Belgium's Football Match Against Spain Tonight was Cancelled >>
'Because "Blood Brother" Salah Abdeslam was Spotted Near the Stadium After Paris Attack'
- Jihadi Salah Abdeslam was spotted outside the King Baudouin Stadium
- Belgium's OCAD anti-terror police received information about an attack
- The county's terror alert has been raised to level three out of four
- Nuclear power stations have been placed on alert over possible attacks
Daily Mail UK, 17 November 2015
Belgian anti-terror police cancelled tonight's planned international friendly against Spain after Jihadi Salah Abdeslam was spotted outside the King Baudouin stadium after returning to Brussels.
The OCAD anti-terror police have raised the threat level in Belgium to three on a scale of four.
Yesterday, a massive operation was launched in the Molenbeek area of Brussels in a bid to arrest Abdeslam, however the terrorist managed to evade capture.
Belgian police acted after Salah Abdeslam, top. was spotted outside the King Baudouin stadium after returning from Paris following the deadly attack which was organised by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, right, from Syria
The game was called off after Abdeslam was seen outside the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels, pictured
OCAD anti-terror police launched a major operation in Molenbeek yesterday to capture Abdeslam, pictured
Interior Minister Jan Jambon told Belgian radio show 'The Morning on Radio 1: 'The decision of the OCAD to raise the threat level, has to do with the fact that the man we had hoped yesterday to find in Molenbeek is still out there.'
Jambon admitted that the threat level would remain elevated while Abdeslam was still on the loose.
Belgian's nuclear power stations have also been placed on high alert following the terror attacks.
Els De Clerck, spokeswoman for operator Electrabel told De Morgaan: 'We always have rigorous site security. There are cameras and we work with biometric access control. But we can take further action based on the analysis of the terrorist threat.'
It is understood that Belgian authorities are holding one man who was in the car with Abdeslam when he was stopped by French police on the frontier on Saturday morning.
According to De Standaard, Mohamed Amri was arrested after he was stopped twice after returning Brussels from Paris with Abdeslam.
Security officials called off tonight's came due to the threat posed by Adeslam's terror cell.
Intelligence agents believe the attack was masterminded by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national who is currently in Syria.
Belgian authorities have released a new wanted poster featuring Salah Adeslam, pictured
But interior minister Jan Jambon admitted the operation was unsuccessful and Abdeslam is still on the run
Belgian officials feared Abdeslam was plotting another attack such as the attempt of the Stade de France
Belgium striker Christian Benteke trains ahead of the game - before it was announced it had been called off
And the Belgium team's official Twitter account confirmed the contest would not take place with a tweet which read: 'Our match against Spain has been cancelled.'
A statement on the Belgian Football Association website gave more detail about the cancellation of the match.
It read: 'In consultation with the competent authorities and the Spanish national team, the Belgian FA has decided to cancel the match.
'At the very end of the evening the Belgian FA was contacted by the government, who made the recommendation not to play tomorrow's match. This is because the terror alert level is high and with the current leakage of a suspicious person.
'We deeply regret that such a friendly match between two motivated teams has been cancelled so late and we understand the disappointment of many supporters.
'However, taking into account the exceptional circumstances, we cannot take any security risk with players and fans.
'Ticket holders will get more information about tickets in the course of this week.'
The Stade de France was targeted as part of Friday's Paris attacks, with three people killed outside the ground as the home side played an international against Germany.
However, France's match against England at Wembley on Tuesday will go ahead.
The Belgium government raised the terror threat level to three on Monday, indicating a serious threat and the Belgium FA were advised not to play the game.
Earlier on Monday, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque had said he was happy to play the game, but the decision has now been taken at a higher level.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, he said: 'I am not afraid.
'We are coming to play a game. Everything will go as normal.
'The team are in good shape. They are affected by what happened the other day (in Paris) but we must know how to isolate that from the important match we have tomorrow.
'It's our final game of the year and we want to finish on a high.
