Belgium charges Abdeslam accomplice over 2016 bombings

BRUSSELS: A Belgian judge has charged an accomplice of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam with a terror offence linked to the Brussels suicide bombings, prosecutors said on Friday.

Tunisian Sofiane Ayari is the ninth person to be charged over the March 22, 2016 bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds. Ayari, who along with Abdeslam was jailed in April for opening fire on police in Brussels days before the bombings, was charged late on Thursday "with participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation," the federal prosecutor’s office said.

It said an investigating judge charged Ayari, 24, "in connection with the investigation after the terrorist attacks in Brussels and Zaventem" airport. The Brussels attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group, with whom the Tunisian is believed to have fought in Syria.