brussels attacks a failure but belgium not a failed state
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Prime Minister Charles Michel:

Brussels attacks a 'failure' but Belgium not a 'failed state'

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Brussels attacks a 'failure' but Belgium not a 'failed state'

Belgian Prime minister Charles Michel
Brussels - Arab Today

The Islamic State attacks in Brussels represented a security "failure", Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted Wednesday, but he rejected the notion his country was a "failed state".

Belgian authorities have faced strong criticism at home and abroad for not doing more to prevent the March 22 carnage after clear links emerged between the Brussels attackers and the jihadists behind the Paris terror assaults in November.

"When there is an attack like that of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this," Michel told reporters in Brussels.

But "I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state."

A total of 32 people died in the suicide blasts at Brussels airport and a metro station, Belgium's worst ever terror attacks.

The bloodshed came four days after the sole surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Brussels, just around the corner from his family home, after four months on the run as Europe's most wanted man.

"It took 10 years to stop Bin Laden," Michel countered, referring to former Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

Abdeslam is currently awaiting extradition from Belgium to France and has denied any prior knowledge of the Brussels bombings.

Belgium, a notoriously complex country divided along linguistic and political lines, has been accused of a lax security apparatus and of failing to keep better track of suspected home-grown extremists.

In the most damning revelation since the attacks, Turkey said Belgium ignored warnings from Ankara after it deported airport suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui as a "terrorist fighter" last year following his arrest near the Syrian border.

Two minister offered to step down over the Turkey accusation, but Michel refused their resignations.

"We're a small country at the heart of Europe... a hub from where one can easily organise attacks in other European countries," Michel said, pleading for better cross-border intelligence cooperation.

"That's where we have a lot of work to do," he said, calling for a "European FBI or CIA".

- Cleaning job -

Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament said one of the Brussels bombers briefly worked as a cleaner at the institution several years ago.

"He held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament for one month in 2009 and one month in 2010," it said in a statement.

It did not name the individual, but a source close to the inquiry told AFP it was Najim Laachraoui, who set off a suicide bomb at Brussels airport along with Bakraoui.

Laachraoui is also suspected of being the bomb-maker for the Paris terror assaults last November after his DNA was found on some the explosives used in the attacks, which killed 130.

The European Parliament said the suspect did not have a criminal record when he worked for the cleaning firm it had contracted at the time.

Belgian police are still hunting for a mystery third suspect in the Brussels attacks, dubbed "the man in the hat", who was seen in CCTV footage next to the two airport bombers.
Source :AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

brussels attacks a failure but belgium not a failed state brussels attacks a failure but belgium not a failed state

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

brussels attacks a failure but belgium not a failed state brussels attacks a failure but belgium not a failed state

 



GMT 10:06 2012 Saturday ,28 July

Querrey advances at ATP LA Open

GMT 21:15 2017 Thursday ,01 June

Trump condemns deadly Kabul explosion

GMT 02:15 2017 Thursday ,24 August

Is your country on the Qatar free entry list of 80?

GMT 19:48 2016 Monday ,03 October

Controversial boxing champ Tyson Fury retires

GMT 08:20 2015 Tuesday ,08 December

PC market woes show no sign of easing

GMT 17:27 2017 Tuesday ,25 April

20 Yemeni soldiers killed, injured in explosion

GMT 11:52 2017 Saturday ,30 December

OIC condemns Mar Mina Church attack

GMT 00:03 2017 Saturday ,25 March

Arab Meeting to Examine Anti-Corruption Methods

GMT 13:12 2017 Thursday ,20 April

Deputy premier meets Arab League chief

GMT 14:13 2014 Friday ,10 January

Opel Astra GTC

GMT 18:27 2016 Tuesday ,02 August

Turkish Foreign Minister arrives in Islamabad

GMT 11:27 2016 Tuesday ,13 December

Saudi woman arrested for challenging social norms
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday