BELGIUM {BRUSSELS ATTACKS + PARIS ATTACK} - Media say Paris attack suspect arrested, may be `man in the hat':

Mohamed Abrini, who was wanted for November's Islamic State attacks in Paris, has been arrested in Brussels, Belgian public broadcasters said on Friday, adding that Abrini was probably involved in last month's Brussels bombings.

Abrini, a 31-year-old Belgian, was "more than likely" the "man in the hat" seen on security camera footage at Brussels airport on March 22 with two suicide bombers, VRT and RTBF said on their websites, citing unidentified sources.

Public prosecutors confirmed in a brief statement only that police had made several arrests related to the Brussels attacks. They scheduled a news conference for 9:30 p.m. (1930 GMT).

If confirmed, the arrests would mark a success for Belgian security services, which have faced fierce criticism at home and abroad since Brussels-based militants organized the attacks that killed 130 in Paris on Nov. 13.

The arrests came a day after police issued new images and detail on the "man in the hat". They follow the arrest in Brussels on March 18 of a key surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam. He was seen driving with Abrini towards Paris two days before the Paris attacks.

Four days after Abdeslam was arrested, the brothers Brahim and Khalid El Bakraoui and a third local man, Najim Laachraoui, set off bombs that killed 32 people at Brussels airport and on a metro line running under European Union institutions.

VRT and RTBF said Abrini was probably the man disguised in heavy glasses and a floppy hat who was pictured with Brahim Bakraoui and Laachraoui moments before the two men blew themselves up at the airport.

A second suspect held on Friday was believed to be a man seen with Khalid Bakraoui at a metro station shortly before Bakraoui blew himself up on a train on the same line downtown.

VRT named the second man as Osama Kraiem and said he was believed to be the same person as Naim al-Hamed, who was seen on a wanted poster released by French police. Broadcasters said he had also been caught on CCTV buying holdalls at a downtown mall that were later used in the Brussels bombings.

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