Prosecutors today disclosed a growing Belgian connection to the Paris attacks as Premier Charles Michel conceded that a Brussels neighbourhood is a "gigantic problem" given its past links to international terrorism.
Belgian prosecutors cooperating with their French counterparts said two assailants killed in Friday's attacks were Frenchmen who had lived in Brussels, that two cars tied to the attacks found in Paris were rented in Belgium, and Belgian police have detained seven people.
At least one of the dead assailants and five of the people arrested in raids yesterday had spent time in the poor immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, officials said.
The results of the probe so far highlight how Molenbeek has for two decades lodged Islamist extremists who have fought or supported wars in Algeria, Afghanistan and Bosnia as well as the current ones in Syria and Iraq, analyst Claude Moniquet told AFP.
"It's not the only one in Belgium, it is certainly not the only one in Europe, but it is a hotbed for jihadism," Moniquet said.
Belgium as a whole has spawned nearly 500 jihadists for Syria and Iraq from a population of only 11 million, giving it the highest figure per capita in the European Union, security services said.
What is striking is that Belgium and more specifically Molenbeek remain a haven for jihadists despite the toughening of anti-terrorist legislation as well as the dismantling of recruitment networks and militant cells since the 1990s.
"Europe no longer has borders and it is therefore logical that (militants) benefit too," Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said today.
"But we must stop being a base for those who make war in Europe," he said.
Molenbeek, where a large Muslim community lives, including a radical minority, is more than ever in the eye of the storm.
"Among this small minority, there are figures known at the European and international levels," according to Moniquet, CEO of the Brussels-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.
They lure people using the Internet, he added, comparing the neighbourhood's influence to that of Finsbury Park in London about 15 years ago.
Part of the reason Molenbeek became such a hotbed is because the local politicians failed for years to face up to the extremism in its midst in order to keep "social peace" and continue getting elected, Moniquet said.
