BRUSSELS — Belgian police Monday released surveillance video and issued a fresh call for help to identify “the man in white,” one of three attackers at the Brussels airport and the only one believed to have survived the bombings.
The appeal came after investigators freed a suspect taken into custody and initially charged with participating in a terrorist attack.
But the man, Faysal Cheffou – who resembles the attacker shown in the airport surveillance image and was identified by a taxi driver who took them to the airport – refused to answer questions, and there was not enough evidence to hold him, the prosecutor’s office said. Prosecutors will decide later in the investigation whether to proceed with any charges against him, officials said.
The release of Cheffou, who in the past has publicly promoted extreme Islamist beliefs in Brussels, reopened the manhunt for the “man in white” suspect and raised further questions about the extent of the network behind last week’s bloodshed.
In the video, the third airport bombing suspect is shown in a dark floppy hat, glasses, a goatee and white jacket pushing a luggage cart with a black suitcase on it shortly before bombs exploded last Tuesday. A photo from the video was made public shortly after the attacks, but the new video gives a slightly better view.
One bomb – believed to be the one wheeled by the man – did not detonate in the carnage, which began at the airport and was followed by a suicide blast in a busy metro station.
Meanwhile, police across Europe widened anti-terrorism crackdowns as prosecutors in Belgium charged three other people suspected of having links to militant networks, adding further to signs that the multi-nation probes were moving rapidly beyond the bombings in Brussels.
Yet even as the authorities chased new leads, there was still more reckoning from last Tuesday’s attacks claimed by the Islamic State.
Belgium’s health minister raised the death toll to 35, not counting three suicide bombers. About 300 people were injured, of whom 96 remain hospitalized, according to the Belgium Crisis Center.
Nearly half of those killed were foreign nationals, including at least four Americans.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.