PARIS: Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the November Paris attacks, is cooperating with police but will refuse extradition to France, his lawyer said on Saturday.

“He is cooperating with Belgian justice,” Sven Mary told reporters in Brussels. “France is asking for his extradition. I can tell you that we will refuse the extradition to France.”

The family of Abdeslam is relieved that he is at least safe, his brother’s lawyer said Saturday.

Meanwhile, a French minister said Saturday Abdeslam’s arrest has dealt a “major blow” to Daesh in Europe.

“The operations of the past week have enabled us to incapacitate several individuals who are clearly extremely dangerous and totally determined,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

“We will win the war against terrorism by acting without truce or let-up,” he said.

Cazeneuve was speaking after President Francois Hollande led a “defense council” with key Cabinet ministers and security officials to follow up on Abdeslam’s arrest.

He praised the Belgian authorities for their “flawless” commitment to capturing Abdeslam as well as the “good cooperation” between France and Belgium in the operation.

The arrest of Abdeslam leaves two suspects still on the run. Following is a summary of what investigators know so far about the pair on their wanted list.

Abrini and Abdeslam became friends when they were teenagers, according to their families, who are next-door neighbours in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, a known hotbed of radicalism.

Nicknamed “Brioche”, the 31-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin is thought to have given up training as a welder at age 18 and begun gravitating towards the extremist milieu.

Previously known to Belgian police for a series of thefts and drug-related offences, Abrini is suspected of helping to plan the Paris attacks.

His arrest warrant issued by a French judge on Nov. 24 warns he is “dangerous and probably armed”.

He is of “athletic build, 1.8 metres (five feet 11 inches) tall, dark hair, dark eyes (and) fine features”, it reads.

There has been no trace of Abrini since Nov. 12, the day before the Paris attacks.

He is known to have travelled abroad several times last year. In June, he flew to Istanbul, from where investigators believe he may have travelled to Syria for a brief period.

His younger brother Souleymane was killed in 2014 at age 20 while fighting in radical militia headed by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who was killed in a police raid on Nov. 18. Abrini was spotted in mid-July in Birmingham.

The next month he was in Germany and Morocco, but he disappeared from the radar until November 10.

Abrini travelled by car with Salah Abdeslam and his brother Brahim on November 10 and 11 when the trio made two round-trips between Brussels and Paris to rent hideouts for the attackers.