ERDOGAN SAYS BRUSSELS BOMBER DETAINED IN TURKEY LAST SUMMER

ERDOGAN SAYS BRUSSELS BOMBER DETAINED IN TURKEY LAST SUMMER.'

A man, who police have issued a wanted notice on suspicion of involvement in the Brussels airport attack, is shown March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Belgian Federal Po.

ANKARA — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday (March 23) Brussels bombing suspect Ibrahim El Bakraoui was detained in Turkey last year and deported to Europe.

The Turkish president said Bakraoui, who he did not identify by name, was arrested in June 2015 in the southeastern city of Gaziantep near the border with Syria.

An official said Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands in July according to the Associated Press. Erdogan had earlier said Bakraoui was deported to Belgium but the official said Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands and then transferred to Belgian authorities. The official also identified Ibrahim El Bakraoui by name. 

Erdogan said Belgian authorities were warned Bakraoui was a “foreign fighter” but Bakraoui was subsequently released when the authorities were unable to establish any link to militant Islamist groups.

Federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said Ibrahim El Bakraoui, a Belgian national born in Brussels in 1986, blew himself up at Brussels Zaventem Airport on Tuesday (March 22).

Ibrahim’s brother, Khalid El Bakraoui, blew himself up at Maelbeek metro station, according to Belgian prosecutors.

A third suspect has not yet been identified and a fourth, Najim Laachraoui, is still at large.

(NRT)