The fingerprints and DNA of fugitive Paris terror attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam were found in the apartment raided by authorities in Brussels this week, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office confirmed Friday.
It is possible that Abdeslam was one of two people who escaped from the apartment during an intense firefight, but Belgian security services don’t know for sure, a senior Belgian counter-terrorism official told CNN.
However, “they are actively looking for him now,” the official said.
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office only said that “the investigation continues day and night.
“It is currently not possible to give any additional information to avoid causing any damage to the investigation,” the agency said.
A man killed by police in the shootout has been identified as Mohamed Belkaid, who — under the name Samir Bouzid — had been stopped at a border check while traveling with Abdeslam before the Paris attacks, according to the Belgium Federal Prosecutor’s office.
Belgian authorities are “not happy” that French media leaked evidence showing Abdeslam was in the Brussels apartment raided this week, Belgium Federal Prosecutor Eric Van Der Sijpt said Friday.
Authorities believe the 26-year-old terror suspect was using the apartment as a hideout following the November 13 Paris attacks that left at least 130 people dead, according to the Belgian counter-terrorism official.
Investigators think Abdeslam may have been the driver of a black Renault Clio that dropped off three suicide bombers near the Stade de France, one of the attack sites. They also believe he had worn a suicide belt found on a Paris street after the attacks.
He is believed to have called friends to take him to Belgium after the attacks. They passed through police checkpoints, but Abdeslam had not yet been identified as a suspect and they were allowed to continue on their way.
Surveillance video emerged of him and another man at a gas station near the Belgian border the day after the attacks.
He has eluded authorities ever since.
In January, authorities found traces of explosives and Abdeslam’s fingerprints in another Brussels apartment.
Some theories have suggested he had returned to Syria following the attacks.
Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French citizen, is the brother of another attacker, Ibrahim Abdeslam. He was a French citizen believed to have been the suicide bomber who detonated explosives outside a cafe on Boulevard Voltaire.