Brahim Abdeslam seemed no different from his peers in Molenbeek, one of Belgium's poorest districts, where drug use is rife and many of the young men are unemployed.



Another suicide bomber in the attacks, Bilal Hadfi, hailed from a similar district in the Belgian capital. Moreover, those involved in at least two previous attacks – the foiled shooting on a French train and an attack on the Jewish Museum in Belgium that killed four – had links to Molenbeek.



Molenbeek, separated by a canal from a trendy part of Brussels filled with cafes and restaurants, is the second poorest of Belgium's 589 municipalities, and in its older quarters, population density reaches four times the Brussels average, with 27,000 people crammed into each square kilometer.



Samir Youssef Ali, a friend of Hadfi, said he knew three others who went to Syria – one who was killed there, another jailed in Turkey and a third detained in Belgium after returning home.



Another of Hadfi's friends, 20-year-old Hakim, said the world of Belgium's Muslims is bleak.

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