Belgian special forces have today arrested a suspect in the hunt for Brussels bombmaker Najim Laachraoui - known as the 'Man in White'.
This morning Belgian media reported that the ISIS explosives expert was taken alive by a SWAT team inside a pizzeria in the Anderlecht suburb of the city, hours after police said he helped carry out the attacks that killed 34 yesterday.
However, conflicting reports have since emerged about whether the world's most wanted man is indeed in custody after Brussels' chief prosecutor said he is still on the run.
The latest twist came after Belgian brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were named as two of the ISIS suicide bombers - eight days after they escaped police in a gunfight. Speculation also intensified today that there may be a mystery fourth bomber.
Laachraoui is suspected of rigging up the suicide vests that helped kill 34 in twin attacks yesterday - and is believed to have done the same for the Paris terrorists who murdered 130 in November.
He went on the run after leaving a suitcase packed with explosives and calmly walking from the terminal moments before the airport massacre at 8am Tuesday.
Just 79 minutes later a suicide bomber, believed to be Khalid El Bakraoui, detonated his vest on a Brussels Metro train at Maelbeek station killing 20 people. The possible fourth bomber is believed to have blown himself up alongside Ibrahim El Bakraoui in the airport check-in area.
Today it emerged there could have been another suitcase bomb set off in the airport but the ISIS fanatics couldn’t fit all their explosive-packed bags into a taxi and refused to let the driver touch them so left it behind at their safehouse.
Laachraoui was already one of the world's most wanted men, having built the suicide vests that helped kill 130 in Paris last November and went on the run with Salah Abdeslam, one of the other Paris massacre masterminds, before hiding in Brussels for four months.
And one of the brothers, Khalid El Bakraoui, who may have blown up the Metro train, rented the apartment where Paris terror attacker Salah Abdeslam was captured by anti-terror police last Friday, according to respected Belgium news organisation RTL.
World's most wanted: ISIS bombmaker Najim Laachraoui, left, a suicide vest specialist was named as the 'man in white' who dumped a bomb in Brussels airport and fled
Brussels bombers: (Pictured left to right) Brothers Khalid El Bakraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui have been named as suicide bombers and explosives expert Najim Laachraoui is the third man
First picture: Belgian brothers Khalid El Bakraoui, left, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, centre, have been named by the Belgian media as the two airport suicide bombers - their accomplice the 'Man in White' Laachraoui, right, walked out of the airport
Tragic: One of the 20 people killed in the Maelbeek metro is taken from the station in a body bag this morning as Belgium starts three days of mourning after the worst terror attacks in its history claimed the lives of at least 34
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