(CNN) Terrorists who attacked the Belgian capital last month initially planned to strike again in France but changed their minds as investigators closed in, authorities said Sunday. 
 
 "Numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again," the Belgian prosecutor's office said in a statement. 
 
 Investigators say that the same ISIS network was behind the Paris terror attacks in November and the suicide bombings in the Belgian capital last month. 
 
 When the terrorists discovered French investigators were moving fast in their investigation of the November attacks, they changed their plans, the Belgian prosecutor's office said. 
 
 "Eventually ... they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels," the prosecutor said. 
 
 Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris attacks, was arrested by police in Brussels on March 18. Just four days later, suicide bombers struck at the city's airport and subway station, killing 32 people. 
 
 The terror cell had planned to attack high-profile targets in Paris, CNN affiliate BFM reported, citing a source close to the investigation. 
 
 A laptop recovered by investigators in Brussels last month included a list of targets in Paris including the financial district, known as La Defense, and a Catholic association, BFM reported. 
 
 In November, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said that investigators had learned that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader behind the Paris attacks in November, had planned a suicide attack on La Defense. 
 
 Days after the attacks in Paris, Abaaoud was killed in a police raid. So was his female cousin Hasna ait Boulahcen. 
 
 Police had received a tip from a female confidential witness. 
 
 The witness told police she'd hosted Boulahcen in her home since October, according to documents, and that two days after the Paris attacks, Boulahcen received a phone call when the two of them were together. 
 
 The person on the other end of the line asked Boulahcen to find a vehicle and pick someone up in an industrial zone on the outskirts of Paris. The witness goes with Boulahcen and a man steps out from behind a bush. The witness later learns that the man was Abaaoud, the documents say. 
 
 The witness told police he wore orange sneakers and claimed he had taken advantage of refugees to come to France to carry out attacks. 
 
 'Man in the hat' 
 
 announcement came Sunday'sannouncement came a day after authorities identified Mohamed Abrini, believed to be the third and lone surviving suspect in the Brussels airport attacks. 
 
 Authorities said Abrini confessed to being the "man in the hat." He was seen in Brussels airport surveillance images wearing a dark hat and rolling luggage carts with two men believed to be the suicide bombers. 
 
 Authorities charged him with participation in terrorist activities, terrorist murders and attempts to commit terrorist murders, the prosecutor's office said. 
 
 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Brussels attacks suspects: What we know Hide Caption 6 of 6 
 
 Earlier Saturday, the prosecutor's office said it identified the second person seen in surveillance footage from the subway attack in Brussels. 
 
 Osama Krayem -- also known as Naim al Hamed -- is seen along suicide bomber Khalid El Bakraoui, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office. 
 
 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels An injured woman leaves the airport in Brussels, Belgium, after two explosions rocked the facility on Tuesday, March 22. There was also an explosion at a subway station in the city. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Windows are blown out after the deadly attack at the airport. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A police officer directs passengers in a smoke-filled airport terminal. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Two wounded women are seen in the airport. Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels This photo from inside the airport was shared by Jef Versele on Facebook. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Subway passengers walk along the tracks following a blast at the Maelbeek metro station. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A private security guard helps a wounded woman outside the Maelbeek metro station. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Wounded people are treated outside the subway station. Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Rescue teams evacuate the subway station. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Police officers guard the area around the subway station. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels People react as they walk away from the Brussels airport. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A man with blood stains on his sweater leaves the airport. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Passengers leave the airport after the attack. Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A young girl looks out of the window of a bus after airport evacuations. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels People stand near the airport after evacuations. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Passengers gather outside the airport. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Police officers stand guard near the Maelbeek metro station. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A police helicopter flies above the area near the subway station. Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels People embrace outside the Brussels airport. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels People are led away from the airport after the attacks. Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels A victim receives first aid near the Maelbeek metro station. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: Terror attacks in Brussels Ambulances arrive at the airport. Hide Caption 22 of 22 
 
 He has also been charged with "participation to the activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders," according to the prosecutor's office. 
 
 European security agencies believe Krayem, or Hamed, played an operational role in the attack. 
 
 Belgium has emerged as a hotbed of extremism, exporting more foreign fighters per capita to Syria than any other Western European nation, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence. 
 
 The Brussels and Paris attacks "point to a broad and sophisticated terrorist network in Belgium," the London-based think tank said. 

 In this Belgian Federal Police hand out picture made available Thursday April 7, 2016 the third suspect of the recent attack on Brussels airport is shown during his escape from the airport after the... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Belgian Federal Police hand out picture made available Thursday April 7, 2016 the third suspect of the recent attack on Brussels airport is shown during his escape from the airport after the blasts. After nearly three weeks of frantic searching, Belgian authorities announced Saturday they... (Associated Press) 
 
 PARIS (AP) — The attackers who struck Brussels on March 22 initially planned to launch a second assault on France, Belgium's Federal Prosecution Office said Sunday. 
 
 But the perpetrators were "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead, the office said in a statement. It didn't provide any more details. 
 
 Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels' Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning. 
 
 Investigators have found intimate links between the cell behind the Brussels attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13. 
 
 Sunday's statement provides confirmation of what many have suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks — including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam — pushed the killers to action. 
 
 Belgian authorities detained four men in Brussels police raids Friday who were charged Saturday with participating in "terrorist murders" and the "activities of a terrorist group" in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks, prosecutors said. 
 
 Abrini has been identified as the "man in the hat" spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre. 
 
 Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers' ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18 — four days before the attacks there — after a four-month manhunt. 
 
 Abrini's fingerprints and DNA were not only in a Renault Clio used in the Paris attacks but also in an apartment in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels that was used by the airport bombers. 
 
 Abrini was also believed to have traveled to Syria, where his younger brother died in 2014 in the Islamic State group's Francophone brigade. 
 
 The other suspects charged Saturday were identified as Osama Krayem, who is known to have left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria, Herve B. M. and Bilal E. M. 
 
 The weekend's developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. 
 
 Despite the arrests and charges, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely. 
 
 "There are perhaps other cells that are still active on our territory," Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL television on Saturday.
– The Brussels attackers initially planned a second assault on France, but were "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and "urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels," the Federal Prosecution Office said Sunday, per CNN. Investigators found intimate links between the cell behind the Brussels attacks and the group that killed 130 in Paris, reports the AP. Sunday's statement confirms that the raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks—including the capture of key Paris fugitive Salah Abdeslam—pushed the killers to action. Belgian authorities detained four men in Brussels raids Friday who were charged with participating in "terrorist murders" and "activities of a terrorist group" in relation to the Brussels attacks. One, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in the Paris attacks. Abrini has been identified as the "man in the hat" spotted with the two bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with attackers headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre. Abrini was a childhood friend of Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris ringleader who died in a raid shortly after. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in Paris while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18—four days before the attacks there—after a four-month manhunt. Abrini's fingerprints and DNA were not only in a Renault used in the Paris attacks but also in a Brussels apartment used by the airport bombers. Abrini was also believed to have traveled to Syria, where his younger brother died in 2014.