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This is BBC News. Continuing coverage of the police raid in | :00:09. | :00:20. | |
Brussels. The main developments. At least two suspects have been | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
arrested in the raid, including the only known surviving gunman from | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
last year's Terrace attacks in Paris, in which 130 people died. | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
This is the moment that Belgian special Armed Forces began the raid | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
on the property. Salah Abdeslam was arrested after being shot and | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
wounded. He has been on the run since the Paris attacks in November. | :00:45. | :00:53. | |
More explosions in the district have been heard tonight as police hunt | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
for more suspects who fled the scene. This is the live in the | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
Belgian capital where police have sealed off the area where the raid | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
took place. There are reports of more arrests. | :01:08. | :01:29. | |
Hello and welcome to BBC News. Anti-terror police in the Belgian | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
capital of Brussels say they have arrested three people, including the | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
main suspect in the Paris attacks last November. Sal Abdeslam was | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
detained after anti-terror police carried out a raid in the Mullen | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
back area of the city, during which shots were fired. | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
Abdeslam, 26, has been on the run since November. It is believed he | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
played a key role in the attacks last November which killed 130 | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
people. Media are reporting police have also captured two other | :02:03. | :02:03. | |
suspects. As ambulances were heading to the | :02:04. | :02:14. | |
scene, police sources here in Brussels were already saying they | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
had got their man. Sal Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the Paris attacks, | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
sources said shot in the leg and in custody. Filmed by an eyewitness, | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
police amassing as they hunted him. It was mid afternoon in a Molenbeek | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
area of Brussels. Dozens of units descended. There was gunfire. One | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
witness said he saw a man being chased down the road, shot and then | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
falling. For Belgian police, this seems to have been a considerable | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
success. Sal Abdeslam, the prime suspect from the Paris attacks, | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
wounded in the leg and then the teams arrested at the top of this | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
street, following these police investigations that have been going | :02:57. | :02:58. | |
on since the Paris attacks, which have traced to this location. | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
Belgian's Prime Minister Charles Michel rushed out of the summit of | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
European leaders taking place across town to be briefed on the operation. | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
He and Francis Holland were briefed on the situation. Sal Abdeslam has | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
evaded police since November. Prosecutors say he was a key player | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
in the Paris attacks. Earlier this week, his fingers were found after | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
police raid this house in Brussels. It is thought he may have escaped | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
out of a back window as another man fired at offices to give them pinned | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
down. Police were on his trail and closing in, the neighbours had no | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
idea he had been in the house. I opened my door to pick up my son at | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
school and I heard a lot of policeman yelling at me, go home, go | :03:46. | :03:53. | |
home, go home. Actually, this shooting had just happened, the | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
first one, and the operation was happening just in front of me and we | :03:59. | :04:06. | |
didn't realise. Sal Abdeslam has been taken to hospital to be treated | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
for his ruins. No officers were injured in the operation. After | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
months of painstaking, this was a success for the police, but it has | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
also raised tensions in Molenbeek this evening. Riot police were | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
brought in to deal with groups drawn in by the presence of so many | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
officers on the streets. Hopefully we will be talking to | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
Damien later in Mullen -- Molenbeek, but let's cross | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
Damien later in Mullen -- Molenbeek, bring us up to speed with where we | :04:36. | :04:36. | |
are now. In the last bring us up to speed with where we | :04:37. | :04:38. | |
reports of more bring us up to speed with where we | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
streets of Molenbeek and also local media reports of further arrests. | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
Bell that is the situation at the moment. The operation does seem to | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
be ongoing. Reports of explosions that I believe we are not sure | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
exactly what might be causing them. We know Sal Abdeslam has been | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
arrested and injured. A second man has also been arrested. He is | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
another person who is wanted in relation to those attacks. Those | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
reports are coming out now of a third person, possibly being | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
arrested by police, and I think Damien was saying earlier that there | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
were reports that police were targeting another house in the area | :05:27. | :05:28. | |
where he may have been hiding from them. | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
Lucy, I presume this is being covered wall-to-wall in France. This | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
must come as a huge relief. The most wanted man in Europe and of course | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
in France, months after those deadly attacks on November 13, has at last | :05:45. | :05:51. | |
been captured. This is very big news in France. A great relief I should | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
imagine for the government here. The authorities had been under enormous | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
pressure to capture him. He was the key surviving suspects from those | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
attacks. As such, the fact he has been captured alive and is | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
