as bomb attack investigations continue

Sunday 27 March 2016 11:16 BST

A suspect is shot and wounded by Belgian police in Schaerbeek following Tuesday’s bombings (Reuters)

Belgian police have carried out 13 new raids across Brussels as part of a major crackdown in the wake of the terror attacks last week, prosecutors said.

The raids took place in various districts and led to nine arrests, with suspects questioned "in the context of terrorism", a statement read.

Five were later released, the federal prosecutor's office said, with no further details provided.

Earlier, Belgian police charged a second suspect with involvement in a terrorist group as part of the investigation into a foiled attack on Paris.

The man charged was identified as A Abderrahmane, who was shot and arrested during a raid in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek on Friday.

Prosecutors said on Saturday that Abderrahmane would be detained for a further 24 hours, and the Belgian press agency Belga said on Sunday he has now been charged.

It reported that he was charged in connection with a related raid in France this week, which authorities have previously said foiled an apparent attack.

Meanwhile, the Belgian interior minister admitted that errors were made in the run-up to the Brussels attacks that killed at least 31 people and wounded 270 others on Tuesday.

Brussels attacks victims

Show all 11

1/11Brussels attacks victims

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Adelma Tapia Ruiz

Ms Tapia, 37, was from Peru and had lived in Brussels for six years. She was at the airport with her husband, Christophe Delcambe, and their twin four-year-old daughters, Maureen and Alondra. They were checking in to fly to New York to visit Ms Ruiz’s sisters when the blast struck. The death of Ms Tapia was confirmed by the Peruvian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and her brother Fernando Tapia Coral has told Peruvian radio that she had planned to return to Peru later this year. In a Facebook post, Mr Tapia called her death “incomprehensible” in a Facebook post. Her husband and children survived, but it has been reported that one of her daughters was injured by debris

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Leopold Hecht

Mr Hecht was a young Belgian student working towards a qualification in law at Saint-Louis University in Brussels. The university confirmed in a Facebook post that he was one of the victims of the Maelbeek metro bombing

Brussels attacks victims

CONFIRMED DEAD: Oliver Delespesse

Mr Delespesse, 36, was confirmed dead in the metro bombing by his employers Wallonie Bruxelles Federation, an organisation which represents French speakers in the region. One of his colleagues, Olivier Dradin posted a tribute on Facebook: "I wanted to pay tribute to him and to his family and to all the other victims"

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sasha Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Alexander Pinczowski

A brother and sister from New York, who were at Zaventem to fly back to the US at the time of the blasts, are also missing. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were on the phone to their family when the phone went dead, according to Dutch media. Ms Pinczowski studied business and had previously completed an internship at the UN

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Aline Bastin

Ms Bastin, 29, a former employee of the European Chemical Industry Council, was on the metro at the time of the attacks. Her friends have launched an appeal on Facebook for news of her whereabouts

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Raghavendran Ganesan

Mr Ganesan’s brother has set up an appeal for information on the whereabouts of his sibling, who was on the metro at the time of the attacks. He wrote on Facebook that he had spoken to the Indian embassy, who were still searching for Mr Ganesan

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Sabrina Fazal

There has not been word of Ms Fazal, a 25-year-old Belgian student, since yesterday morning. She would have been on the metro at the time of the attacks, on the way to the Haute Ecole Galilée in central Brussels, where she is studying

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: David Dixon

The family of Mr Dixon, a computer programmer from Nottingham, has not heard from him since he left for work yesterday morning. He is believed to have been on the metro at the time of the blast. “It’s just waiting, which is heartbreaking,” the sister of Charlotte Sutcliffe, Mr Dixon’s partner, told Radio 4’s Today program. His friend Simon Harley-Jones told the BBC that Ms Sutcliffe had been driving around hospitals in the hope of finding him

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Bart Migom

Mr Migom, 21, was on his way to Athens, but never arrived. He was texting his girlfriend, Emily Eisenman, from the train to Brussels airport however she haven't heard from him since the attacks. His cell phone rings, she said but there is no answer

Brussels attacks victims

MISSING: Justin and Stephanie Shults

An American couple who lived in Brussels are among the missing, their family have confirmed. Justin and Stephanie had just dropped Stephanie’s mother, Carolyn Moore, off at the Brussels Airport when the blasts occurred. Mrs Moore, survived the attack, but the couple has not been found

Jan Jambon said the Belgian government had invested €600 million (£470 million) into police and security services over the past two years but acknowledged neglect over decades had hampered an effective response to violent extremism.

Speaking on Sunday, he said investments in security would take time to yield results and that hiring anti-terror specialists and specialised equipment could not happen in weeks or months.

Mr Jambon says "it is also not because you put the money in now, that tomorrow all this is visible on the ground."

On Saturday, an Algerian man wanted by Belgium in connection with the terror attacks in Brussels was arrested in Italy.

Djamal Eddine Ouali, 40, was arrested in the southern region of Salerno, according to local media reports.

Mr Ouali was detained under a European arrest warrent in connection with a probe into fake ID documents used by the attackers behind the Paris and Brussels attacks, France 24 reported.

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