An explosive belt was found Monday in a Paris suburb near where fugitive terrorist Salah Abdeslam used his cell phone the day of the attacks, police said.
A street cleaner in Montrouge, south of the 14th Arrondissement, discovered the belt without a detonator in a pile of trash, three police officials said. They declined to give their names because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press.
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The belt looks like those used by the other attackers and also contains bolts and triacetone triperoxide (TATP), the homemade explosive that seven of the murderers detonated to kill themselves, police said. Authorities tracked Abdeslam’s phone to nearbyChâtillon the night of the attacks that killed 130 people and injured 350 others.
Investigators believe Abdeslam may have decided at the last moment not to carry out a suicide bombing planned for Montmartre in the city’s 18th Arrondissement, The Telegraph reported.
French analysts looked into how the belt may have fit in to the attacks as Belgian officials announced that Brussels, where Abdeslam may be hiding, will remain on its highest alert level possible for at least one more week. The manhunt is playing out amid a three-day lockdown in the host city for several of the European Union’s seats of government.
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“It’s fitting since Belgium is the birthplace of surrealism but there is an otherworldly feeling here,” said Jan Van Gent, a retired pharmaceutical manager. “This is like a Magritte painting, to see these soldiers in a nice town where they don’t belong.”
Brussels schools and the subway will reopen starting Wednesday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said at a news conference.
“We are very alert and call for caution,” Michel said. “The potential targets remain the same; shopping centers and shopping streets and public transport. We want to return to a normal way of life as quickly as possible.”
Authorities in Belgium cuffed one suspect on terrorism charges Monday after detaining 21 people in raids between Sunday night and Monday afternoon. Three other suspects arrested last week also face charges in connection with the Paris attacks.
Yet Abdeslam, 26, remained at large Monday. An unidentified friend of the fugitive told Belgian news sources that Abdeslam was “overwhelmed” and “told me he had gone too far.” He also reportedly fears other Islamic State terrorists will kill him because he didn’t “complete his task” by committing suicide after the attacks.
With News Wire Services
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