Who Is ‘The Man In The Hat’? New Footage Of Brussels Airport Attack Suspect Released

Belgian prosecutors Thursday released a new footage of the key living suspect in the Brussels attacks that killed 32 people last month. Authorities made fresh appeal to help track the suspect, who was seen pushing a trolley at Zaventem airport next to the two suicide bombers in previously released surveillance video.

The suspect, who has been named as “the man with the hat,” was captured on CCTV footage wearing a hat and a light-colored jacket, authorities reportedly said. Surveillance cameras lost the suspect close to the European Union institutions, not far from the Maelbeek metro station. The video reportedly showed the suspect escaping the airport after the attacks while officials said that the suspect walked nearly 6 miles in a span of two hours.

The suspect has been described as “bright with a hood which is dark inside”. “Especially the jacket interests us,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office told reporters, according to the Guardian. Prosecutors believe that the suspect discarded the jacket so that he is not spotted.

The attacks, carried out on March 22, have been claimed by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The same group was responsible for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

The Brussels attacks came after the prime suspect of the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was captured last month. Authorities revealed that one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport was also being sought by French police for links to the Paris attacks.

As the investigation continues into the Brussels attacks, the European Parliament said Wednesday that one of the suicide bombers worked as a cleaner at the institution for a month in 2009 and again in 2010. Authorities did not name the bomber, but sources told Agence France-Presse that it was Najim Laachraoui, the Brussels airport bomber who had links to the Paris attacks.

The Belgian Prime Minister also said Wednesday that the attacks represented a security “failure” but dismissed notions that his country was a “failed state.”