Paris Suspect Claims He ‘Backed Out’ of Stadium Bombing, Prosecutor Says

Source: ny times

BRUSSELS — Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the only direct participant in the November attacks in Paris who is still alive, told investigators on Saturday after being captured a day earlier that he had wanted to detonate his suicide vest at the Stade de France soccer stadium on the night of the attacks, but “backed out,” said the lead terrorism prosecutor in France.

Three of the attackers detonated their vests there, but killed just one person and themselves on Nov. 13 during a match between France and Germany.

Sven Mary, the Belgian lawyer of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, talks to the media outside the building of the Federal Police in Brussels on Saturday. Credit Aurore Belot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The prosecutor, François Molins, warned against putting too much stock in anything Mr. Abdeslam said at such an early stage. “These first statements leave unanswered a whole series of questions that Salah Abdeslam will have to answer,” he said.

At his first hearing before a judge in Belgium on Saturday, Mr. Abdeslam made it clear that he would fight his extradition to France, his lawyer, Sven Mary, said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/world/europe/paris-terror-attacks-suspect-belgium.html