Brussels bomber

  21 May 2016    Read: 981
Brussels bomber
By Max Bearak

One of the Laachraoui brothers took 14 lives when he detonated a suicide bomb at Brussels`s airport on March 22. The other, two months later, was crowned Europe`s Taekwondo champion and is on his way to the Olympics in Brazil in the summer.
Mourad Laachraoui, the younger of the two, beat Spaniard Jesus Tortosa 6-3 in the 54 kg final in Montreux, Switzerland, on Thursday evening, earning him the European Taekwondo Championship`s gold medal. Mourad Laachraoui qualified for the Olympics in 2015. The Belgian Olympic team tweeted their support for the "promising" athlete.

Najim Laachraoui, who was 24, was one of three men who took part in the Brussels attacks, and prosecutors in France have also linked him to the attacks in Paris in November, saying his DNA was found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth at the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed. Belgian officials have said that Najim Laachraoui was an expert bombmaker.

In a news conference two days after the attacks, Mourad Laachraoui expressed his sadness about the attacks and the estrangement of his family from his elder brother.

"Our family has the same questions you all have," he said. "He used to be a nice intelligent guy. I couldn`t believe it."

Mourad Laachraoui explained to reporters that his family had no contact with Najim Laachraoui since the latter left Belgium for Syria three years prior to the attacks. Mourad Laachraoui had tried to contact his brother on Facebook in 2013, but didn`t get a response. "I`m not trying to understand. I`m trying to move on and turn the page," said Mourad Laachraoui at the news conference.

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