Suspect Arrested in Spain for Brussels Football Shooting

MADRID (Reuters) - A suspect wanted in connection with an attack in which two Swedish football fans were shot dead in Brussels in 2023 was arrested in Malaga, Spanish police said on Saturday.

Two Swedish men were shot and one was injured when an attacker opened fire before a match between Sweden and Belgium in October 2023.

The victims were a man aged around 70 from the Stockholm region, and a man aged about 60 who lived abroad, Sweden's foreign ministry said at the time.

Spanish police said they arrested the suspect, who was not named, at Malaga airport as he was about to board a flight to leave the country.

"The man provided the firearm to the attacker," Spanish police said in a statement.

The suspect was due to appear in court in Madrid on Saturday to face extradition hearings to Belgium where he faces charges of terrorism and homicide, police sources told Reuters.

Hours after the Brussels attack, police shot dead a suspect in a cafe in the Belgian capital.

The 45-year-old identified himself as a member of Islamic State and claimed responsibility in a video posted online.

The attack came at a time of heightened security concerns across much of Europe linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, but prosecutors said the gunman appeared motivated more by Koran burnings in Sweden.

(Reporting by Graham Keeley; Editing by Toby Chopra)