Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel
Belgian Prime Minister Charles MichelReuters

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel on Friday night said that three suspects were detained in a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, including Salah Abdeslam, the top suspect in the November 13 attacks in Paris.

Michel hailed the arrests as a success in the "fight against terrorism," The Associated Press (AP) quoted him as saying. He added security forces captured Abdeslam and the two others.

Meanwhile, according to the news agency, French President Francois Hollande confirmed that Abdeslam has been formally identified. He congratulated the Belgian government for an operation that lasted several weeks and said the investigation is not over and more arrests will come.

Hollande indicated his country will seek the extradition of Abdeslam and believes Belgium will respond as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Hollande also said the operation to capture Abdeslam was very dangerous and took exceptional courage. He added the threat level everywhere in Belgium and France remains high.

Abdeslam, the top suspect from the Paris attacks last November, was arrested earlier on Friday during a raid by armed police.

The arrest came hours after prosecutors revealed that Abdeslam's fingerprints were found in an apartment in another part of Brussels earlier this week, following a raid in which a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist was killed.

There had been a manhunt for Abdeslam ever since the November 13 attacks. At one point it was speculated that he fled from Belgium to Germany.

Subsequent reports indicated he had traveled to Hungary before the attacks in Paris, where he "recruited a team" from unregistered migrants passing through.

He was reportedly holed up in a flat in Brussels for at least three weeks before his capture on Friday.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)