Paris attack: Belgian investigators track down homes used by suspects

The apartments used by suspects while preparing for attacks were all rented under false names and paid for in cash.

Belgian investigators say they have now identified three homes used by suspects to prepare the deadly attacks in Paris in November, as they piece together the actions of the group who killed 130 people in the French capital on November 13, 2015.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that two apartments and a house, all rented under false names and paid for in cash, were used by the suspects.

Fingerprints of an alleged ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national who had fought in Syria, and DNA from one of the suicide bombers, Bilal Hadfi, were found at two sites, the prosecutor’s office said.

The statement said a BMW car driven by one suspect, identified only as Mohammed B., had stopped near the two apartments in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek and the town of Charleroi, as well close to the house in the town of Auvelais.

Prosecutors have said that they suspect the Schaerbeek flat was used to make suicide belts. A fingerprint of Salah Abdesalam, who has been on the run since the attacks, was found there.

The Seat Leon car used in the attacks had also stopped very near the premises in both towns, the statement said.

A number of mattresses were found in the flat in Charleroi and the house in Auvelais, south of Brussels.