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Belgium Helped Suspect Get Out Of Terrorism Charges In Turkey

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

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Jacob Bojesson Foreign Correspondent
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Turkey detained one of the Brussels suicide bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, in June 2015 on charges of being a foreign fighter.

El-Bakraoui was later extradited to Belgium where he was cleared of the charges after they couldn’t find sufficient evidence. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Belgium ignored Turkey’s “warning that this person is a foreign fighter.” (Explained In Two Minutes: The Insane Rise Of ISIS)

“One of the attackers in Brussels is an individual we detained in Gaziantep in June 2015 and deported,” Erdogan said Wednesday, according to Reuters. “We reported the deportation to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara on July 14, 2015, but he was later set free.”

Erdogan said el-Bakraoui was detained in the Turkish province of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. He spent one month in detention before his deportation to Belgium. (RELATED: Astounding Eyewitness Accounts Pouring In From Brussels)

El-Bakraoui, 30, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2010 for a shootout with police officers. He was released early but subsequently violated his parole and was supposed to be back in prison. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Brussels Ridiculed Idea Of Islamic Violence In Ad [VIDEO])

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