Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam charged, ‘planned to blow himself up’

Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in November’s Paris attacks, has told police he planned to blow himself up at the Stade de France with fellow Islamic State militants but backed out at the last minute.

François Molins, the French public prosecutor, confirmed Abdeslam had been a key member of the group who carried out the series of bombings and shootings in the city on 13 November, but said the alleged confession should be treated with care and needed to be double checked.

The admission by Salah Abdeslam came a day after he was shot in the leg and captured during a police raid in Brussels, ending an intensive four-month manhunt.

Abdeslam was officially charged with “participation in terrorist murder” and in the activities of a terrorist organisation in Belgium on Saturday after being arrested in a raid in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek the day before. An accomplice arrested with him, believed to be Amine Choukri, has been similarly charged with “terrorist killings and participating in the activities of a terrorist group”.

The gun and bomb attacks on the stadium, bars and a concert hall killed 130 people and marked the deadliest militant assault in Europe since 2004.

Molins said at a press conference in Paris on Saturday that Abdeslam’s claim raised questions about why he was in the 18th arrondissement of Paris on the evening of the attacks, after dropping off three other jihadis at the football stadium. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attacks including a bombing in the 18th arrondissement, which never happened.

Investigators who have traced his movements believe Abdeslam drove the others to the stadium in a black Renault Clio later found abandoned. An explosive belt thought to have been worn by him was later discovered in a rubbish bin in the area.

“Salah Abdeslam is a key actor in the attacks in Paris and St Denis (Stade de France). He had a central role in the make-up of the commandos and in the logistical planning of the 13 November attacks,” Molins said.

He added that another central role was in bringing members of the terrorist cells into Europe and that Abdeslam had travelled to several countries where he is believed to have used the Balkan route to bring jihadis to Belgium.

He said investigators had established Abdeslam had rented at least two vehicles used in the Paris attacks, and had bought 12 remote detonators as well as 15l of peroxide used to fabricate the explosives.

Molins said cooperation between French and Belgian investigators and magistrates in the case had been “exemplary”, adding that Abdeslam’s arrest was “an immense relief for all especially the families of the victims of the attacks, with whom my thoughts are at this moment.”

Molins explained that Abdeslam had been informed at 4.15pm that he was subject to a European arrest warrant that allows a person being sought to be transferred from one European country to another within a three-month limit from the date of arrest.

Abdeslam's lawyer said he admitted being in Paris during the attacks but gave no details. He told reporters his client, born and raised by Moroccan immigrants in Brussels, had cooperated with investigators but would fight extradition to France.

Legal experts said his challenge was unlikely to succeed but would buy him weeks, possibly months, to prepare his defense.

Belgian prosecutors charged Abdeslam and a man arrested with him with "participation in terrorist murder".

Abdeslam's elder brother Brahim, with whom he used to run a bar, was among the suicide bombers. Abdeslam's family, who had urged him to give himself up, said through their lawyer that they had a "sense of relief".

Authorities hope the arrest may help disrupt other militant cells that Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said were certainly "out there" and planning further violence. French security services stepped up their measures at frontier crossings after a global warning from Interpol that other fugitives might try to move country.

The case has raised tensions with France but Michel and French President Francois Hollande, who was in Brussels for an EU summit when Abdeslam was arrested, praised each other's security services.

The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, welcomed Abdeslam’s arrest but said the terror threat remained very high, adding it was “as high as, if not higher than, we had before 13 November.”