Updated identifies Najim Laachraoui as the third Brussels bomber: graphic shows suspects in the Paris and Brussels attacks that are believed to be connected; 2c x 4 12 inches; 96.3 mm x 114 mm; Updated identifies Najim Laachraoui as the third Brussels bomber: graphic shows suspects in the Paris and Brussels attacks that are believed to be connected; 2c x 4 12 inches; 96.3 mm x 114 mm; Belgian Army soldiers patrol at Zaventem Airport in Brussels on Wednesday Seth Jones Jersey , March 23, 2016. Belgian authorities were searching Wednesday for a top suspect in the country's deadliest attacks in decades, as the European Union's capital awoke under guard and with limited public transport after 34 were killed in bombings on the Brussels airport and a subway station. (AP PhotoGeert Vanden Wijngaert)
PARIS — The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum chaos, officials have told The Associated Press.


The network of agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq.


The officials Columbus Blue Jackets Jersey , including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker who follows the jihadi networks, described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet bloc where attackers are trained to target the West. Before being killed in a police raid, the ringleader of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed he had entered Europe in a multinational group of 90 fighters, who scattered "more or less everywhere."


But the biggest break yet in the Paris attacks investigation — the arrest on Friday of fugitive Salah Abdeslam— did not thwart the multipronged attack just four days later on the Belgian capital's airport and subway system that left 31 people dead and an estimated 270 wounded. Three suicide bombers also died.


Just as in Paris, Belgian authorities were searching for at least one fugitive in Tuesday's attacks — this time for a man wearing a white jacket who was seen on airport security footage with the two suicide attackers. The fear is that the man Mikko Rantanen Jersey , whose identity Belgian officials say is not known, will follow Abdeslam's path.


After fleeing Paris immediately after the November attacks, Abdeslam forged a new network back in his childhood neighborhood of Molenbeek, long known as a haven for jihadis, and renewed plotting, according to Belgian officials.


"Not only did he drop out of sight Gabriel Landeskog Jersey , but he did so to organize another attack, with accomplices everywhere. With suicide belts. Two attacks organized just like in Paris. And his arrest, since they knew he was going to talk, it was a response: 'So what if he was arrested? We'll show you that it doesn't change a thing,'" said French Senator Nathalie Goulet, co-head of a commission tracking jihadi networks.


Estimates range from 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters trained specifically for external attacks Nathan MacKinnon Jersey , according to the officials, including Goulet. Some 5,000 Europeans have gone to Syria.


"The reality is that if we knew exactly how many there were, it wouldn't be happening," she said.