Italian police search homes of 18 suspected of ties to Brussels shooter

Italian police said on Tuesday they had searched the homes of 18 North Africans suspected of links to the Islamist gunman who killed two Swedish soccer fans in Brussels in October. The assailant, who identified himself as a member of the Islamic State militant group and claimed responsibility in a video posted online, was shot dead by Belgian police the day after the attack.

Italian police said on Tuesday they had searched the homes of 18 North Africans suspected of links to the Islamist gunman who killed two Swedish soccer fans in Brussels in October. They are suspected of having been in contact online with Abdessalem Lassoued, a Tunisian citizen who lived in Italy between 2012 and 2016, the Carabinieri police and Bologna police said in a statement.

They used "social profiles with content typical of sectarian extremist circles," the police said. The assailant, who identified himself as a member of the Islamic State militant group and claimed responsibility in a video posted online, was shot dead by Belgian police the day after the attack.

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