Brussels Islamic State terror cell
| Company type | Jihadist faction |
|---|---|
| Industry | Terrorism |
| Founded | November 2015 |
Area served | Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium |
| Products | Terrorist attacks (November 2015 Paris attacks, March 2016 Brussels bombings) |
The Brussels Islamic State terror cell was a jihadist faction responsible for orchestrating the November 2015 Paris attacks—which resulted in 130 fatalities—and the March 2016 Brussels bombings, causing 32 deaths. This group maintained direct connections with the Islamic State (IS), a militant organization primarily operating out of Syria and Iraq.
Background
On 13 November 2015, a coordinated series of assaults carried out by ten IS militants struck Paris, resulting in 130 casualties. Seven assailants died during these attacks; two others were killed five days later during the 2015 Saint-Denis raid, along with a woman who had provided them shelter. The final attacker failed to detonate his explosive vest and escaped to Brussels.
Following these events, law enforcement concentrated their efforts on Brussels, prompting a citywide lockdown from 21 to 25 November 2015 amid concerns of further incidents. On 15 March 2016, authorities raided an apartment in Brussels' Forest neighborhood, killing one terrorist while two others managed to flee but were apprehended three days later in Molenbeek. Subsequently, on 22 March, synchronized bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station claimed 32 lives; three suicide bombers died in the attacks, while two others fled without detonating their devices.
After comprehensive judicial proceedings, June 2022 saw nineteen men convicted for their involvement in planning and executing the Paris attacks, while a twentieth individual was found guilty of related criminal activities. In July 2023, six men were found guilty of terrorist murder and attempted murder connected to the Brussels bombings; additional defendants received convictions for terrorist offenses or were acquitted.
2015 Paris attackers
The November 2015 Paris attacks were executed by three groups—one consisting of four attackers and two comprising three each. Seven perpetrators died at the scenes of the attacks; two more were killed during the Saint-Denis police operation five days later, and Salah Abdeslam escaped to Brussels.
Stade de France attackers
Near the Stade de France stadium, three suicide bombers detonated explosives:
Bilal Hadfi
Hadfi was a 20-year-old French citizen of Moroccan heritage residing in Belgium. After being denied access to the stadium, he detonated his explosive device nearby. He had traveled to Syria earlier in 2015 and appeared on a list identifying approximately 800 suspected jihadists from Belgium. Authorities in Belgium were unaware that he had returned.
"Ahmad al-Mohammad"
This bomber carried a counterfeit Syrian passport under the alias "Ahmad al-Mohammad," with fingerprints matching those of a Syrian refugee registered on Leros island in Greece. Islamic State later identified him as an Iraqi national named Ammar Ramadan Mansour Mohamad al-Sabaawi from Mosul, which French intelligence confirmed. Following his death, IS compensated his family with $5,000 and livestock.
"M. al-Mahmod"
The third suicide bomber at Stade de France traveled alongside "Ahmad al-Mohammad." He was also an Iraqi national who used a forged Syrian passport under the name "M. al Mahmod."
Salah Abdeslam
Abdeslam transported the three Stade de France suicide bombers to the stadium. His own suicide vest malfunctioned in Paris’s 18th arrondissement, prompting him to flee to Brussels.
Born in Belgium in 1989 into a family of Moroccan descent, Abdeslam was raised in Brussels’ Molenbeek district and had a history involving minor criminal activities and drug trafficking. In 2015, he assisted in preparing both the Paris and Brussels attacks by facilitating the movement of operatives returning from Syria and acquiring vehicles and explosives. After evading capture for four months, he was arrested in March 2016 during a police confrontation in Molenbeek.
In April 2018, Abdeslam received a twenty-year prison sentence related to the Forest shootout. Later, in June 2022, he was sentenced to life imprisonment during the trial concerning the Paris attacks. He subsequently faced trial in Brussels starting December 2022 for his involvement in the Brussels bombings; he was convicted of terrorist-related murder and attempted murder in July 2023 but did not receive an additional sentence due to previous convictions.
