March Against Fear postponed in Brussels

A “March Against Fear” planned for Sunday in Brussels has been postponed because of security concerns.  Authorities said the gathering would draw away resources from the investigation into Tuesday’s attacks on the Brussels airport and a metro station.

March organizer Emmanuel Foulon said “The security of our citizens is an absolute priority.”

In another development, the French News Agency quotes a Belgian official as saying the death toll from the blasts has been revised downward to 28, as the previous toll of 31 includes the three suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, Belgian prosecutors have identified and issued an arrest warrant for a new suspect in the attacks.

The federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement Saturday it issued an arrest for a man only identified as Faycal C. for “involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist killings and attempted terrorist killings.”

The statement did not confirm that Faycal C. is the third Brussels airport suicide bomber seen in airport security camera video alongside two men who blew themselves up there.

Belgian media reported that a man named Faycal Cheffou was suspected of fleeing the Brussels airport.

On Friday Belgian prosecutors said three people were detained in a counterterrorism operation in Brussels prompted by the arrest Thursday of a Frenchman in the Paris area suspected of plotting a new attack.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office confirmed in a statement that Friday’s arrests were conducted in three districts of the capital – Schaerbeek, Forest and Saint-Gilles. Two of the three suspects were wounded in the leg.

The statement also said that investigators used DNA tests to determine that Najim Laachraoui was one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up in the Brussels airport on Tuesday.

Laachraoui was also linked to the November 13 Paris attacks, in which 130 people died. His DNA was found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth discovered at the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed.