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ByLoriHinnant The Associated Press PARIS Thenumberofpeo- ple linked to the Islamic State network that attacked Paris and Brussels reaches easily into the dozens, with a series of new arrests over the weekend that confirmed the cell's toxic reach and ability to move around un- noticed in Europe's crimi- nal underworld. From Belgium's Molen- beek to Sweden's Malmo, new names are added nearly daily to the list of hardened attackers, hang- ers-on, and tacit support- ers of the cell that killed 130 people in Paris and 32 in Brussels. A computer aban- doned by one of the Brussels suicide bombers in a trash can contained not only his will, but is beginning to give up other information as well, including an audio file indicating the cell was getting its orders directly from a French-speaking extremist in Syria, accord- ing to a police official with knowledge of the investiga- tion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. Ten men are known to be directly involved in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris; others with key logistical roles then —includingthebomber,alo- gistics handler, and a hide- out scout — went on to plot the attack March 22 in Brus- sels.ButunlikeParis,atleast two people who survived the attack have been taken into custody alive, including Mo- hamed Abrini, the Molen- beek native who walked away from the Brussels in- ternational airport after his explosivesfailedtodetonate. But investigators fear it may not be enough to stave off another attack. Abdelh- amid Abaaoud, another Mo- lenbeek native whose cha- risma made him a natural draw to many in the Brus- sels neighborhood after he joined IS extremists in Syria, said before his death that he returned to Europe among a group of 90 fight- ers from Europe and the Mideast, according to tes- timony from a woman who tipped police to his location. Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with the Soufan Group se- curity consultancy, de- scribed the Brussels-Paris network as a "supercell." "The hope was that they had died out in the Paris at- tacks, and obviously that's not true," Skinner said in an earlier interview with The Associated Press. "They (authorities) knew who these people were. And they still managed to pull off the first Paris attack, which was the worst at- tack in France since WWII, and then under incredible scrutiny, they still pulled off the worst attack in Bel- gium since WWII. So this is a highly functioning cell." Normally, Skinner said, an extremist cell has six to 10 people linked by pre-ex- isting ties. "It makes it very difficult to crack. You're not send- ing an informant into this group, because they know each other. So no one new is just walking into this," he said. "It's so big, look at the people on the periphery, lo- gistics, the people that are suspected. You're looking at 50 people. That's not a cell; that's a terrorist group." It was a group already in- timately familiar with Eu- ropean law enforcement. Abrini was a petty crimi- nal long before his younger brother was killed in Syria in 2014. Both Abdeslam brothers had brushes with the law, and Brahim spent time in prison for stealing Belgian ID cards — back- ground that took on new importance amid revela- tions that many people in the IS cell had forged pass- ports. And Abaaoud's female cousin, Hasna Ait Boul- hacen, who died with him on Nov. 18 after finding a hideout for him, was under surveillance in a narcotics operation at the time, al- though her ties to the man already wanted on ter- rorism offenses were un- known to French investiga- tors. The man arrested for renting that fly-by-night flat in Saint Denis, Jawad Bend- aoud, had been sentenced to eight years in prison for the accidental killing of a man he described as his "best friend" over a cellphone. The Belgian brothers who blew themselves up on March 22 had ties to vio- lent crime, as did two sus- pects with ties to Sweden, one dead and one captured this weekend. The latest name to emerge, Osama Krayem, was a delinquent in Malmo, Sweden, before leaving for Syria. Krayem "was the per- fect target for radicaliza- tion — no job, no future, no money," said Muhammad Khorshid, who runs a pro- gram in the neighborhood of Rosengard to help immi- grants integrate into Swed- ish society. It's a neighbor- hood with its own paral- lels to Molenbeek, and has proven to be fertile recruit- ing ground for Muslim ex- tremists. Krayem, who like Abrini is suspected of accompa- nying a suicide attacker on March 22, was detained on Friday. He traveled with Salah Abdeslam through Ulm, Germany, on one of Abdeslam's many journeys putting extremists into place for attacks, authori- ties said. Stephane Berthomet, a former French counter- terrorism officer who now works as a writer and secu- rity consultant in Canada, said the arrest of multiple key suspects will prove cru- cial. "When there are dec- larations made by an ac- complice, you can confront them and make progress in the discussions with the other suspects," he said in an interview just ahead of the news of Abrini's arrest Friday. The hope, of course, is that anything the sus- pects say will crack open a network that seems to grow by the day. INVESTIGATION Pa ri s- Br us se ls at ta ck s net wo rk a ' su pe rc el l' o f ex tr em is m SEBASTIANKAMRAN Police arrest a man in the Anderlecht area of Brussels on Friday. By Albert Aji and Bassem Mroue The Associated Press DAMASCUS, SYRIA The U.N. special envoy on Mon- day urged Syria's warring sides to preserve the frag- ile U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire ahead of the next round of peace talks in Ge- neva this week. The plea by Staffan de Mistura, who spoke after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moal- lem in Damascus, came as Islamic State fighters retook a northern town along the border with Tur- key from Syrian rebels and government forces and reb- els clashed across northern and western Syria. Opposition activists also reported clashes and gov- ernment air raids near the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial hub. The fighting has endan- gered the U.S.-Russia-en- gineered truce that has mostly held since the end of February. Al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and the Is- lamic State group are ex- cluded from the cease-fire, which had brought relative calm to much of Syria. De Mistura said the next round of peace talks, due to begin Wednesday in Ge- neva, will focus on a po- litical transition for Syria, where the civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 250,000 and displaced half the country's pre-war pop- ulation of 23 million peo- ple. About 4 million have fled the country. InnorthernSyria,Islamic State fighters took control of the town of al-Rai, just days after losing it to the rebels, according to the Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Today TV station. The Observatory and the TV said IS captured al-Rai early Monday morning af- ter intense fighting. The town is strategically located on the border with Tur- key, serving as the Islamic State's access point to sup- ply lines. It also sits along the road to the IS strong- hold in Aleppo province. The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said IS fighters also captured six villages near al-Rai on Monday. IS lost the town last Thursday after an of- fensive by rebels and mil- itant groups allied with them, including al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. IS has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria recently, in- cluding the historic central town of Palmyra that was captured by Syrian govern- ment forces and their allies recently. The extremists have also suffered leadership set- backs as U.S. drone strikes in Syria have killed several top IS and Nusra Front commanders and key fig- ures in recent weeks. De Mistura said in Da- mascus that the purpose of his visit was to discuss preparations for the Geneva talks on Wednesday. The next round is "cru- cially important," de Mis- tura said, "because we will be focusing in particular on political transition, on gov- ernance, and constitutional principles." "We hope and plan to make them constructive ... and concrete," he added. The envoy also said he raised the importance "of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessa- tion of hostilities," describ- ing it as fragile and stress- ing that all sides "need to make sure that it continues to be sustained." Al-Moallem said his country is committed to a Syrian dialogue under Syr- ia's leadership and "with- out preconditions." He said the government delegation to Geneva will be ready on Friday, two days after par- liamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Syria. MIDDLE EAST With UN envoy in Damascus, Islamic State takes Syrian town from rebels RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE A Russian serviceman checks for mines in Palmyra, Syria. Construction Burrows Construction Remodel, New Additions, Siding Repair and Replacement, Water and Dryrot New Construction Foundation to Finish Ph:(530) 515-9779 Residential•Commerical PATIOS•DECKS REFRENCES Lic#824770 Roofing Call for Estimates! 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