Brussels district linked
to Islamist attacks
Molenbeek, a poor and diverse neighbourhood of Brussels with a reputation as a haven for jihadists, has been linked with a string of Islamist attacks across Europe and elsewhere since at least 2001
Sep 9, 2001:
Molenbeek
Anti-Taliban
commander Ahmad
Shah Massoud
killed in Afghanistan
just two days before
9/11 terror attacks.
Brussels
Paris
BRUSSELS
Al Qaeda assassins known
to have stayed in Molenbeek
Verviers
Mar 11, 2004:
5km
Series of coordinated
bomb attacks on four
commuter trains in
Madrid, Spain, kill
192 people.
3 miles
Aug 23:
Ayoub El Kahzzani, of
Moroccan origin, opens fire in Paris-
bound train from Amsterdam before
being overpowered by passengers.
Jailed mastermind,
Moroccan-born Hassan El Haski,
lived for a while in Molenbeek
El Kahzzani stayed in Molenbeek
with sister before boarding
train in Brussels
May 24, 2014:
Mehdi
Nemmouche, French national of
Algerian origin, opens fire at Jewish
Museum in Brussels, killing four.
Nov 13: Multiple attacks in Paris
kill 129 people and injure over 300.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud (below left)
– suspected mastermind currently
fighting alongside Islamic State
in Syria – and Salah Abdeslam
(right), key suspect on run, both
lived in Molenbeek
Nemmouche, who spent one year
in Syria, lived in Molenbeek
at time of attack
Jan 8-9, 2015:
French-born Amedy
Coulibaly kills
policewoman and
four hostages at
kosher supermarket
in Paris in wake of
attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Coulibaly acquired weapons from
local arms trader in Molenbeek
Jan 14:
Alleged plot to attack
Belgian police foiled by raids – two
men killed in Verviers.
Men had
connections to Molenbeek
Pictures: Getty Images, AP
© GRAPHIC NEWS