Assailants at Paris restaurants
The shootings at various bars and eateries in Paris were carried out by three men:
Abdelhamid Abaaoud
Abdelhamid Abaaoud (8 April 1987 – 18 November 2015), a Belgian citizen of Moroccan heritage from Molenbeek, was a childhood acquaintance of Salah Abdeslam and had a prior criminal background. He joined Islamic State forces in Syria and coordinated the Verviers terrorist cell remotely from Athens. In July 2015, he received a 20-year prison sentence in absentia for recruiting jihadists, accompanied by an international arrest warrant. As the mastermind behind the Paris attacks, he also orchestrated additional plots within France and Belgium.
Abaaoud was among three shooters who drove through the 10th and 11th districts of Paris, opening fire on café terraces. Following the detonation of a suicide vest by one attacker, Abaaoud and another accomplice escaped but were later killed during a police operation in Saint-Denis on 18 November while preparing further assaults. His cousin, Hasna Aït Boulahcen, who provided shelter to them, also lost her life in the raid.
Ibrahim Abdeslam
Ibrahim Abdeslam (born 1984), older sibling of Salah Abdeslam, was raised in Molenbeek and managed Café Les Béguines, which was notorious for drug trafficking and spreading IS propaganda. After an unsuccessful attempt to travel to Syria, he was interrogated but not detained. He opened fire at cafés located in the 10th and 11th arrondissements before triggering his suicide vest at Comptoir Voltaire on boulevard Voltaire.
Chakib Akrouh
Chakib Akrouh (born 1990), a Belgian national of Moroccan descent, traveled to Syria in 2013 and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in absentia. He participated as one of the restaurant shooters and died by detonating a suicide vest during a police raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis five days after the attacks. Identification required two months of DNA analysis by authorities.
Attackers at Bataclan theatre
On 13 November 2015, three French gunmen equipped with suicide vests assaulted the Bataclan theatre using AK-47 rifles while taking hostages. All three had traveled to Syria in 2013 and returned via migrant routes; Salah Abdeslam picked them up in Hungary before they stayed in safe houses around Brussels. They were all killed during the police intervention at the Bataclan.
Samy Amimour
Samy Amimour, aged 28, was a French citizen of Algerian descent from Drancy. Intelligence agencies monitored him due to intentions to travel to Yemen, and he was subject to an international arrest warrant. Approximately ten minutes after the attack commenced, he was shot by police and detonated his suicide vest as he fell.
Omar Ismail Mostefaï
Omar Ismail Mostefaï, aged 29, held French nationality with Algerian and Portuguese roots from Courcouronnes. He had a record of minor offenses and was identified as a suspected Islamic extremist. He was killed along with Mohamed-Aggad during the concluding police assault on the Bataclan.
Foued Mohamed-Aggad
Foued Mohamed-Aggad, aged 23, a French national with Moroccan and Algerian ancestry from Wissembourg, died alongside Mostefaï during the final police operation at the Bataclan.
Brussels attackers of 2016
On 22 March 2016, coordinated bombings struck Brussels Airport at Zaventem and targeted a train near Maalbeek/Maelbeek metro station in central Brussels.
Airport attackers
Two individuals carrying explosives detonated their devices within the airport's departure area, while a third managed to escape without triggering his bomb.
Ibrahim El Bakraoui
Ibrahim El Bakraoui (9 October 1986 – 22 March 2016) was a Belgian-Moroccan with a history of criminal activity, including serving time for injuring a police officer during an armed robbery in 2010.
Najim Laachraoui
Najim Laachraoui (18 May 1991 – 22 March 2016), originating from Brussels' Schaerbeek district and of Belgian-Moroccan descent, traveled to Syria in 2013. After his return, he was hidden by Salah Abdeslam and was responsible for producing the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks as well as the explosives employed in the Brussels bombings. He was identified as the second individual who detonated a bomb at the airport.
