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Six men found guilty of murder over 2016 Brussels terror attacks that left 32 people dead and over 300 injured

SIX men have been found guilty of murder over the 2016 Brussels terror attacks that left 32 people dead and more than 300 injured.

Among them were Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence for his role in the Paris attacks in 2015.

The scene after terrorists detonated bombs at Brussels Airport in 2016

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The scene after terrorists detonated bombs at Brussels Airport in 2016Credit: PA:Press Association
Salah Abdeslam is serving a life sentence for his role in the Paris attacks in 2015

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Salah Abdeslam is serving a life sentence for his role in the Paris attacks in 2015Credit: AP

Fifteen men and 17 women were killed when bombs exploded at Brussels Airport in March 2016 and then on a metro train passing through the city.

The attacks, the deadliest since the end of World War 2, were claimed by the Islamic State.

Some survivors attended every day of the seven month trial and said the crimes still haunt them.

The 12 jurors had been deliberating since early July.

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Sentencing will take place at a separate hearing – but not before September, with those convicted facing up to 30 years in prison.

Abdeslam was the only survivor among the Islamic State extremists who struck Paris in November 2015 and were part of a Franco-Belgian network that went on to target Brussels four months later.

After months on the run following the Paris attacks, Abdeslam was captured in Brussels on March 18, 2016, and his arrest may have prompted other members of the IS cell to rush ahead with attack plans on the Belgian capital.

Also convicted of terrorist murder at the trial in Brussels was Mohamed Abrini, childhood friend of Abdeslam and a Brussels native who walked away from Zaventem airport after his explosives failed to detonate.

Oussama Atar, who has been identified as a possible organizer of the deadly attacks on both Paris and Brussels, was convicted of terrorist murder in absentia.

He is believed to have died in the Islamic State group’s final months of fighting in Iraq and Syria.

In 2022, a young Belgian woman, who had been in the airport at the time of the attack, decided to be euthanised because of the “intolerable psychological” strain it had placed on her life.


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