Belgium: 8 Convicted Of Murder, Terrorism Charges In 2016 Brussels Bombings Case That Killed 32

On March 22, 2016, two explosions hit the Brussels Airport and the third bomb struck the city's metro, which killed at least 32 people.

On March 22, 2016, two explosions hit the Brussels Airport and the third bomb struck the city's metro, which killed at least 32 people.

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New Delhi: A Belgian court has convicted six men of murder and two others of terrorism charges in connection with the 2016 Islamist bombings in Brussels that killed 32 people, after the country's largest-ever criminal trial.

The high-profile pair, French citizen Salah Abdeslam and Belgian-Moroccan Mohamed Abrini, who have already been sentenced to life in jail by France for their involvement in the 2015 Paris terror attacks, were among the six accused found guilty of "murder linked to terrorism" for their roles in Belgium's deadliest peacetime assault.

On the morning of March 22, 2016, two explosions hit the Brussels Airport and the third bomb struck the city's metro, which killed at least 32 people.

They and two others were also convicted of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation. Two men were acquitted.

Separate hearings to determine sentences will be held in September.

Among those convicted was Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the trial over the Paris attacks that killed 130 people. On the run after fleeing the French capital, he was seized in Brussels four days before the Belgian attacks.

Others found guilty included Mohamed Abrini, who went to Brussels Airport with two suicide bombers but fled without detonating his suitcase of explosives, and Swedish Osama Krayem, accused of planning to be a second bomber on Brussels' metro.

Oussama Atar, seen as the group's leader and presumed to have been killed in Syria, was also convicted.

The 12 jury members reached a decision on Monday after two weeks in isolation at the end of a seven-month trial at the former headquarters of NATO specially set up to host the Brussels bombings trial.

The bombings -- near the headquarters of both NATO and the EU -- were part of a wave of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group in Europe.

The court on Tuesday formally boosted the death toll from the attacks from 32 to 35, after finding a link between the trauma suffered and the deaths of three more people subsequently.