An object believed to be an explosive belt was found on Monday in a town south of Paris, near where a phone used by suspected assailant Salah Abdeslam was detected on the night of the attacks, a source close to the investigation said.
Abdeslam, whose brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks, has been on the run since the assault that killed 130 people in the French capital on November 13 and is the focus of a massive manhunt.
French investigators initially believed Abdeslam had been in a black Seat Leon car that was used in the shootings at restaurants and cafes in the 10th and 11th districts of the capital.
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A source close to the investigation said, however, that Abdeslam‘s mobile phone was detected after the attacks in the northern 18th district of Paris, near an abandoned Renault Clio car that Abdeslam had rented.
The source said there was now a “strong suspicion“ he had been driving the Clio rather than being in the Seat.
Furthermore, when Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, it said it had targeted the Stade de France soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall, the 10th and 11th districts - as well as the 18th district.
Since there were no explosions or shootings in the 18th, investigators are now wondering whether there was a failed, or aborted, attack, the source said.
Abdeslam‘s phone was detected later on November 13 by a mobile phone mast in Chatillon in the south of Paris, near Montrouge where the suspected explosive belt was dumped.
But the source said it was too soon to say whether the object had been in contact with Abdeslam.
“The thesis that he abandoned (the attack) is just coming from people who brought him back (to Belgium). But we don‘t know why. Maybe he had a technical problem with his explosive belt, for example,“ said a police source.
Brussels security
Meanwhile Belgium extended a maximum security alert in Brussels for a week on Monday as a manhunt went on for Islamic State (ISIL) suspects in the Paris attacks, but the usually bustling city's metro and schools could reopen from Wednesday.
The threat of Paris-style attacks on crowds and gatherings remained imminent, Prime Minister Charles Michel told a news conference after a near four-hour meeting with security advisers. But he also wanted the city, home to the European Union and NATO, to get back to normal.
“The threat is the same as yesterday,“ said Michel, who on Saturday raised the alert level to the highest of four grades.
With troops and armed police patrolling the streets of Brussels, prosecutors said they had charged a fourth person with terrorist offences linked to the shootings and suicide bombings t.
They released all 15 others detained in police raids on Sunday. Two of five people detained on Monday were also released while the other three had their custody prolonged.
Three people were charged last week, one with possession of firearms and two who drove nearly 300 km from Brussels to Paris hours after the attacks to fetch home Salah Abdeslam, 26, whose elder brother blew himself up at a cafe.
Despite intense police activity, mainly in Brussels, Salah Abdeslam remains at large and ministers have said he, or others, could pose a threat to a city from where French investigators say the Paris attacks were planned by Belgian and French jihadists, some of whom had returned clandestinely from Syria.
Another of Abdeslam‘s brothers said he thought the younger man might have had a change of heart and abandoned the Paris attackers -- a theory lent credence on Monday when what appeared to be an explosive belt was found in a rubbish bin near Paris, close to where Abdeslam‘s mobile phone signal had been tracked.
Lockdown easing
With the underground rail system shut since Friday night, Brussels has been unusually quiet, reinforced by cancellations of many public events and, on Monday, by the closure of schools.
Businesses, particularly hotels, restaurants and shops catering to tourists have begun to worry and the prime minister said that, while keeping the alert level at its highest till next Monday, some closures would ease.
“We want progressively to return to normality,“ he said. “Schools in Brussels will open on Wednesday and the metro on Wednesday, too. For the metro it could be done in stages.“
But large gatherings could be discouraged and the security forces would remain on guard: “The potential targets are the same as yesterday too,“ Michel said.
The metro, museums, most cinemas and many shops are set to stay shut on Tuesday in the city of 1.2 million, where many staff have opted to work from home. There will also be no school or university for almost 300,000 students.
However, bus and tram lines ran and suburban shops opened.
NATO, which raised its alert level after the Paris attacks, said its headquarters were open but some of the 4,000 people who work there were asked to work from home. Visits were cancelled.
EU institutions, which employ some 21,000 people in Brussels, were also open with soldiers patrolling outside.
Workers were also setting up stalls for the city centre Christmas market, which is due to open on Friday, and local organisers of the Davis Cup tennis final between Belgium and Britain in the city of Ghent, 55 km (35 miles) west of the capital, said it would go ahead this weekend.
Reuters