Brussels blasts

Belgian officials: terrorists carried out Brussels blasts

One of the airport blasts was carried out by a suicide bomber, according to Belgian TV.

By LAURENS CERULUS AND TARA PALMERI

Belgian officials have absolutely no doubt that the deadly explosions at Brussels’ international airport and at a metro station in the city center were bomb attacks carried out by terrorists, they said on Tuesday.

“There is no doubt this was a terrorist operation,” said one Belgian official, who asked not to be named.

Belgian public broadcaster said officials had confirmed that one of the explosions at Brussels’ Zaventem airport was caused by a suicide bomber, while a second was caused by a bomb detonated from a distance.

The broadcaster said 13 people were killed in the attack at the airport and 35 were badly injured. It was not immediately clear what casualties there were after an explosion shortly afterwards in a metro station in central Brussels, but people injured in the blast were being given emergency treatment in a nearby hotel, according to a POLITICO reporter on the scene.