Belgian officials say they have identified three locations used by attackers who killed 130 people in Paris in November.
The first one is an apartment in the Brussels, Belgium, neighborhood of Schaerbeek, where police turned up multiple clues — including bomb making materials — during a search on December 10.
A fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive believed to have played a key role in the attacks, and DNA traces of Bilal Hadfi, one of the suicide bombers at the Stade de France, were recovered at the address.
The stadium was one of multiple targets in the French capital when jihadists killed 130 coordinated massacre, using guns and suicide bombs, on November 13. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks the following day.
The apartment had been rented on September 1 by a person using a fake identity, Belgium’s prosecutor’s office said.
The second property, a flat in Charleroi, was rented on September 3, also by a person using a false identity. In a search conducted on December 9, investigators found the fingerprints of Hadfi and Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader of the attacks, who was killed in a raid by French security forces in the wake of the killings.
No explosive material or weapons were found there.
The third property, a house in Auvelais was rented on October 5, by a person using a false identity. In a search conducted on November 26, investigators found mattresses but no explosive material or weapons were recovered.
The rent and the deposits for the three premises were paid in cash to the respective landlords, the prosecutor’s office said.
Additionally, the investigation has shown that the vehicles used in the attacks stopped in the vicinity of the premises. Numerous traces retrieved during the three searches are still being examined.
New pictures of key suspect emerge
The first images since the attacks of Abdeslam, the most wanted fugitive sought over the killing, were broadcast by a French network this week. They showed the suspect at a gas station in northern France the morning after the attacks, accompanied by two associates he had called on to drive him from Paris to Brussels.
There has been speculation Abdeslam may have intended to launch a further attack in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, where he is believed to have parked a vehicle after dropping off suicide bombers at the Stade de France. A European counterterrorism official told CNN last month that investigators now believe he got cold feet and backed out of the assault.
An ISIS claim of responsibility for the attacks referred to “eight brothers” when there were only seven attackers killed, and mentioned an attack in the 18th arrondissement when there was none.
Abdeslam’s older brother, Brahim, was one of the suicide bombers in the November terror attacks. Abdeslam was a childhood friend of Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader of the attacks, who was killed in a raid by French security forces in the wake of the killings.
A senior European counterterrorism official told CNN last month that the trail for Abdeslam had gone cold.