Mohamed Abrini
Mohamed Abrini (born 27 December 1984), a Belgian of Moroccan heritage from Molenbeek and longtime friend of Salah Abdeslam, had an extensive criminal record and briefly visited Syria in 2015. He played a role in organizing the Paris attacks and accompanied some attackers to Paris on 12 November 2015 before returning to Brussels and going into hiding. Arrested on 8 April 2016, he confessed to being the "man in a hat" captured on CCTV alongside the suicide bombers at the airport who fled without activating his device.
During the June 2023 trial concerning the Paris attacks, Abrini was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years. Earlier, in December 2022, he faced trial in Brussels for his involvement in the bombings; on 25 July 2023, he was found guilty of terrorist-related murder and attempted murder and received a 30-year prison sentence.
Metro attackers
Approximately an hour following the airport explosions, a suicide bomber set off a bomb on a train departing Maelbeek metro station. Another bomber escaped without detonating his device.
Khalid El Bakraoui
Khalid El Bakraoui (12 January 1989 – 22 March 2016), younger brother of Ibrahim El Bakraoui and also Belgian-Moroccan, shared a similar criminal past including imprisonment. He executed the bombing on the train leaving Maelbeek metro station during the Brussels attacks.
Osama Krayem
Osama Krayem (born 1992) is a Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin who traveled to Syria. After returning to Europe, Salah Abdeslam picked him up from Ulm, Germany, and he took part in planning the Paris attacks. On 13 November 2015, he traveled with Sofien Ayari to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol; however, no attack took place there. Krayem was identified as the second bomber at Maelbeek metro station; he appeared on video with Khalid El Bakraoui at another metro stop minutes before the explosion but exited the metro without detonating his device. He was apprehended on 8 April 2016.
At the Paris attacks trial held in June 2023, Krayem received a life sentence with a minimum term of imprisonment. In December 2022, he stood trial in Brussels for participation in the bombings; verdicts issued on 25 July 2023 convicted him of terrorist-related murder and attempted murder, resulting in a life imprisonment sentence.
Hamza Attou, Mohamed Amri and Ali Oulkadi
Attou, Amri, and Oulkadi were associates of Salah Abdeslam who were found guilty of terrorism-related charges in Paris in June 2022. Following the attacks, Attou and Amri transported Abdeslam from Paris back to Brussels, while Oulkadi met him upon arrival and escorted him to a safe house. Their respective prison terms were four, eight, and five years.
Mohamed Bakkali
Born in 1987 and of Moroccan heritage, Belgian national Mohamed Bakkali was sentenced to 25 years in December 2020 for his involvement in the 2015 Thalys train attack; this verdict was under appeal as of 2022. At the Paris trial in June 2022, he received an additional 30-year sentence for his part in orchestrating the Paris attacks.
Oussama & Yassine Atar
Oussama Atar, born in 1984 and raised in Laeken, Brussels, was a cousin to the El Bakraoui brothers. He traveled to Syria twice, in 2002 and 2004, before moving on to Iraq where he was detained for illegal border crossing and spent a decade (from 2005) imprisoned at Abu Ghraib. After his release in 2012, he returned to Syria and operated under the alias Abou Ahmad, directing the Paris and Brussels attacks from Raqqa.
Though unconfirmed officially, reports indicate Atar was killed by an airstrike in Syria in November 2017. Tried in absentia for these attacks, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole at the Paris trial in June 2022 for organizing the assaults; similarly, he received a life sentence for terrorist murder at the Brussels trial in July 2023. In March 2025, he was also convicted in absentia in Paris for kidnapping and torturing four French journalists between 2013 and 2014 during captivity in Syria, resulting in another life sentence.
Yassine Atar, Oussama’s younger sibling, was handed an eight-year prison term at the Paris trial in June 2022 for aiding the Paris attacks.
Ali El Haddad Asufi
Ali El Haddad Asufi (born 1984 in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels), an airport employee and childhood friend of Ibrahim El Bakraoui, assisted by driving him to airports during attempts to travel to Syria. Convicted at the Paris attacks trial in June 2022 for supplying firearms to the attackers, he received a ten-year sentence. Subsequently, he faced charges related to the Brussels bombings at a December 2022 trial. On 25 July 2023, he was found guilty of terrorist murder and attempted murder and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment.
