Belgian police name Salah Abdeslam’s accomplice after DNA breakthrough

Belgian prosecutors on Monday said they had discovered the real identity of a possible accomplice of Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam, as they met with French counterparts to discuss the probe into November’s carnage. The man was named as Najim Laachraoui, 24 – previously known by the false name Soufiane Kayal which he used to travel to Hungary in September with Abdeslam, the key suspect who was finally arrested in a dramatic raid on Friday. A statement said he had been using false ID and that his DNA had been found in houses used by the suspected jihadist network. Laachraoui, who also travelled to Syria in February 2013, is still on the run.

These first statements, which should be taken cautiously, leave a whole series of issues that Salah Abdeslam must explain.

French prosecutor Francois Molins

Belgian prosecutors said Laachraoui was checked by guards at the Austria-Hungary border while driving in a Mercedes with attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was captured in Brussels on Friday, and one other person. Laachraoui is said to have rented a house under the name of Soufiane Kayal in the Belgian town of Auvelais which was allegedly used as a safe house. French President Francois Hollande, who has said he wants Abdeslam extradited as quickly as possible, was due to hold his first formal meeting with relatives of the 130 Paris victims on Monday afternoon. French prosecutor Francois Molins said at the weekend that Abdeslam played a “central role” in the attacks and originally planned to “blow himself up” at the Stade de France stadium but changed his mind.

Accomplice