BRUSSELS: Belgium on Friday handed Mohamed Bakkali, a key suspect in the deadly 2015 attacks in Paris, over to French authorities, the federal prosecutor's office in Brussels said.
"Mohamed B. was handed over to the French judicial authorities today," a statement said.
Bakkali is suspected of helping to organise the coordinated gun and suicide bomb attacks in the French capital, which left 130 people dead on November 13, 2015.
The 30-year-old was arrested in Brussels barely two weeks after the bloodbath and charged over his role in the terror attacks.
He is accused of notably renting a BMW seen near three safe houses where the Paris attacks were prepared.
A Belgian court agreed in June 2016 to transfer Bakkali to France for trial, on the condition that he would have to serve any eventual sentence in Belgium.
In November, Bakkali was also charged over an August 2015 attack on a Paris-bound Thalys train that left two passengers injured.
Belgium hands Paris attacks suspect Bakkali over to France
Belgium hands Paris attacks suspect Bakkali over to France
North Korean leader Kim watches cruise missile tests with his daughter
- KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast
SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.
Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.
Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.
The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.
KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy’s strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.
Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.
Tuesday’s missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.