Abdellah Chouaa
Abdellah Chouaa (born 1981), a Belgian-Moroccan linked with Abrini, provided transportation to the airport before Abrini’s departure for Syria in June 2015. He also sent funds while Abrini was in Turkey and picked him up upon his return to Paris in July 2015. At the Paris attacks trial held in June 2022, Chouaa was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Ahmed Dahmani
Born in 1989 and hailing from Molenbeek with Belgian-Moroccan roots, Ahmed Dahmani was a friend of Abdeslam involved in planning activities for the Paris attacks. After fleeing to Turkey following the assaults, he was arrested there on terrorism charges and possession of forged documents and sentenced to eight years. Due to Turkey’s refusal to extradite him, Dahmani was tried in absentia at the Paris trial where he received a thirty-year prison sentence.
Bilal El Makhoukhi
El Makhoukhi, born in 1989 and of Belgian-Moroccan descent from Laeken, engaged in combat in Syria starting in 2012. After sustaining injuries and being sent back for medical care, he was convicted in 2015 for his affiliation with Sharia4Belgium, a group based in Antwerp that recruited fighters for Syria. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended, and was under electronic monitoring when apprehended on 8 April 2016. In December 2022, he faced trial in Brussels for his involvement in the bombings. On 25 July 2023, he was found guilty of terrorist-related murder and attempted murder, receiving a life imprisonment sentence.
Sofien Ayari
Ayari, a Tunisian born in 1993, traveled to Syria in 2014 and subsequently moved to Brussels alongside Krayem, where he took part in planning the Paris attacks. On 13 November 2015, he accompanied Krayem to Schiphol airport and was later detained with Abdeslam on 18 March 2016 in Molenbeek. In 2018, Ayari received a 20-year sentence for attempting to kill police officers during the Forest shootout. During the Paris attacks trial in June 2023, he was sentenced to an additional 30 years. Although acquitted of terrorist-related murder charges in July 2023, he was convicted of terrorist activities; no further sentence was added due to his existing conviction.
Mohamed Belkaid
Belkaid, an Algerian born in 1980, had previously been present in Syria before being picked up from Hungary along with Laachroui by Salah Abdeslam in September 2015. He played a key role coordinating the Paris attacks from Brussels and assisted in arranging safe houses following the attacks. Belkaid was killed by a police sniper during the Forest raid on 15 March 2016 after firing at officers while Abdeslam and Ayari managed to escape.
Muhammed Usman and Adel Haddadi
Usman from Pakistan and Haddadi from Algeria, both born in 1987, were recruited in Syria for participation in the Paris attacks. They left Syria alongside the Stade de France bombers but were detained in Greece due to possession of counterfeit Syrian passports and never made it to Brussels. After being released by Greek authorities, they were arrested at an Austrian migrant camp in December 2015 and extradited to France. Both were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment during the Paris attacks trial held in June 2022.
Omar Darif
Darif, born in 1992 and of Syrian origin, was involved in assembling suicide vests within Brussels before returning to Syria where he was reportedly killed in July 2017. Despite no official confirmation of his death, he was tried in absentia during the Paris attacks trial and handed a full-life prison sentence.
Obeida Aref Dibo
Dibo, a Syrian born in 1993 who coordinated aspects of the Paris attacks from Syria, is believed to have been killed there in February 2016. Tried in absentia as well, he received a life sentence without parole.
Zakaria Boufassil and Mohammed Ali Ahmed
Before the November Paris attacks took place, Zakaria Boufassil and Mohammed Ali Ahmed met with Abrini in Birmingham, UK, during July 2015. They transferred £3,000 from a bank account primarily funded by housing benefits and connected to an IS supporter residing in Syria. Both individuals were convicted for terrorism preparation acts in December 2016.