By Charlotte Van Campenhout
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium has asked the Netherlands and Spain to extradite two suspects in connection with an Islamist militant attack in Brussels in 2023 that killed two Swedish citizens and injured a third person.
The suspects are believed to have helped gunman Abdesalem Lassoued obtain the weapon used in the attack, a spokesperson for Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said.
He added that one suspect was arrested in Spain last weekend while the other was apprehended in the Netherlands the previous week, without giving more details.
Local Dutch newspaper De Limburger identified the suspect in the Netherlands as a 25-year-old man.
At the time of the attack, Belgium was hosting Sweden for a Euro 2024 soccer qualifying match.
Lassoued, a 45-year-old Tunisian, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video posted online where he also identified himself as a member of the Islamic State militant group. He was later shot dead after an overnight manhunt by police.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Mark Heinrich)
