Abrini admits to being ‘man in hat' at Brussels Airport

Belgium's federal prosecutor said on Saturday that Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini admitted to being the "man in the hat" who fled the Brussels airport bombing.

"We confronted him with the video evidence prepared by our special unit," a spokesman for the prosecutors' office said. "He had to admit it was him."

In a later statement, prosecutors said "Abrini is indeed the third man present at the Brussels national airport attacks."

"He confessed his presence at the crime scene. He explained having thrown away his vest (jacket) in a garbage bin and having sold his hat afterward," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Belgian police on Thursday released a video that shows a man with a hat, wearing a light-coloured jacket who was seen accompanying two suicide bombers in the departure hall of Brussels Airport.

While two suicide bombers blew themselves up, Abrini fled towards central Brussels, appearing calm and inoffensive before disappearing.

On Saturday Belgian prosecutors also announced that four key deadly Paris and Brussels attacks suspects, including Mohamed Abrini have been charged with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders" after they were arrested in a series of raids Friday.