Brothers linked to Paris attackers reportedly identified as suicide bombers at Brussels airport

The suicide bombers who attacked the Brussels airport on Tuesday morning were identified Wednesday as two brothers who were known to the police for links to organized crime, but also had ties to the ISIS cell that carried out last November's attacks in Paris.
Belgian state broadcaster RTBF, citing a police source, reported that Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui were the two black-clad bombers who blew themselves up in the airport's departure hall, killing at least 14 people.
Also Wednesday, the Belgian newspaper DH identified the third airport attacker, believed to still be at large, as Najim Laachraoui. Laachraoui, 25, is believed to have constructed the bombs used in the Paris attacks.
RTBF reported that Khalid El-Bakraoui, 27, rented an apartment in the Forest section of the city that was raided by authorities March 15. In that raid, a police sniper killed a man identified as Mohamed Belkaid, 35, an Algerian with links to ISIS. Authorities also reportedly found an ISIS flag and a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition, as well as several detonators that may have been meant to be used in Tuesday's attacks.
In addition to the airport bombings, a third explosion Tuesday targeted a subway stop in central Brussels, killing at least 20 people. Authorities have not said whether the blast was the result of a suicide bombing, nor have they named a suspect in that attack.
The March 15 raid led to Friday's arrest of Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam after one of his fingerprints was discovered in the raided apartment. Politico Europe, citing a senior Belgian official, reported that Abdeslam was supposed to take part in Tuesday's attacks. The report did not specify what role Abdeslam would have played.
Over the weekend, Belgium's Foreign Minister disclosed that Abdeslam had been preparing further attaccks, saying the suspect was "ready to restart something from Brussels."
The Guardian also reported that one of the El-Bakraoui brothers had rented a safe house in Charleroi, Belgium, that was used by Paris attackers Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Bilal Hadfi as a rendezvous point prior to the attacks that killed 130 people in the French capital. The paper also reported that one of the brothers had provided weapons and ammunition to the terrorists who attacked the Bataclan concert hall on that deadly night.
Laachraoui is thought to have built the suicide vests used by the Paris attackers, according to a police official who told the Associated Press that Laachraoui's DNA was found on all of them and in a Brussels apartment where they were made.

DH reported that in October 2010, Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, 30, was convicted of shooting at police with a Kalashnikov during an attempted robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. In February 2011, the paper reported, Khalid El-Bakraoui was sentenced to five years' probation in connection with a string of carjackings.