'
France's game with England will go ahead despite the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday
The FA were quick to show their support for the people of France by lighting up the arch in red, white and blue
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PARIS MASSACRE: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE DEADLIEST TERROR ATTACK TO HIT EUROPE IN A DECADE
At least 129 people are dead, and another 352 injured, after three teams of jihadis struck the Stade de France football stadium, a handful of bars and cafes, and then finally the Bataclan concert hall.
FIRST TWO ATTACKS: STADE DE FRANCE
- The attacks began at 9.20pm at the Stade de France where the French football team was hosting Germany in an international friendly.
- The game was being watched by 80,000 spectators, among them was President Francois Hollande who had to be evacuated from the stadium.
- Ahmed Almohammad, 25, from Syria approached the stadium with a match ticket. He was turned away from Gate D after being frisked by a security guard.
- He backed away from the gate and detonated his vest, killing one other person. A passport was found near his body.
- A second suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi, 20, blew himself up near Gate H at 9.30pm. No one else was reported killed. Hadfi is said to have fought with ISIS in Syria.
THIRD ATTACK: LE PETIT CAMBODGE AND LE CARILLON BAR
- At 9.25pm a separate team of gunmen arrived in a Black Seat and attacked diners at popular Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon bar in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin area of eastern Paris, killing 15. The gunmen were using Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles.
Timeline of events: Eight terrorists carried out the devastating attacks on Friday night, leaving 129 people dead and another 352 injured
FOURTH ATTACK: LA CASA NOSTRA PIZZERIA AND LA BELLE EQUIPE BAR
- The same unit then drove about 500 yards to La Casa Nostra pizzeria and opened fire on diners on the terrace of the restaurant, killing at least five people.
- From there, the militants drove around a mile south-east – apparently past the area of the Bataclan concert venue – to launch another attack, this time on La Belle Equipe bar in Rue de Charonne. At least 19 people died after the terrace was sprayed with bullets at 9.36pm The attackers then drove off.
FIFTH ATTACK: CAFÉ 'COMPTOIR VOLTAIRE'
- At 9.40pm, Ibrahim Abdeslam, also known as Brahim, 31, set off a suicide vest inside cafe 'Comptoir Voltaire' on the Boulevard Voltaire and close to the Bataclan theatre. He hired a black Seat car used in the attack, which was found later abandoned with three assault rifles, along with five full magazines. The killers had emptied 11 magazines, firing an estimated 330 rounds.
SIXTH ATTACK: BATACLAN MUSIC HALL
- At 9.40pm, the third group (believed to be three men and a woman) armed with AK-47s stormed the Bataclan music hall and began shooting members of the crowd. Survivors claim three blew themselves up and a fourth person was shot dead by police before they could detonate their bomb.
SEVENTH ATTACK: NEAR STADE DE FRANCE
- At around 10.15pm a third blast took place near the Stade de France, this time by a McDonald's restaurant on the fringes of the stadium. The boom caused terror among spectators who had already been attempting to flee the stadium following the first two explosions. The attacker who detonated his suicide vest was identified as a 20-year-old French man living in Belgium.
Tearful members of the public view flowers and tributes on the pavement near the scene of the concert hall massacre on Friday
AFTERMATH:
- On Saturday morning, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks across Paris, saying 'eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles' conducted a 'blessed attack on... Crusader France'.
- On Saturday morning, the world's most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam is stopped by French police along with two other men as he approached the Belgian border. He is released after he shows his ID and returns to the Jihadi hotspot of Molenbeek in Brussels where he vanishes.
- Belgian police launch several anti-terror raids after Abdeslam was identified as having rented a VW Polo used by the Bataclan killers which was found abandoned nearby.
- One of the Stade de France suspects was found carrying a Syrian passport under the name Ahmed Almohammad who travelled to France as a migrant through Greece on October 3. Ferry tickets reveal he travelled with another man named as Mohammed Almuhamed.
