Authorities identify the strongest tie yet between Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks

Najim Laachraoui, one of the two men who blew themselves up at the Brussels airport on Tuesday, also made the suicide vests for the November Paris attacks, Belgian authorities said Friday.

Laachraoui, 24, was a Belgian citizen who went to Syria in February 2013. On Dec. 10, 2015, authorities found bomb-making equipment and fingerprints in a Brussels apartment. The fingerprints belonged to Laachraoui and Salah Abdeslam, the only known living participant of the Paris attacks. On March 18, 2016, Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels after a four-month manhunt. On March 21, Belgian authorities reportedly asked for help in finding Laachraoui, who was still at large. The next day, Laachraoui blew himself up at the Brussels airport. Laachraoui, authorities say, is a crucial link between the Paris and Brussels attacks.

In the hunt for those connected to the bombings that killed 31 people, Belgian authorities continue to raid neighborhoods around Brussels, detaining at least six suspects Thursday and three more on Friday. The investigation has also spread to Germany and France, where multiple suspects have been arrested on suspicion of ties to the Paris and Brussels bombings as well as future terrorist plots.

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