potentially able to answer questions will be of enormous interest to the | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
government here. The attacks still have left a real scar under Franz | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
and the threat against France remains very strong. We are told the | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
president has repeatedly warned it is being targeted by groups like | :06:26. | :06:27. | |
Islamic State. The fact they have caught a man who can potentially | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
give them valuable information about other people who might be connected | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
to the network about logistics. It will be of incredible value to the | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
intelligence services, who are trying to stop future attacks. The | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
$64,000 question is whether he is able to tell them whether he will | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
choose to. The fact he has been caught alive is a huge boost to the | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
security forces in France and Belgium, who have been under | :06:55. | :07:02. | |
increasing pressure to bring this opportunity to a successful | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
conclusion. Lucy, there is a real sense, is there not, in France, that | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
it is still a target and remains a target. It is a country on a | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
heightened sense of alert. The government has already said they | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
have managed to foil several attacks in the past | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
few months and it is clear that France has been regularly named by | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
militants he would choose to do damage towards it. Still very much a | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
question of how best to of the problems of the intelligence | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
agency is dealing with is that the profile of many people who have | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
carried out attacks in the past year is very broad. These are not people | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
who are seen as ardent Islamist militants. These are people who are | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
perhaps more known to local police as petty criminals who have made the | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
transition to militant Islam very, very quickly indeed. You might | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
remember there was talk of the Abdeslam brothers running a | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
bar, drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis, just | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
shortly before they carried out these attacks in the name of radical | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
Islam. It is difficult for the intelligence agency to pinpoint who | :08:13. | :08:14. | |
they should follow most closely, where they should put most of their | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
resources. Anything we can get -- they can get in the pursuit of | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
narrowing the search will be greatly appreciated. The problem is whether | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
Abdeslam will choose to talk. Indeed. Walk us through recent | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
events that led us to today. Of course involving huge amounts of | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
close cooperation of France and Belgium. A relationship that has not | :08:42. | :08:42. | |
been without its tensions. embarrassment that some of the | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
suspects managed to slip through the hands of the authorities. Sal | :08:50. | :09:00. | |
Abdeslam managed to cross checkpoints into Brussels after the | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
attacks and that was embarrassing for both sides. They have been | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
working together, as you say, not without tensions, but they have been | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
working together. The manhunt has been enormous. The resources given | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
have been enormous. We found on Tuesday there was a strong lead, a | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
strong sense they were on the right trail, when they found fingerprints | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
belonging to Sal Abdeslam in the property in Molenbeek and also an | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
exchange of gunfire with some of his presumed | :09:32. | :09:32. | |
was a real sense that they were on the right trail. Having said that, | :09:33. | :09:42. | |
they also found fingerprints of Sal Abdeslam in December which did not | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
leave them anywhere useful. It seems they have found | :09:47. | :09:46. | |
some information in that house, whether it | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
they arrested there, evidence they've done inside the property | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
that led them to where they are today, and they have Sal Abdeslam | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
final in custody. After this intends for manhunt. | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
We can speak to our reporter who was there when it took place. I was in | :10:11. | :10:20. | |
the centre of Molenbeek, where the house raid was. The house that was | :10:21. | :10:28. | |
rented by somebody and where Abdeslam was hiding. It is | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
in the centre of Molenbeek, close to the centre of Brussels. | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
really in the suburbs. It is close to the centre. What efforts were | :10:39. | :10:47. | |
made to protect civilians? We could see | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
people inside shops and walking along the street while this was | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
happening. When they raided the house worth Sal Abdeslam was hiding, | :10:56. | :11:04. | |
they had made a safety zone around the house and people were | :11:05. | :11:06. | |
-- Salah Abdeslam. The raids continued in several other places, | :11:07. | :11:18. | |
several other houses. We could see special forces were entering houses | :11:19. | :11:20. | |
around the neighbourhood without actually taking the civilians at a | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
distance. That was a bit frightening, because you could see | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
people who were trying to get to their | :11:31. | :11:31. | |
houses, but then police officers would stop | :11:32. | :11:33. | |
although there was not really a sign of a safety | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
zone. People didn't know where to go to. Extraordinary pictures, a normal | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
day in this part of the Belgian capital. These extremely heavily | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
armed police out on the streets. What did you hear? There were | :11:51. | :11:51. | |
reports of gunfire. What was the People were surprised and were | :11:52. | :12:00. | |
wondering what the sound was and where it was coming from. People | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
knew these were explosions, shootings, but they didn't really | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
want to believe that this was really happening in their neighbourhood. | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