- However, the French minister of justice Christiane Taubira said on Sunday that the passport under the name Ahmed Almohammad was a fake.
- Omar Ismaël Mostefai, 29, from Courcouronnes, Paris was also named as a Bataclan suicide bomber. The petty criminal and father-of-one was known to police as a radical and had travelled to Algeria and Syria. He was identified by the fingerprint on a severed digit found after he detonated his suicide belt.
- Mostefai is believed to have been radicalised by a Belgian hate preacher of Moroccan descent claimed to have regularly preached at his mosque in South West France. His father, a brother and other family members have been held and are being questioned.
- The black Seat Leon used by the terrorists who murdered diners outside the Casa Nostra pizza restaurant and the La Belle Équipe cafe was found abandoned 20 minutes away in Montreuil with three AK-47s and 16 magazines - 11 of them empty.
- Seven people were detained in Belgium linked to the atrocities. Five are from the Molenbeek area of Brussels known as a 'den of terrorists'.
- Five of those arrested, including Salah and Ibrahim Abdeslams' brother Mohamed have been released without charge. Two others have been charged with unspecified terrorist offences.
- Iraqi spies warned the West of an ISIS suicide bomber threat the day before the Paris atrocities, it was revealed on Sunday, as more details of major intelligence failures began to emerge. The US-led coalition in Syria was apparently told by Iraqi security sources that 24 extremists were involved in the terror operation planned in the ISIS capital Raqqa and it would involve 19 attackers including five others including bombmakers and planners. No detail was given of when or where an attack might take place.
- It has also emerged that Turkey's authorities foiled a plot to stage a 'Jihadi John revenge attack' in Istanbul - involving a high-profile British jihadist - on the same day as the deadly massacre in Paris.
- From as far back as August, France's authorities possessed information that militants were said to be planning attacks on French concert halls after a tip-off was received from a 30-year-old man who was detained on his way back from Syria.
- On Sunday night there were 42 people still said to be in intensive care in hospital following Friday's terrorist attacks.
Thousands lined the streets of Paris on Monday for a minute's silence to remember those killed in a wave of attacks on the city on Friday
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- French and Belgian police are still hunting for three gunmen on the run, including Abdeslam, and an ISIS bombmaker likely to have made the suicide vests.
- An international arrest warrant has been issued for Abdeslam, 26, who is accused of renting a Volkswagen Polo used by the suicide bombers.
- It emerged on Sunday night that police found Abdeslam near the Belgian border early Saturday but let him go after he showed them his ID card. Officers pulled over the car being driven by Abdeslam on Saturday morning on the A2 motorway between Paris and Brussels. Two other men were also in the car.
- At the time, officers in Paris knew that Abdeslam had rented the car used by the killers which had been abandoned near the theatre but the information had not been transmitted to those responsible for conducting the border checks.
- On Sunday evening the French defence ministry announced that the country's warplanes had bombed Islamic State's stronghold in Syria's Raqa, destroying a command post and a training camp. Ten fighter jets were involved, dropping 20 bombs.
- French and Belgian police conducted 168 pre-dawn anti-terror raids on Monday, including a botched attempt to capture Abdeslam, who is still on the run. The raids took place at addresses in Brussels, Toulouse, Lyon, Grenoble, Calais and two suburbs of Paris. A rocket launcher, flak jackets, several pistols and a Kalashnikov assault rifle were among the cache of weapons seized in Lyon overnight.
- French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 104 people had been placed under house arrest, while 23 suspects were detained for questioning.
- The mastermind behind the Paris terror attacks is named as one of ISIS' top executioners, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, who even recruited his 13-year-old brother to fight with him in Syria.
- ISIS issue a chilling new video warning that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria will suffer the same fate as Paris and claimed they will attack Washington D.C. next.
- French police have discovered a safe house used by the terror gang in the Bobigny suburb of Paris rented three days before the attack.
- The Royal Air Force has stuck ISIS targets in northern Iraq as the French continue their air strikes against the Jihadi stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.
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