A court in Brussels has approved the extradition to France of Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in November's Paris attacks.

Abdeslam, who was arrested earlier this month in central Brussels, had agreed to be transferred.

The 26-year-old was detained after apparently hiding in the Belgian capital for more than four months.

His arrest, in a dramatic police operation, came four days before bomb attacks in Brussels killed 32 people.

Belgian and French authorities will now consider how to go ahead with the extradition, the federal prosecutor's office says.

However, the transfer may take several weeks as Abdeslam - a French national, born in Belgium - is also wanted for questioning in connection with the Brussels bombings.

Police believe the same militant network was behind attacks in both cities.

After his arrest, Abdeslam was initially questioned over his alleged role in the Paris attacks.

But after last week's suicide bombings in the Belgian capital, he then exercised his right to silence.

"As Salah Abdeslam had declared to agree to be transferred to France, a federal magistrate took his formal declaration today," the prosecutor's office said. "The transfer is possible."

Earlier, a lawyer for Abdeslam, Cedric Moisse, said his client had dropped his initial objection to being extradited. "He wishes to co-operate with the French authorities," he added.

Prosecutors have said that Abdeslam admitted planning to blow himself up in the Paris attacks but changed his mind.

Abdeslam has links to at least two of the Brussels bombers.

His fingerprints were found in a flat rented by Khalid el-Bakraoui, who blew himself up on the metro on 22 March.

Investigators say Najim Laachraoui, named as one of the two Brussels airport bombers, was stopped by police in a car with Abdeslam on the Hungarian border with Austria in September.

French officials have meanwhile said that a French national arrested in Paris last week was planning an imminent attack of "extreme violence".

Reda Kriket, 34, has been linked to the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Both the Paris and Brussels attacks have been claimed by so-called Islamic State.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC News

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