Mourad Laachraoui: Suicide bomber's brother wins European gold
- Published
A Belgian whose older brother was one of the suicide bombers in the terror attacks on Brussels has won gold at the European Taekwondo Championships.
Mourad Laachraoui, brother of Najim Laachraoui, won the -54kg final in Montreux, Switzerland, on Thursday.
He beat 18-year-old Spanish fighter Jesus Tortosa 6-3 to claim the title.
The 21-year-old, who will compete at Rio 2016, has said he was "scared and saddened", external by his brother's role in the attack on the Belgian capital in March.
Speaking at a news conference he arranged in Brussels following the attacks, Mourad Laachraoui also said no-one in his family had heard from his brother since 2013. , external
Najim, 24, was one of two men who carried out devastating bomb attacks in the check-in area of Zaventem airport on 22 March. A third bomb was detonated at Maelbeek metro station shortly after, with a total of 32 people killed.
Prosecutors have also linked him to November's attacks in Paris in which 130 people died.
- Published19 July 2013