Brussels attacks: The people behind Belgium's worst terror attack

PHOTO: CCTV images of three men believed to be suspects in the Brussels Airport attack

Belgian investigators have so far identified three of the four attackers behind bomb attacks at Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek metro station.

Three of the men carried out suicide bombings.

A fourth man fled the airport after his suitcase bomb failed to explode. He is now the subject of an international manhunt.

Here's what we know about the suspects.

Najim Laachraoui

Najim Laachraoui, 24, a Moroccan-born bomb-maker who grew up in Brussels, has been identified as one of two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport.

Laachraoui was identified by DNA at the scene, according to Le Monde newspaper in France.

He was originally believed to have fled the airport in a hat after his suitcase bomb failed to detonate. But Belgian media say police sources have now identified him as the second suicide bomber.

Laachraoui is suspected of making the explosive devices used in the Paris attacks in November, and had been the subject of an international arrest warrant since March 2014.

However, he had used a false name, Soufiane Kayal, to evade detection. Belgian prosecutors said he travelled to Syria in February 2013.

Brothers - Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui

Belgium's federal prosecutor confirmed on Wednesday that brothers Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, and Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, were behind the suicide attacks at both Brussels Airport and Maelbeek metro train station.

Ibrahim El Bakraoui blew himself up in the check-in hall of the airport while Khalid El Bakraoui attacked a train at Maelbeek station near European Union headquarters.

The brothers, identified by their fingerprints and security cameras, had a history of crime and had also recently emerged as being connected to the Paris attacks.

Ibrahim El Bakraoui was deported last year from Turkey after being detained near the Turkish-Syrian border and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Belgium ignored a warning that he was a militant.

"One of the attackers in Brussels is an individual we detained in Gaziantep in June 2015 and deported. We reported the deportation to the Belgian embassy in Ankara on July 14, 2015, but he was later set free," Mr Erdogan said.

"Belgium ignored our warning that this person is a foreign fighter."

Mr Erdogan's office confirmed Ibrahim El Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands.

Unidentified fourth suspect

Mohamed Abrini

Only one other known suspect is still on the run. Mohamed Abrini, 31, is a Belgian of Moroccan heritage. He was a childhood friend of Abdeslam and is believed to have played a support role in the preparations for the Paris attacks.

He was caught on security camera at a petrol station in northern Paris, travelling with Abdeslam in the same car used to transport the attackers to Paris two days later.

Belgian prosecutors last year said Abrini was driving the same Renault Clio car that was later used by the attackers in the French capital. An accompanying police poster at the time described him as "dangerous and probably armed".

Abrini's family later told authorities he was not in Paris on the night of the attacks, and insisted he was innocent.

He was reportedly seen back in Brussels, at a bar in Molenbeek.

Belgian authorities have told local media that Abrini travelled to Syria in 2015.

Source: Anne Baker