Investigators in Belgium have identified two more locations that they believe were used as safe houses by suspects in November's Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.
Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said Wednesday the residences include an apartment in the city of Charleroi and a house in the town of Auvelais.
Investigators had already identified a third location — an apartment in Brussels — last week.
They said they found a fingerprint there of key suspect Salah Abdeslam, who remains at large. In new developments, they announced DNA traces of Paris attacker Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up, and of suspected ring leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was later killed by police outside Paris.
Apparently all three places were rented for a year and paid for in cash by people using false identities.
New details revealed
The announcements add to new details that have emerged in recent days about the suspected attackers. Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday that Abaaoud visited Britain last year, despite being wanted for terrorism.
Meanwhile in France, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Wednesday the government had shut down three radical Islamic associations that ran a Paris-area mosque — one of three mosques closed since November for allegedly contributing to radicalism. Cazeneuve said there is no place in the French Republic for groups which incite or call for terrorism and hate.
An ongoing state of emergency in France has led to a surge in arrests and raids across the country. Some have drawn criticism by rights groups and other associations.
