Belgian armed police has mounted raids across the country in recent days.
France and Belgium are trying to hunt down suspects and would-be assailants following the attacks earlier this month that killed 130 people in Paris.
One man is being held by police in France, one is on the run and possibly in Belgium and 10 have died, seven of them in the attacks themselves. Three died in a follow-up raid by French police on an apartment hideout in St. Denis, north of Paris, on November 18.
Here is what is known about the suspects as the Belgian government warns that there is a “serious and imminent” danger of more attacks in Brussels.
KEY EVENTS:
November 13: France. Seven of the dead assailants played direct roles in the attacks: three at the Bataclan concert hall, three outside the Stade de France stadium and one in the cafe killings. There may have been two more people involved, one still at large and the other killed on November 18.
November 18: France. Three people died and eight were arrested in a police assault on a flat in St. Denis. One of the three was identified as suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin who, sources close to the case say, may also have had a direct role in the attacks.
November 21 onwards: Belgium reports serious and imminent danger of further Paris-style attacks, deploying soldiers on the streets of Brussels and conducting further police searches for would-be attackers as well a key suspect thought to still be alive, possibly in Belgium, his country of residence.
UNACCOUNTED FOR:
Salah Abdeslam, 26, French, born in Brussels. Suspected of having rented the VW Polo and Renault Clio cars used in the attacks on the concert hall in Paris and the stadium. Investigators say he went to Belgium from France the day after the attacks in a VW Golf, despite being stopped by French police along the way in routine road checks before his name was circulated as a suspect.
His brother, Brahim, was killed in the attack on a Paris cafe on November 13. A third brother, cleared of any involvement after briefly being detained, said Salah may have had a change of heart in Paris.
However, fears that Salah is back in Belgium and/or plotting further attacks prompted the cancellation of an international soccer match in Brussels on November 17, a move that was followed by a broader protective shutdown. Brussels closed the underground rail lines of the capital, schools, shopping centers and other public places on November 20.
DEAD ATTACKERS:
Ismail Omar Mostefai, 29, Frenchman of Algerian descent involved in the Bataclan theater attack, lived for a time in the Chartres area, southwest of Paris. Born in Courcouronnes, south of Paris. His name was put on French intelligence services’ “S notice” in 2010 for reported radicalization. An unnamed senior Turkish government official says Turkey contacted France about Mostefai in December 2014 and June 2015 but only got a return request for information on him after the Paris attacks..
Samy Amimour, 28, involved in the Bataclan attack. French, from Drancy near St. Denis. Subject of international arrest warrant since late 2013. Had been under official investigation since October 2012 on suspicion of terrorism-related activity over a plan to go to Yemen.
Brahim Abdeslam, 31, French citizen but born and raised in Brussels, where he ran a bar in the Molenbeek district with his brother Salah.
Blew himself up at Comptoir Voltaire cafe in Paris in the November 13 attack. His fingerprints were found on one of the AK47 rifles left in a Seat Leon car used in the attacks.
Bilal Hadfi, 20. Blew himself up in the November 13 attack on Stade de France stadium. He dropped out of school in Brussels in February 2014 to travel to Syria. Believing he was back, police bugged his apartment but he did not show up.
Other: A man blew himself up outside Gate D at the Stade de France. A passport found near his dead body has the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad, 25, from Idlib, northwest Syria. Passport is being checked. His fingerprints match up with prints of a person registered under that name as arriving in Greece in October, 3 2015.
Other: The fingerprints of a third man who blew himself up outside Gate H of the Stade de France show that he passed through Greece at the same time as the other unidentified stadium suicide bomber, prosecutors say. Police have published a photo in an appeal for help to identify the man.
Other: A third attacker in the Bataclan theater attack was killed by police. No further identity information has been provided.
OTHER DEAD:
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, grew up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, but vanished in 2013 and showed up in Syria. Local media say he was jailed for robbery in 2010 and spent time in prison alongside Salah Abdeslam. Before the attacks, European governments believed Abaaoud was still in Syria, having been in Belgium in January plotting attacks that were foiled when police raided a house in Verviers, killing two Belgian associates.
Closed circuit TV footage showed Abaaoud entering the Croix de Chavaux metro railway station in eastern Paris, a couple of hundred metres from where the Seat Leon was found, police say. His fingerprints were found on one of three AK47 assault rifles left in the car.
The footage, which places Abaaoud at the station soon after the first shootings but while the attack at the concert hall was underway, has prompted speculation he may have taken part directly in the attacks, and not just organized them.
Hasna Aitboulahcen: woman, 26, who died during the November 18 police assault in St. Denis. Police were tapping her phone as part of a drugs probe and watched her lead Abaaoud back to the apartment before the raid. Police sources also say the woman was called, apparently in haste, by Abaaoud to find him a hideout on November 13.
Other: Third person who died in November 18 St. Denis assault. Investigators have isolated the person’s DNA but have not identified this person.
DETAINED:
In France: Jawad Bendaoud, one of eight arrested in St. Denis swoop, told French TV as he was being led away to custody that he was unaware he had provided lodgings to suspected terrorists.
The other seven arrested, five of whom are thought to be illegal squatters who had taken refuge in the same building, according to police sources, were released after questioning.
In Belgium: Police arrested five people on November 23 in raids in Brussels and Liege after November 22 raids in Brussels and Charleroi in which 19 were arrested. Names unknown for now.
Additionally, three people are being held in custody on terrorism charges, two detained on November 14, another on November 19.
The two detained on November 14, Mohammad Amri, 27, andHamza Attouh, 21, went to Paris by car shortly after the attacks to fetch Salah Abdeslam and bring him back to Belgium. The other, not named, was arrested for weapons possession.
Lawyer Xavier Carette said his client Amri was an unwitting accomplice who knew nothing about any role in attacks when Amri drove Salah Abdeslam back from Paris to Brussels on night of November 13-14. A lawyer for Attouh quoted him as saying that Abdeslam was “extremely tense” on the trip and may have still been wearing a suicide belt under his down jacket.
Mohammad Abdeslam, brother of Salah (unaccounted for) and Brahim (dead), was among five released after arrests on November 19
BROADER SWEEPS:
France In a broader sweep centered on people suspected of some form of potential link with Islamist activities, police have searched 793 premises, held 90 people for questioning, put 164 under house arrest and recovered 174 weapons, according to the Interior Ministry.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post