People asked. They asked what is happening, why are they doing this? | :12:15. | :12:16. | |
People were frightened, wondering, wanted to know what was happening, | :12:17. | :12:17. | |
why they couldn't go home. That seems to be a | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
bit more quiet now. People are aware about | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
what is going on. They know that Salah Abdeslam is | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
arrested at the moment. Things aren't more quiet now. How much of a | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
relief will this be for the Belgian authorities, that this man, who has | :12:37. | :12:38. | |
been on the run for all this time, is finally in custody. On the one | :12:39. | :12:47. | |
hand, it is a relief because they have arrested and have him alive, | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
and he might eventually speak. It is a relief but on the other hand, this | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
whole operation also shows that the network is very broad, the Paris | :13:01. | :13:09. | |
attacks, but attacks that are still plans to take place later on, but it | :13:10. | :13:17. | |
is a relief on one hand, but it also shows that there is reason to be | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
concerned and worried about what are the other plans. . How is Molenbeek | :13:24. | :13:35. | |
compared with other districts which might Molenbeek has been in the | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
picture as the terrorist capital of Europe. It is true that Salah | :13:41. | :13:52. | |
Abdeslam has been found there. Not only is Molenbeek ablaze with these | :13:53. | :14:00. | |
guys are hiding, other districts of Brussels and also Antwerp is a | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
region where we find people connected to these networks. We | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
can't say that is Molenbeek is the one and only centre of terror in | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
Europe, not at all. In many countries across Europe, there are | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
efforts being made by the authorities to have a better | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
relationship with Islamic communities. What efforts are being | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
made in Belgium, in Brussels in particular, to reach out to these | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
groups? This is also something, last year already, after the foiled | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
attacks, where they found terrorists, they were starting to | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
approach the Moslem community to get a better understanding. Over the | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
last year, this didn't really help a lot. Lots of talking and nothing | :15:00. | :15:07. | |
really happening. After the Paris attacks, now politicians and | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
activists are doing a bigger effort to understand Islam and to | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
understand the community in Molenbeek and this is something we | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
see. It is new, the first steps are being made. It is not at all | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
finished yet, it is ongoing, but it is very important that this | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
continues. We appreciate you talking to us. She was at the scene as the | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
raid took place earlier in the afternoon. | :15:38. | :15:45. | |
Our world affairs editor joins me now. So much focus on this | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
particular suburb of Brussels. Molenbeek, a reference to its being | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
the tourist capital of Europe. Something we have heard bandied | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
about in the media since November 13. To what degree is this true? It | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
is difficult to tell, except that we have no significant number of the | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
people involved in the Paris attacks have come from that specific | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
district. It is a particularly rundown area, an area which is, | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
bizarrely, it seems very night. A heavy concentration of people from | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
North Africa, a lot of Muslims living in that area. Not much | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
connection with the rest of the city. Security officials talk about | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
it as being something of a breeding ground for jihadists. As we were | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
hearing just now, it is a broader problem across Belgium, but Bob what | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
we know is a very large numbers of Belgians in terms of per capita have | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
gone to fight in Iraq and Syria alongside so-called Islamic State | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
and quite a significant number have returned to Belgium. They clearly | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
have a very significant problem. As we are seeing now, the network of | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
people involved in the Paris attacks seems to be broadening and | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
broadening. The fact they are now saying that potentially three people | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
have been detained in this latest raid, more people, and obviously the | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
raids are ongoing. We have to see just quite how broad it is going to | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
go, but it seems like a significant number of people involved. Everyone | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
expected at the time, because it was such a sophisticated, well-planned | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
attack. I think we can now see some pictures of one of these recent | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
arrests that have taken place in Molenbeek. There we are. These are | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
not live pictures, this is from a few hours ago. Let's listen. | :17:41. | :18:04. | |
INDISTINCT SHOUTING. We are watching these pictures again | :18:05. | :18:16. | |
from a few hours ago. These are pictures of one of the arrests being | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
made on the streets of Molenbeek by Belgian police. We are not entirely | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
sure at this stage who that particular man is that is being | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
bundled into the back of that car. Let's have another watch now to see | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
exactly how many men we can see. Local media is reporting that a | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
third arrest has been made, but we don't know at this stage who that | :18:43. | :18:44. | |
particular man is. We think now that we can see two | :18:45. | :19:01. | |
separate men being arrested at this stage. This man being the first | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
there in the cream, off-white hoodie, that is being put into the | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
back of that lack faults like an car. Here comes the second now. | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
Recent speculation is now by local media that there has been a third | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
