Najm al-'Ashrāwī ( ar, نجم العشراوي, 18 May 1991 – 22 March 2016), also known as Abū Idrīs al-Baljīkī or Soufiane Kayal, was a Belgian-Moroccan

Islamic militant ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

loyal to the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

and was one of two suicide bombers at the

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

in the

2016 Brussels bombings On 22 March 2016, two coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium were carried out by the Islamic State. Three coordinated suicide bombings occurred: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station on the Brussels m ...

. The Islamic State confirmed that he was responsible for making all the explosives used in the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...

Early life

Laachraoui was born in

Ajdir Ajdir (Berber language, Berber: ⴰⵊⴷⵉⵔ) is a small town in northern Morocco, on the Mediterranean coast, near Al Hoceima. It was the capital of the Republic of the Rif from 1922-1925 under the leadership of Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al- ...

Taza Province Taza is a province in the Moroccan region of Fès-Meknès. Its population at the 2004 Census was 743,237 The major cities and towns are* Ajdir, Taza * Aknoul * Matmata * Oued Amlil * Oulad Zbair * Tahla * Tainaste * Taza * Tizi Ouasli * Zr ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

but raised in the

Schaerbeek (French language, French and History of Dutch orthography, archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Re ...

neighbourhood of Brussels, where he attended a Catholic high school. Laachraoui studied engineering at the Université libre de Bruxelles from 2009 to 2010, but did not complete his degree. He then studied

electromechanics In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...

at the

Université catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...

from 2010 to 2011. Laachraoui worked at the Brussels Airport for five years until the end of 2012.

Islamic State

Laachraoui reportedly traveled to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in February 2013, where his family lost contact with him. The Islamic State confirmed in Dabiq magazine that he traveled to IS in 2013. He was part of Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen, a group led by Abu Atheer al-Absi. He is described as one of the first to have pledged allegiance to

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

after the dispute between IS and

Jabhat al-Nusra Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

. He participated in several battles against the regime of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

. He suffered a bullet wound to his leg in battles against

in the city of

Deir Ezzor , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_title = Religions , population_blank2 = ...

. It was several months after this wound healed that he began to train to carry out the attack in Brussels. The Islamic State confirmed that he was responsible for preparing all of the explosives used during the

and the

. In 2013 and 2014, he was, according to four ex-hostages, working as a prison guard called "Abou Idriss" for the

. His travel to Syria resulted in the mayor of Schaerbeek declaring that Laachraoui had been removed from the voting rolls in 2015, but being "powerless to do more".

Brussels attack

In February 2016, Laachraoui was suspected of involvement with a possible terrorist cell led by

Khalid Zerkani Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

, who recruited fighters in Syria, including

Abdelhamid Abaaoud Abdelhamid Abaaoud ( ar, عبد الحميد ابعود, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ʾAbā ʿŪd; 8 April 1987 – 18 November 2015) was a Belgian-born Islamic terrorist who had spent time in Syria. He was suspected of having organized multiple terror a ...

, the organiser of the November 2015 Paris attacks. He went to trial and was awaiting sentencing at the time of the Brussels bombings, which was scheduled for May 2016. Like the Bakraoui brothers, Laachraoui evaded capture during the police raids on 15 and 18 March 2016 which captured

Salah Abdeslam Salah Abdeslam ( ar, صلاح عبد السلام, lit=Ṣalāḥ ʿAbd as-Salām; ; born 15 September 1989) is a French Islamic terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 as the sole surviving member of the 10-man unit that carried o ...

. Laachraoui is believed to be an accomplice of Abdeslam, with whom he travelled across Europe under the false identity of Soufiane Kayal. Laachraoui is also believed to have made the

suicide vest Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

s used in the attacks against the

Bataclan theatre The Bataclan () is a Theater (building), theatre located at 50 Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, 11th arrondissement of Paris, France. Designed in 1864 by the architect Charles Duval, its name refers to ''Ba-ta-clan'', an ...

and the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

in Paris. He also rented a house occupied by assailants involved in the Paris attacks. In July 2016, IS released a video celebrating several terrorist attacks that took place during the month of Ramadan showing

Mohamed Belkaid On 15 and 18 March 2016, Belgian police carried out raids on houses in Brussels. The raids were conducted in connection to the attacks in Paris four months earlier. In the raids, one suspect was killed and five others were arrested, including Sa ...

, and Laachraoui and displaying his nom de guerre Abu Idris al-Beljiki.

Family

Najim Laachraoui was the brother of taekwondo practitioner Mourad Laachraoui, who won a gold medal at the

2016 European Taekwondo Championships The 2016 European Taekwondo Championships was the 22st edition of the European Taekwondo Championships, and was held in Montreux, Switzerland, from May 19 to May 22, 2016.http://www.taekwondodata.com/resultlist_country.html?cid=senior&tnid=596 M ...

and who was expected to compete at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, but did not.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laachraoui, Najim 1991 births 2016 deaths Suicide bombers Belgian people of Moroccan-Berber descent Belgian Islamists Berber Islamists Moroccan Islamists Belgian mass murderers Moroccan murderers Moroccan emigrants to Belgium Belgian people of Berber descent Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members People from Schaerbeek Perpetrators of the 2016 Brussels bombings Islamic terrorism in Belgium

Early life

Islamic State

Brussels attack

Family

See also

References