Who Was Abdesalem Lassoued, the Brussels Attacker

"Who Was Abdesalem Lassoued, the Brussels Attacker: Landed in Lampedusa, Passed Through Bologna and Genoa"

A ticking time bomb, and it did explode when he launched an attack on the streets of Brussels in the name of the Islamic State.

Abdesalem Lassoued, 45 years old, a Tunisian, apprehended and killed by the Belgian police on Tuesday morning, was an illegal immigrant known for human trafficking.

Abdeslam Jilani Meftah Lassoued, better known as Slayem Slouma, had a history that included several years in Italy. Police investigations revealed that he landed in Lampedusa in 2011 on a small boat; after a stay in Italy, he went to Sweden where authorities confirm he was imprisoned and then deported.

Upon his return to Italy in 2016, he was identified in Bologna by the Digos as radicalized, expressing a desire to join jihad and engage in combat. The man was also monitored by intelligence. There is reasonable certainty that he was in Genoa in March 2021. Carabinieri are currently verifying his presence in the city, as indicated in a photo published on one of his Facebook profiles, which circulated on X. Investigations are ongoing regarding the possibility that the Brussels attacker also passed through other Italian cities, where, similar to Belgium, he may have sought asylum after arriving in our country. In this regard, his stay in Genoa may have been linked to the presence of the Tunisian consulate for Northern Italy. Another hypothesis being considered is whether Slouma may have committed crimes in Italy before moving to Belgium.

Specifically, authorities are examining potential connections between the terrorist killed in Brussels on Tuesday morning and fellow countryman Amis Amri, who died in December 2016 on the outskirts of Milan during a shootout with police in Sesto San Giovanni. Amri was the perpetrator of the Christmas market attack in Berlin, having rented a truck just days prior. In Italy, the young man, who had been incarcerated several times, particularly in Sicily, and had been identified in Puglia, radicalized and had a network of supporters that extended to Rome. Several months later, the Digos in the capital dismantled an entire cell hiding in the social fabric of the Aprilia area, on the border with the province of Latina, consisting of about a dozen people. This is why Slouma may have followed a similar path in Italy, and given the timing, may have met Amri.

In 2016, during the height of the terrorism emergency, a foreign security service had flagged Abdesalem as dangerous, affiliated with extremist groups, and willing to go fight in the Middle East, following the example of many volunteers in the holy war. The warning was received, explain unofficial sources, and the North African underwent a check. However, nothing decisive emerged, no specific details that could lead to his arrest.

Nevertheless, his name remained in police records; they knew who he was. Just as they know about a phalanx of potential jihadists to be continuously monitored, while they go to work, when they are with "friends," or associate with suspicious individuals. It is impossible to keep the radar on all of them, and it is easy for them to disappear in the "jungle" of illegality, mingling with common criminals and shadowy networks. This occurs in Belgium, in France, in the United Kingdom.

As previously mentioned, in November 2019, the Tunisian applied for asylum in Belgium but received a negative response in October of the following year. At that point, according to reconstructions, he went off the radar once again.

The killer reappeared on the police's radar in June 2022, inside a mosque in the Belgian capital. He did not camouflage himself, did not maintain a low profile, but rather sought trouble. He threatened an individual at a reception center. The victim reported the incident, adding a detail: he had been convicted of terrorism in his home country. Investigators conducted checks, confirming that he had been judged by a court in Tunisia for common crimes. They decided to summon him for questioning. The appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, October 17, the day after the attack.

It is possible that this particular circumstance served as a trigger, along with the "flames" ignited by the war. This has occurred in the past with militants or sympathizers of "radical" factions, who acted before being arrested.

These are individuals who have embraced the messages of armed conflict but are also influenced by what is happening in their city or thousands of kilometers away. They perceive actions and conflicts as "offenses against Islam," feel entrusted with a mission, and carry it out as best they can, depending on the circumstances, any ties with movements – direct or via the web – and opportunities. They are just waiting for a pretext to transform into true mujahideen.