arrest. We are awaiting confirmation on that. Let's cross back to the | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
live pictures now. This is the scene currently as it is in Molenbeek. | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
Let's go back a couple of hours, referencing those pictures we just | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
sort of valves arrests. What did you make of them? It is interesting. | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
They clearly knew what they were doing, the apartments they targeted, | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
they had good information. The point to bring out is that it all stems | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
from earlier raid on Tuesday when one man was shot dead and two | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
managed to escape. It seems that Abdeslam was one of those people. | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
One we have seen being arrested just now, or the video of it, where from | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
that apartment in the first rate this week. Clearly the police and | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
intelligence agency had good information and knew what they were | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
doing. Thank you for talking to us. Let's speak to a French security | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
consultant. Thank you very much for patiently waiting to speak to us. | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
How is this arrest and raid being seen in Paris? They are being seen | :20:29. | :20:38. | |
as finally, after the fourth try, they have been able to capture | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
Abdeslam. What is really important to say that he did not try to flee | :20:45. | :20:55. | |
Belgium, he stayed there. He was hiding, but he was hiding for four | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
Mons. It is important to look at the support networks, because he could | :21:00. | :21:10. | |
not have gone undetected for four months a while. Security services | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
will be looking closely at what is happening in Molenbeek and other | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
places. On Twitter, congratulations to the Belgian authorities on the | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
capture of Salah Abdeslam. How much pressure have the Belgian | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
authorities been under? A lot, from the French first, because obviously | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
they were close to being ridiculed for having let him go and missed him | :21:39. | :21:47. | |
three times. There were reports of him being in another district of | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
Brussels for three weeks undetected. They were under a lot of pressure to | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
show they were competent and that they would get the job done. It | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
hasn't just been down to the Belgian authorities, has it? What French | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
involvement has there been? What has been decided a month ago at the | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
level of the Prime Minister, between France and Belgium, was open book | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
cooperation, sharing information for the first time, what we saw on | :22:23. | :22:30. | |
Tuesday, a joint operation where French forces took part in the raid | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
in Brussels. That is very telling about how much those two nations | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
need to work together. That is assigned for the nations in Europe | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
to look at this and say, if we don't stick together, then all this will | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
happen time and time again. The state secretary has been tweeting, | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
we've got him. Clearly, they are very pleased to have him alive. How | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
important was it, as far as you are aware, that he was taken alive, even | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
though possibly wounded? Hugely important, because for a lot of | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
reasons. Unfortunately, we are flying blind, so to have somebody | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
that actually took part in the planning, the preparation, the | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
knowledge of all the different networks within Islamic State in | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
Europe, is huge. What people have to remember, as well, is that, | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
Abdeslam, compared to the others, got cold feet, and most probably as | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
we saw through his suicide belt before leaving. He might be more | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
willing to target than somebody who would have been even more of a | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
hard-core radical Islamic. His ability to remain in Belgium all | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
this time since those attacks in November in Paris throws up a great | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
deal of questions. How surprised are you that he stayed in Europe when | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
there was speculation that he had fled to Syria? Might take was, I | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
wouldn't see him go to Syria for one reason only. My reasoning is that, | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
if he were to rejoin the Islamic State, he would be viewed as someone | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
that's decided not to go ahead with the operation. His life most | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
probably have been more at risk in Syria than staying in Belgium. It | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
would make sense for him to stay in Europe. The question about the | :24:40. | :24:48. | |
support networks come into play. The money, logistics, people renting the | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
apartments on his behalf, all this shows that Belgium is the nexus, if | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
you will, of jihadist terrorism in Europe. But how likely is it that he | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
has had support from the middle east, from Islamic State in Iraq or | :25:03. | :25:14. | |
Syria, rather than just in Belgium? I would say that it is unlikely that | :25:15. | :25:21. | |
after an operation that he took part in and fled, that he would have had | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
more support from Iraq and Syria. It was the local networks, and that is | :25:27. | :25:34. | |
what is really worrisome, that this ingrained radical element that I | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
living in Belgium at the moment and that could help him. We will stop | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
you there. We really appreciate you sharing your inside with us. We will | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
speak to you again in a moment. I want to update people if you have | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
just joined us, you are watching BBC News where we are following this | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
raid that is still underway. An operation in the district of | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
Molenbeek in the Belgian capital of Brussels. Stay with us. | :26:05. | :26:07. |