Mohammad Abrini admits he was the 'man in the hat' at Brussels airport bombing: prosecutors

BRUSSELS: Paris attacks suspect Mohammad Abrini has confessed he was the 'man in the hat' who appeared next to the two suicide bombers at Brussels airport, Belgian prosecutors said Saturday.

"He confessed his presence at the crime scene. He explained having thrown away his vest (jacket) in a garbage bin and having sold his hat afterward," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Abrini, Osama K. charged

Belgian prosecutors on Saturday held Mohammad Abrini in connection with the Paris attacks and a new suspect in the Brussels attacks identified as Osama K., charging them both with "terrorist murders."

Abrini and Osama K., whom the media have identified as Osama Krayem, were among six people arrested in raids Friday across Brussels in an important blow to the cell believed to have carried out both attacks claimed by the Daesh.

Osama K. was identified as the man who appeared with the suicide bomber at the Malbeek subway station and the one who bought bags used to conceal the bombs set off by two suicide attackers at the airport on March 22, the statement said.

It said both were charged with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders," the first in connection with the November 13 Paris attacks and the second in the Brussels attacks.

It said two people arrested with Abrini were released following a "thorough investigation."

Another suspect who was arrested Friday at the same time as Osama K. was identified as 25-year-old Rwandan national Herve B.M., who is "suspected of having offered assistance to Mohamed Abrini as well as Osama K.," the statement said.

He is charged with participating in the activities of terrorist group and "complicity in terrorist murders," it said.

It added that another man, Bilal E.M., was charged with participating in "the activities of a terrorist group and complicity in terrorist murders" over suspicions he helped Abrini and Osama K.