Molenbeek residents reel under jihadist hotbed tag

May 01, 2016 11:49

Belgian capital Brussels's Muslim-dominated district of Molenbeek may have gained global notoriety as an ISIS recruitment hotbed but residents here feel the "family neighbourhood" has been unfairly stigmatised due to the evil acts "of a few" persons.

Molenbeek, a borough of about 100,000 people with large communities of Moroccan and Turkish-origin that are thoroughly middle-class, grabbed media attention worldwide post the Paris and Brussels attacks as having become an almost ideal recruiting ground for the dreaded Islamic State terror group.

Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving direct participant in the Paris attacks, hid in Molenbeek before his arrest on March 18. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected chief planner of the Paris attacks, lived in Molenbeek.

In all, at least 14 people tied to both attacks were either Belgian or lived in Brussels. One of them is Mohamed Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin who grew up in Molenbeek and was arrested in Brussels earlier this month.

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