Brussels attacker arrived in Italy's Lampedusa in 2011 - sources
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A member of Belgium soccer team boards a bus at King Baudouin Stadium after play was suspended after a shooting in Brussels, Belgium, October 17, 2023 REUTERS/Yves Herman
ROME - The Tunisian man suspected of shooting dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels arrived in Italy's Lampedusa island in 2011, two Italian government and security sources said on Tuesday, confirming a report by the ANSA news agency.
The suspect spent some time in Italy before moving to Sweden, but was expelled from there under the EU's "Dublin" rules and returned to Italy, one of the sources said.
He was identified in 2016 by police in Bologna as a subject at risk of Islamist radicalisation and came under observation from the intelligence services, but did not have at the time a significant criminal record, the source said.
Italian authorities lost track of him some time in 2016 and presumed he had again moved abroad, the source added.
In Brussels, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said his country had received an unconfirmed report in 2016 from a foreign police service indicating that the suspected attacker had a "radicalised profile" and wanted to go to a war zone to wage jihad. REUTERS
