Khalid el-Bakraoui

Turkey deported one of the Brussels attackers and alerted the Belgian authorities about him last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

However, Belgium had found no links with terorism of the deportee and released him, Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Ankara, Turkish news daily Sabah reported on Wednesday.

According to media reports, the two suicide bombers, who blew themselves at Zaventem airport on Tuesday, have been identified as brothers Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui.

The el-Bakraoui brothers have been well-known to police and have reportedly been sought for hiring properties as hideouts for the perpetrators of last year's attacks in Paris.