Updated - Najim Laachraoui, an accomplice in yesterday's Brussels airport bomb attack is still on the run, a Belgian prosecutor said this afternoon, dismissing earlier media reports that he had been arrested.

The prosecutor said Laachraoui had not detonated his bomb, which was even more powerful than the others. 

Some Belgian media had said the 25-year-old bomb-maker was arrested in an apartment in the Anderlecht district early this morning 

According to reports, the police started a search after being alerted by the taxi drivers who took the suicide bombers and their accomplice to the airport yesterday. He became suspicious when they would not let him handle their luggage.

Laachraoui is thought to have been a bomb-maker and his capture would therefore be viewed as a very significant development. He was in Syria in 2013 but was raised in Brussels. His DNA was found on the Paris bombs last year and at the apartments where the Paris bombers lived.

He was filmed at Brussels airport with the suicide bombers yesterday. 

Earlier, media reported that the two airport suicide bombers were identified by Belgian media as the brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui. The two were previously known to police. 

34 people were killed in yesterday's attacks on the airport and a metro station. 

IS WARNS OF MORE ATTACKS

Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

A communique that was published in Arabic and French also threatens other countries in the anti-IS coalition with "dark days", according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.

It came as transport terminals across Europe ramped up security measures following in the wake of the atrocities.

The attacks, condemned as "blind, violent and cowardly" by Belgian prime minister Charles Michel, happened four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, who plotted November's massacre in Paris. Detectives are yet to rule out a direct link between the attacks. 

King Philippe of Belgium led the calls for calm as Belgian police issued an image of the fugitive, one of three seen pushing luggage trolleys through Zaventem Airport moments before two bombs exploded.

A third bomb was deactivated at the airport hours after the initial attack - which was followed by a bomb blast on a Metro train in the city centre as terrorists inflicted a new outrage on a European capital.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.