Attacks In Paris: The Brother Of The Alleged Coordinator Charged In Belgium

Yassine Atar was in possession of a key that gave access to a hideout in the Brussels municipality of Schaerbeek where the explosive belts used in Paris had been built.

A 30-year-old Belgian, Yassine Atar, arrested in the wake of March 22, 2016, attacks in Brussels, has also been charged in the Belgian part of the investigation into the Paris bombings of 13 November 2015, 2 June the Belgian federal prosecutor's office. An investigating judge charged him with "the head of terrorist assassinations and participation in the activities of a terrorist group as a leader" for his alleged role in the Paris attacks.

Yassine Atar had been arrested five days after the attacks in Brussels. On him, the investigators found a key that gave access to a hideout. It was there that the explosive belts used in Paris were manufactured, again where Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the Paris attacks, had hidden after November 13, 2015.

From sources close to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, residues of explosives have also been detected on the alleged terrorist.

Yassine Atar has long been in the sights of Belgium and France, he is the brother of Osama Atar, still on the run and considered by the investigators as one of the coordinators since Syria of the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

Yassine and Osama Atar are also cousins of the brothers El Bakraoui, who blew themselves up in the subway and at Brussels airport on 22 March 2016.

Last April, three contacts of Yassine Atar were arrested in Spain, in Barcelona, during a large-scale anti-terrorist operation, in which the Belgian police also participated.