Belgium has admitted that it made “errors” relating to one of the Brussels attackers.

Turkey has said it arrested and deported Brahim el-Bakraoui last June, warning Belgium he was a “foreign fighter” – but was “ignored”.

The Belgian interior and justice ministers said they had offered to resign over this but added that the prime minister refused to let them.

Police reportedly arrested six people in operations on Thursday evening.

The arrests followed house-to-house searches in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels, media reports say, adding that neither the identities of the suspects nor their connection to the attacks had been established.

Tuesday’s suicide attacks in Brussels killed 31 people and injured more than 300.

The health ministry said 121 of the injured were still in hospital, 63 of them in a serious condition.

The attacks have been claimed by so-called Islamic State.

Belgium has now lowered its alert to the second-highest level.

Metro stations will gradually reopen with a heavy security presence, and the airport will reopen no earlier than Monday, officials said.

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