BRUSSELS (AFP) - The brother of the suspected plotter of the deadly Paris and Brussels attacks has been formally charged as the leader of a terrorist group, Belgium's federal prosecutor said on Friday (June 2).

Yassine Atar, 30, was formally charged "on account of terrorist assassinations and of participation as a leader in the activities of a terrorist group," a statement from the Belgian prosecutor's office said.

Yassine is the brother of Oussama Atar, who remains at large and is believed to be one of the commanders of the attacks both in Brussels in March 2016 and in Paris in November 2015, that were claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.