Spokesman: One of Brussels Bombers Worked in EU Parliament

BRUSSELS (Reuters) —
Broken windows seen at the scene of explosions at Zaventem airport near Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Broken windows at the scene of the explosions at Zaventem Airport near Brussels, Belgium, March 22. (Reuters/Francois Lenoir)

One of the Islamic State suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Brussels on March 22 had worked as a cleaner for a short period in the European Parliament six years earlier, a spokesman for the EU assembly said on Thursday.

In 2009 and 2010, “one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks worked for a period of one month for a cleaning company which was contracted by the European Parliament at the time,” spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said in a statement which did not name the individual.

An EU official said the person was Najim Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian who prosecutors said blew himself up in the airport attack and is also suspected of making suicide vests for last November’s Paris terror attacks in which 130 people were killed.

At the time of his temporary work in the parliament, he had no criminal record, the parliament’s spokesman said.

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