Search operation fails to turn up leader of 22 March attacks

A large-scale search operation carried out in Brussels last week did not lead to the arrest of Oussama Atar, the man thought to be behind the terrorist attacks of 22 March at Brussels Airport and Maelbeek metro station.

Atar (pictured) is a cousin of the El Bakraoui brothers, who were involved in the two suicide bombings. He is being sought in connection with his role in the attacks. As the search continued, it was revealed that representatives of the Belgian government lobbied for Atar’s release from an Iraqi prison in 2010.

Atar was one of the first jihad fighters to travel from Belgium to the Middle East. He was in Iraq during the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Arrested for arms trafficking, he shared a cell for nine years with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, who now has a $10 million price on his head from the US government.

At one point, Atar was on the watch-list compiled by Belgium’s federal office for threat assessment OCAM, but his name was later removed from the list. In 2010, a demonstration took place in Brussels demanding his release, on the grounds that he was severely ill.

A spokesperson for the federal foreign affairs ministry at the time said his illness had been “confirmed” and revealed that the government had made several approaches to the Iraqis for his repatriation “on humanitarian grounds”.

The appeal for Atar’s release was not supported by Amnesty International, despite reports in the media at the weekend that said otherwise, Amnesty said in a statement. The organisation had expressed concern over the medical treatment available to Atar in Iraq, but had not joined in with calls for his release, it said.

Hans Bonte, mayor of Vilvoorde, from where many local jihadi fighters originate, criticised the lack of information exchange between police zones, local authorities and state security, which led to Atar’s name appearing on and then disappearing from the OCAM list, he said. Security forces in Brussels adhere strictly to the list, he said, while local authorities in Vilvoorde keep tabs on a wider range of suspects.

“That someone with such a profile can remain undercover is a fundamental problem,” Bonte said. “And once again, Brussels is involved.” The capital’s lack of resources, he said, was the “Achilles’ heel” of the country’s security policy.