BRUSSELS: Two assailants who died in the Paris attacks were Frenchmen who had lived in Brussels, Belgian prosecutors said Sunday.
The Belgian authorities are holding seven people for questioning in connection with the attacks, and investigators have found that two cars used in the operation were rented in Belgium, they added.
“It appears that two French nationals, who lived in Brussels… were identified as among the attackers who died on the spot,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The statement said two cars registered in Belgium were found in the Paris area, with one found near the Bataclan, where 89 people lost their lives.
A spokesman later told AFP the second car was discovered in the eastern suburb of Montreuil — correcting an earlier statement which said it was found near Paris’ Pere Lachaise cemetery.
“The investigation shows that the two vehicles were rented at the beginning of the week in the Brussels area,” the statement added.
It said that a total of seven people had been detained for questioning.
“Some of them may be put before an investigating magistrate in the next few hours,” it added.
It was previously announced that police made several arrests when they carried out raids Saturday in the poor immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, which has been linked to past terror plots.
The prosecutors did not confirm whether all of the seven were arrested in Molenbeek.
Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said Saturday that the arrests in Molenbeek “can be seen in connection with a grey Polo car rented in Belgium” found near the Bataclan.
At least 129 people were killed and more than 350 injured in coordinated attacks that targeted the Bataclan, restaurants and the Stade de France stadium.
