Belgium to try 14 suspects over deadly 2015 Paris attacks

Gunmen and suicide bombers targeted restaurants and bars, a concert hall and a stadium in the French capital in 2015

Belgium will this year put 14 people on trial for allegedly helping Islamist militants who killed 130 people in the 2015 Paris attacks, prosecutors say.

Two of them will be tried in absentia as they are thought to have since died fighting for so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Some of the suspects are accused of housing the only surviving attacker, Salah Abdeslam, detained in 2016.

The co-ordinated attacks are believed to have been planned in Brussels.

Gunmen and suicide bombers targeted a concert hall in the French capital, a major stadium, restaurants and bars on 13 November 2015.

IS later claimed it was behind the attacks.

• Paris attacks: What happened on the night

• Paris attacks: Who were the attackers?

Belgium's federal prosecution service announced the forthcoming trial on Wednesday.

It is expected to start in the second half of 2021 in Brussels, according to the AFP news agency.

The defendants are accused of transporting, housing or providing material support to the Paris attackers.

Some of those who will go on trial are believed to be close to Abdeslam and the attackers who carried out another set of bombings in Brussels on 22 March 2016 that left 32 people dead.

More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks - also claimed by IS - on the city's airport and underground system.

It was Belgium's worst peace-time atrocity.

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Meanwhile, France earlier announced that Abdeslam would go on trial in Paris in September.