The suicide bomber who blew himself up on the Brussels metro rented a flat used by the cell that carried out November's Paris attacks, Belgian prosecutors said on Thursday.

The federal prosecutor said it had issued an international arrest warrant in December for terrorism offences for Belgian national Khalid El Bakraoui, who attacked Maalbeek station in Tuesday's attacks, while his brother Ibrahim bombed Brussels airport.

In a statement, it said Khalid was suspected of using a false name and Belgian identity card to rent a flat in the southern city of Charleroi "which served as a base for the terrorist group implicated in the Paris attacks."