Turkey had detained, deported Brussels attacker in 2015

Ankara, March 24: Turkey had detained and deported one of the attackers of Tuesday's Brussels bombings last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

"One of the Brussels attackers is a person whom we detained in June 2015 in Gaziantep (in southeastern Turkey) and deported," Xinhua quoted Erdogan as saying.

"We informed the Belgium embassy of the deportation of the attacker with a note on July 14, 2015," he said.

However, he added, the Belgians released the attacker despite his deportation.

At least 34 people were killed and more than 170 others injured in Brussels on Tuesday when two blasts struck the Belgian capital' s main international airport and a metro station close to the European Union institutions.

IANS