Prosecutor: Abrini Is Brussels 'Man In The Hat'

Mohamed Abrini has admitted being the 'man in the hat' who was filmed alongside two suicide bombers at Brussels airport, according to prosecutors.

The terror suspect confessed he was the person pictured on CCTV in a light jacket walking next to the pair who detonated their devices shortly after, said the federal prosecution office.

It said in a statement: "After being confronted with the results of the different expert examinations, he confessed his presence at the crime scene."

Prosecutors added that after leaving the airport, Abrini had thrown his jacket in a litter bin and later sold his hat.

He was pictured on 22 March in the departure hall with Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui before the pair blew themselves up, killing 16 people.

Abrini, 31, was arrested on Friday and is now among four people, including Osama Krayem, charged in Brussels with "participating in terrorist murders" .

Krayem is accused of being the man caught on CCTV briefly speaking to El Bakraoui's brother Khalid before the latter detonated explosives on a metro train, killing 16.

Swedish national Krayem, 23, was also allegedly filmed in a shopping centre buying the luggage used in the airport bombings.

Abrini's DNA was found in the Schaerbeek flat where the other airport attackers had stayed before they detonated their bombs, say authorities.

The Belgian of Moroccan origin has also been linked to the Paris attacks, which killed 130 people last November.

Europol said Abrini was filmed two days before the Paris atrocities at a petrol station with another suspect, Salah Abdeslam, on the road to the French capital.

The car they drove was used two days later in the Paris attacks, in which Abdeslam's elder brother was a suicide bomber.

Abdeslam was detained last month, a few days before the Brussels attacks, and is now awaiting extradition to France.

His lawyer said he had intended to blow himself up in Paris but backed out at the last minute.