Three men have been charged with terror offenses over the suicide attacks on the Brussels airport and subway earlier this week, Belgian prosecutors announced Saturday.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office told Fox News that Faycal Cheffou had been taken into custody. He was arrested Thursday and has been charged with “involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder,” prosecutors said.
Belgian media said Cheffou is the man in the light vest and hat pictured on airport security video with two men who blew themselves up at the airport. Cheffou is described as a local activist known to police for trying to rally asylum-seekers and homeless people to join radical Islam.
Prosecutors didn’t confirm Belgian media reports in their press conference Saturday. A police raid was conducted at his home but no arms or explosives were recovered, they said.
Two other suspects detained on Thursday and identified as Raba N. and Aboubakar A. were charged with "involvement in the activities of a terrorist group." In addition, a man named as Abderamane A. who was taken into custody on Friday after he was shot by police at a Brussels tram stop is being held for at least 24 more hours.
Italy police Sunday said they arrested an Algerian wanted by Belgium authorities for facilitating travel of illegal migrants in connection with the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. Authorities believe both the Brussels attacks and the Paris bombings that killed 130 people were plotted from Belgium.
Brussels prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch told The Associated Press that 24 of the victims have now been identified and 11 of them were foreigners. One was a former Belgian ambassador to the United States, Andre Adam.
Officials confirmed that 24 of the 31 people killed in the attacks Tuesday had been identified, and a doctor who had served in Afghanistan said he and his colleagues have been shocked by the extreme burns suffered by some of the 270 wounded.
Dr. Serge Jennes said he had treated similar injuries during his service in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, but said he and his colleagues were shocked to see such injuries on women and children.
"I've never seen this before in my 20 years at the center for burns," Jennes said. "Injuries linked to the blowback from the blast, which can mutilate."
He said almost all the wounded had burst eardrums and added that his colleagues are likely to need psychological counselling to help cope with what they had witnessed.
Belgium’s interior minister asked residents not to march Sunday in Brussels in solidarity with the victims over security concerns.
"We understand fully the emotions," Interior Minister Jan Jambon told reporters. "We understand that everyone wants to express these feelings."
But, he said, "we invite the citizens not to have this demonstration."
Organizers quickly granted his request, postponing the march.
Meantime, Brussels airport officials moved to assess the damage caused by twin explosions at the terminal on Tuesday.
Authorities have wrapped up their investigation of the crime scene at the airport, and will allow engineers into the building to check its structural safety and information technology systems -- and whether any damage can be repaired quickly.
Brussels Airport, which handles 23.5 million passengers annually, said it would be Tuesday at the earliest before flights resume.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.