Brussels blasts kill 35, injure 200
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A SERIES of explosions ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train yesterday, killing around 35 people and injuring more than 200 others in the latest attacks to rock Europe.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the two bomb attacks in the Belgian capital, a news agency affiliated with the group said. “Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the center of the Belgian capital Brussels,” AMAQ agency said.
Belgium is to hold three days of national mourning. “All national flags on public buildings will be at half-mast through Thursday,” Frederic Cauderlier, spokesman for Belgian Premier Charles Michel, told AFP.
Security was tightened across the jittery continent and transport links paralyzed after the bombings that Michel branded “blind, violent and cowardly.”
“This is a day of tragedy, a black day,” he said on national television.
Foreign Minister Didier Reynders warned that authorities fear suspects could still be at large in the city that is home to both NATO and the European Union.
The bloodshed came just four days after the dramatic arrest in the city of Salah Abdeslam — the prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks claimed by the Islamic State group — after four months on the run.
Belgian authorities had been on alert after Abdeslam, Europe’s most wanted man, told investigators he had been planning an attack on Brussels.
Two blasts shattered the main hall of Zaventem Airport around 8am, with prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw saying there was probably at least one suicide bomber.
A third hit a train at Maalbeek metro station in the heart of the city’s EU quarter, just as commuters were making their way to work during rush hour.
Pierre Meys, a spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade, told reporters that at least 14 people had been killed at the airport, while Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur said “around 20” died in the underground blast. Of the more than 200 people wounded, several are in a critical condition.
Witnesses said victims lay in pools of blood at the airport, their limbs blown off. There were chaotic scenes as passengers fled in panic, with a thick plume of smoke rising from the main terminal building.
“A man shouted a few words in Arabic and then I heard a huge blast,” airport baggage security officer Alphonse Lyoura, his hand bloodied, said.
“A lot of people lost limbs. One man had lost both legs and there was a policeman with a totally mangled leg.”
An army team later blew up a suspect package at the airport, with reports police had found an unexploded suicide vest.
At Maalbeek station, paramedics tended to commuters with bloodied faces as the streets filled with the wailing of sirens.
At least two Polish nationals and a Briton were confirmed among the injured.
The bombings triggered a transport shutdown, with flights halted and metro, tram and bus services all suspended.
Airports across Europe swiftly announced they were boosting security.
Across the Atlantic, New York and Washington ordered extra counter-terror officers to crowded areas and train stations.
Leaders across Europe reacted with shock and solidarity, urging closer counter-terror cooperation on a continent that has been on high alert for months.
“The whole of Europe has been hit,” said French President Francois Hollande, whose country is still reeling from the jihadist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November.
British Prime Minister David Cameron warned of the “very real” terrorist threat across Europe, declaring: “We will never left these terrorists win.”
Russia and Turkey — also targets of deadly attacks in the Past eight months — said the blasts highlighted the need to fight terrorism of every hue and across all borders.
Brussels residents were told to stay inside. Security was also beefed up at Belgium’s nuclear plants — where non-essential staff were sent home — and at EU buildings in the French city of Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament.
Interior Minister Jan Jambon announced that Belgium’s terror threat had been raised from three to a maximum of four, and the country’s national security council was due to meet.
And after rumors of arrests and searches, authorities told media to halt all reporting on the investigation into the bombings, “so as not to harm the inquiry.”
In Cairo, the head of Sunni Islam’s leading seat of learning, Al-Azhar, said the attacks “violate the tolerant teachings of Islam.”
Messages of solidarity flooded social media, with thousands sharing images of Belgian cartoon character Tintin in tears.
It has been a week of drama and bloodshed in Brussels. Last Tuesday saw a shootout that saw a Kalashnikov-wielding man killed and four police officers wounded. Investigators believe key Paris suspect Abdeslam slipped out of the apartment as the gunbattle broke out. He was arrested three days later.
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