Brussels attackers originally planned to strike next week: report

The perpetrators of the Brussels terror attacks had originally planned to carry out a plot on the Monday after Easter, but accelerated their plans after one of their colleagues was arrested, according to BuzzFeed.

Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of participating in the Paris terror attacks in November, was arrested in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek late last week. Abdeslam was openly bragging about attacks that would be carried out in the city on the Monday following Easter, the report said.

{mosads}“He was talking openly to investigators about an attack planned for next Monday,” an unnamed police official said, according to BuzzFeed.

“Now we suspect that when his attorney announced that he was cooperating with police, it was a warning to the rest of the cell to move up the date of the operation.”

“He was talking about a new operation,” added a medical source that was present when Abdeslam was being treated for a gunshot wound he received during his arrest. “It was almost like he was bragging to the hospital staff and police about how important he was.”

Authorities suspect the Brussels attackers moved up their plan due to fears that the police were closing in on them.

The attacks, which targeted the Brussels airport and a subway station, killed over 30 people and injured more than 200.