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Roundup: 3 Paris attackers come from Brussels, one remains on large: sources

Xinhua, November 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Three of the assailants in the Paris attacks came from Brussels, Italian media reported on Sunday, while a source close to the investigation told Belgian media that three Belgian cars were involved and one suspected assailant remains on the run.

Italian news agency Ansa and newspaper Il Messaggero said three of those involved were staying in the Brussels commune of Molenbeek, where five arrests were made on Saturday.

Ansa news agency said of Molenbeek: "The area is regarded as a cradle of radical Islamism, inhabited by a predominantly Muslim population, where many have been radicalized."

Meanwhile, Belgian public broadcaster RTBF said sources close to the investigation had revealed that three Belgian cars were involved in Friday's attacks.

The first is a black Seat, found near Pere Lachaise cemetery in the east of the French capital. The second was a grey Polo parked near the Bataclan concert venue, which had Molenbeek parking tickets inside.

The third Belgian-registered vehicle, RTBF added, is a grey Golf which was seized by police during raids in Molenbeek on Saturday evening. Sources told RTBF that this vehicle could be the one used by three of those involved to return to Belgium after the attacks.

RTBF added that two of the three Belgian suspects were among those arrested on Saturday, but the third remains at large - reported to be the man who rented the grey Polo hire-car. RTBF said he was known to police for gang-related crime, and his brother was arrested on Saturday.

RTBF said that authorities would not confirm the information at present as work by French investigators to identify the assailants is still ongoing.

Ansa newswire in Italy added that Molenbeek was already the scene of a wave of terror raids in January, immediately after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris.

Also in January, police dismantled a terror cell in the southern Belgian town of Verviers, whose ringleader reportedly was also from Molenbeek.

Belgian newspaper La Capitale says an investigating judge will decide today whether to bring charges against the five people arrested in Molenbeek on Saturday, and whether their time in police custody should be extended. Enditem