Morocco Arrests Belgian Linked to Paris Attacks [Details]

By Nens Bolilan| Jan 19, 2016

North African country Morocco recently claimed that it has taken Belgian man of Moroccan descent into custody, believed to have connections with gunmen and bombers of the November Paris attacks. 

According to CNN, he has been identified by authorities Gelel Attar. The 26-year-old man knew very well the people who carried out the bombing and attacks which killed 130 people. It added that Attar lives in Molenbeek, Belgium, which is a known base of terrorists in Brussels.

He is currently detained in Sale, which is close to Rabat, the capital of Morocco.

BBC reported said the man had come from his travel in Syria through channels in Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, and Belgium.

It added that Attar also became part of the al-Nusra front before he became a member of the Islamic State. He reportedly traveled to Syria with one of the suicide bombers in the northern suburb of Saint-Dennis, identified as Charib Akrouh.

According to CNN, the two traveled to Syria in 2013. Attar also reportedly met with alleged Paris attack ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Abaaoud, a Belgian national, was killed along with his cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen during a raid by the authorities in Saint-Dennis, five days after the coordinated attacks.

Akrouh also died on the same raid when he blew himself up with a bomb.

As per CNN, Attar's family has already been informed of his arrest, but noted that they are not being investigated.

The captured suspect is expected to undergo trial after the investigation of the bloody attacks is finished.

This is not the first arrest made in relation to the Paris attacks, Independent said.

It noted that the country has also captured several men, and hopes to catch the remaining prime suspect in the terrorist plot, French-Moroccan national Salah Abdeslam.

The same report said that authorities have discovered that the suspect's flat in Brussels, Belgium, was being used as a place to manufacture suicide belts.

Abdeslam is considered to be the last member of the terrorist group, who remains in hiding after he flew to Belgium after the attacks, and then disappeared from the country a day after.

Al Jazeera has stressed that the attacks in Paris last November 13 were "act(s) of war," made possible by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The attacks reportedly started in a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall, where about 80 were killed. This was followed by other attacks in the French Capital, which also killed more than 40 people.

The violent attacks, as per Al Jazeera,  came as a retribution for the country, which is part of the coalition conducting airstrikes versus Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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