Brussels suicide bomber worked in European Parliament

Islamic State recruit Najim Laachraoui employed as cleaner six years ago, says official

Najim Laachraoui was one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks. Photograph: Belgian Federal Police/Reuters
Najim Laachraoui was one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks. Photograph: Belgian Federal Police/Reuters

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

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.

Criminal record

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 attacks in which 130 people died.

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