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Paris Attacks Fugitive Salah Abdeslam Officially Charged In Belgium

PARIS (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Belgian authorities have officially charged Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam and another man who was using two aliases "with participation in terrorist murder'' and in the activities of a terrorist organization.

Abdeslam, the main fugitive from Islamic extremist attacks in Paris in November, was captured in Belgium's capital Friday after four months at large, officials said.

Three other suspects were also picked up during Friday's police raid in Brussels that finally nabbed Abdeslam after his four-month fugitive run following the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris. The prosecutor's office also charged one of them with  "participation in the activities of a terrorist organization and the hiding of criminals.''

Two others who had been implicated in sheltering Abdeslam were released Saturday by police, even though one of them was charged with hiding criminals.

Friday's capture of Abdeslam comes after Belgian authorities say they found his fingerprints in an apartment raided earlier this week in another Brussels neighborhood.

In that raid, a man believed to have been an accomplice of Abdeslam — Mohamed Belkaid — was shot dead, Belgian prosecutors say. But two men escaped from the apartment, one of whom appears to have been Abdeslam.

Abdeslam's lawyer says his client will fight efforts to extradite him to France.

Lawyer Sven Mary says  "we will refuse the extradition.'' The lawyer spoke to journalists after he and Abdeslam met Saturday with a Belgian investigating magistrate who will decide whether to issue a formal arrest warrant against Abdeslam.

Belgian prosecutors said earlier they are confident the suspect will be extradited.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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