(VOVworld)- The FBI notified the Netherlands about its concerns over suicide bombers Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother Khalid six days before the Brussels attacks, the Dutch justice minister revealed on Tuesday.

Dutch police officers patrol the Central Station in Amsterdam on March 22 (Photo: AP)

Dutch officials the next day passed on to Belgium the information provided by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which had placed Ibrahim El Bakraoui on a terror watch list in September 2015. Answering questions in the Dutch parliament, Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said Dutch police had received an FBI report sent March 16 "in which there was notification of Ibrahim El Bakraoui and his brother Khalid's criminal backgrounds and Khalid's terrorist background". The following day "the issue came up during bilateral contact between the Dutch and Belgian police," said Van der Steur. "The radical background of both the brothers was discussed."

He also confirmed US reports about Ibrahim being on a US terror list, saying he "was placed on an American surveillance list on September 25, 2015, a list made by the FBI terrorist screening centre".