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French Suspect Arrested In Brussels Jewish Museum Shooting

Police arrested 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche at a bus station Friday. He's accused of fatally shooting three people at a Jewish museum in Brussels.
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Police have arrested a French man suspected of fatally shooting three people last weekend at a Jewish museum in Brussels.

BBC reports police arrested 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche at a bus station in Marseille in the south of France during a customs check Friday, but the arrest wasn't made public until Sunday.

French outlet Le Figaro adds he was on a bus that was headed to Amsterdam from Brussels. Police say he had a rifle and revolver in his possession — both similar to weapons the shooter used in the attack.

CNN says he is accused of shooting four people — killing three of them inside the Jewish Museum of Brussels. Two of them were an Israeli couple from Tel Aviv. The third was a woman from France.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the suspect has refused to say anything to police since his arrest. Police say Nemmouche has suspected ties to Islamist militants in Syria — possibly having fought alongside them.

Haaretz cites authorities in France who said in February more than 600 French citizens had gone to Syria or considered going to fight alongside Islamist militants during the country's now three-year-long civil war.

The fear is those fighters will return to French soil and carry out an attack at home. French President Francois Hollande told reporters his country will continue monitoring the jihadists to prevent any future attacks.  

So far, officials have not ruled out the possibility that the shooting might have been a terrorist attack.