Belgium arrests Iraqi suspected in Al Qaeda car bombings that killed 376 in Baghdad

Man will appear in court to face charges carrying out terror attacks and war crimes

Police in Belgium have arrested a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist. Reuters

An immigrant from Iraq has been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of belonging to an Al Qaeda cell that carried out deadly car bombings in Baghdad, which killed at least 376 people.

More than 2,300 were wounded in the series of bombings, which targeted government buildings.

The man, 44, identified only by the initials OYT, was detained on Wednesday when police raided an address near the city of Antwerp on orders of an anti-terrorist judge.

He is suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks in Baghdad in 2009 and 1010.

The man is due to appear in court on Friday on charges of "several murders with terrorist intent, participation in the activities of a terrorist group, war crimes and crimes against humanity" and a judge will determine whether he should remain in custody.

He is believed to have been part of an Al Qaeda cell "partly responsible for several bombings in the Green Zone of Baghdad in 2009 and 2010, which killed at least 376 people and injured more than 2,300", prosecutors said.

The car bombings targeted Iraqi government buildings.

Prosecutors said the man had been living in Belgium since 2015 and the investigation against him was launched in 2020.

Car bombings in 2009 killed schoolchildren and officials

In 2009 a series of terror attacks targeted Baghdad’s Green Zone by the US Embassy.

An attack in August 2009, dubbed Bloody Wednesday, saw government and media buildings in the heart of the city hit killing and wounding hundreds of people.

The foreign ministry suffered the worst losses after a truck bomb exploded outside.

In October the same year, twin car bombs in a minivan and a 26-seater bus, exploded near three Iraqi government buildings killing 155 people and injured at least 721 people.

They targeted the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad Provincial Council building.

Among the dead were 35 employees of the Ministry of Justice and at least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council.

Three American contractors were also killed and a schoolbus carrying children was hit, killing the driver and dozens of youngsters.

In December 2009 blasts killed 112 and injured almost 200 more in a building used by the Finance Ministry ahead of a meeting of world oil executives.

Police arrest seven ISIS suspects

On Thursday in a separate case, police in Belgium arrested seven people suspected of supporting ISIS and plotting a "terrorist attack".

Three of the suspects hold Belgian citizenship and almost all are ethnic Chechens, prosecutors said.

"The exact target of the planned attack has not yet been determined," they said.

ISIS claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Belgium on March 22, 2016, at Brussels Airport and the capital's metro, killing 32 people and wounding hundreds.

Those bombings occurred months after the November 2015 attacks in Paris that were planned by the same ISIS cell and which killed 130 people.