3 arrested in Brussels in connection with Paris raid

Three people were arrested in Brussels this morning in a series of raids related to an arrest in a Paris suburb Thursday night, the Belgian federal prosecutor said today.

Authorities made the three arrests in the areas of Saint Gilles, Rue de Belgrade and Avenue Rogier, the prosecutor said.

Two of the three suspects suffered leg injuries, he said.

A police source told ABC News one of those arrested appeared to have been shot.

The prosecutor said the three arrests related to a raid in Argenteuil, France, Thursday night that resulted in the apprehension of Reda Kriket, a French national linked to the ringleader of the deadly November Paris attacks.

Kriket was wanted by authorities after he was charged in abstentia in Belgium last summer for his alleged activity to recruit jihadists.

The arrests come amid raids in Brussels today as the manhunt continued for two suspects in this week’s deadly bombings.

Authorities are looking for a man seen on surveillance video at the Brussels airport prior to the attacks and a man linked to the bombing of the metro station. Officials have not identified either suspect, but a U.S. official said the man seen at the airport was already in U.S. terrorism databases at the time of the attacks.

The suspect in the airport bombing was seen with Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, who have been identified by police as the suicide bombers in the airport attack.

The suspect in the metro bombing had been seen on surveillance camera footage inside the station with suicide bomber Ibrahim El-Bakraoui’s brother, Khalid, a Belgian police source said. He can be seen carrying a bag and walking away, the source added.

The brothers were already in U.S. terrorism databases at the time of the attacks, officials said.

The Belgian federal prosecutor also confirmed the issuance of an arrest warrant in Europe and internationally for Khalid El-Bakraoui dating from Dec. 11, 2015. The warrant was linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 dead because he was suspected of renting a house in Charleroi, Belgium, which was used by the attackers.

The federal prosecutor today confirmed that DNA from one of the dead airport bombers — 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui — was found on explosive vests used in the Bataclan and Stade de France attacks in Paris Nov. 13.

The prosecutor also said Laachraoui went to Syria in Feb. 2013.

The prosecutor said he then used a fake alias and traveled with Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in September. The two were stopped on the Hungary-Austria border at the time.

Laachraoui then used the false identity to rent a house that was raided in late November, the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, as Belgium lowered its threat level Thursday from the highest level, 4, to a 3, Paul Van Tieghem, director of the office that evaluates threats to the nation, said there was no indication that another attack was imminent but that the threat was still serious and possible.

Random checks at metro stations will continue as the subway system gradually reopens with an increased police and military presence in place.

The Brussels airport will not have passenger flights until Sunday.

At least two Americans died in this week’s terror attacks in Brussels, a U.S. official said today as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting with leaders in Belgium.

The official and Kerry didn’t identify the two Americans, who were among at least 31 killed in the attacks. Kerry spoke today alongside Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and foreign minister Didier Reynders, offering his condolences for those killed in the attacks.

“The United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us, including Americans, and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks,” he said.