Paris attacks suspect ‘was planning similar strike in Brussels’

Salah Abdeslam, an alleged planner of November’s Paris terror attacks who was caught in Brussels last week, was planning to carry out attacks of a similar style in the Belgian capital prior to his arrest, a Belgian broadcaster reported Thursday.

According to the report on the VRT network relayed by Reuters, investigators believe Abdeslam and two other men — one of which was arrested with him — were planning a large-scale attack involving both suicide bombers and gunmen with assault rifles, in order to inflict massive civilian casualties.

The network did not cite any sources for the report.

Abdeslam’s lawyer said Thursday his client “didn’t know” about this week’s suicide bombings at the Brussels airport and on a metro train.

Asked if Abdeslam had prior knowledge of Tuesday’s attacks in the Belgian capital, lawyer Sven Mary said in English: “He didn’t know it.”

“Salah Abdeslam told me that he wishes to leave for France as soon as possible,” Mary added. “I will ask the investigating magistrate not to oppose his departure.”

Abdeslam has not cooperated with investigators since the attacks in the Belgian capital, his lawyer told Europe 1 radio in an interview broadcast on Thursday.

“I think he wanted to see me because he had a visit from the investigators” on Tuesday, said Mary.

Asked if Abdeslam had cooperated with the investigators following the triple bomb attack in Brussels, Mary said: “No.”

Abdeslam, 26, who was shot in the leg during his arrest last Friday in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, “is recovering bit by bit from his injury, which was not serious,” Mary said.

Investigators believe Abdeslam played a key role in organizing the attacks in Paris but appears to have dumped his suicide vest at the last minute.

He was caught after four months on the run, and is being kept in a high-security prison in Bruges in northwest Belgium.