DHAKA: Belgium attacks key suspect says that the group had been planning a fresh attack on France, prosecutors say.

But the group was ‘surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation’ and decided to rush an attack on the Belgian capital instead, the office said in a statement on Sunday, reports Al-Jazeera.

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22.

A subsequent explosion at the city's Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning.

Investigators found links between the cell behind the Brussels attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on November 13.

Sunday's statement confirmed what many had suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks - including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam - pushed the killers to action.

On Saturday, Belgian authorities charged four men with participating in "terrorist murders" and the "activities of a terrorist group" in relation to the Brussels attacks.

BDST: 1221 HRS. APR 11, 2016
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