Terror attacks strike Brussels

Terror attacks strike Brussels

‘What we feared has happened,’ said Belgian PM Charles Michel.

By Tara Palmeri, Giulia Paravicini and Maïa de La Baume

Terrorists struck twice at the heart of Europe on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people with bombs at Brussels airport and a subway train in the EU quarter.

Coming four months after the Paris attacks, the mayhem in Brussels once again exposed the Continent’s vulnerability to terrorism, and will likely have far-reaching political consequences for Belgium and its neighbors.

The rush-hour attacks on Zaventem airport and the metro system appeared calculated to ridicule Belgium’s claim that it had dealt a blow to ISIL with last Friday’s arrest in Brussels of Europe’s most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam. He is suspected of organizing the logistics of the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and were claimed by so-called Islamic State.

The public, pre-security area of the international airport terminal and the underground train crowded with commuters pulling into Maalbeek station presented “soft” targets to the bombers. The EU and Belgian capital has been on security alert level 3 — the second highest — since Paris, with military patrols on the streets, metro platforms and at large public events.

“What we feared has happened,” said Prime Minister Charles Michel. “Belgium was hit by a blind, violent and cowardly attack.”

His government has already come under fierce criticism for allowing violent Islamic radicalism to flourish in the middle of the capital, in the Molenbeek quarter where French-born Abdeslam’s family lived — and where he was arrested last week when police raided a flat and shot the 26-year-old in the leg to immobilize him.

Shocked Belgian officials said Tuesday’s airport bombing involved at least one suicide bomber, and unconfirmed media reports said shots were heard before the first explosion and police found a Kalashnikov rifle near the suicide bomber’s remains.

The Belgian government raised its threat level to four and effectively closed off the capital, suspending airline flights and all public transport in Brussels until further notice. This brought back memories of the “lockdown” in November, when police searched the entire city in vain for the Paris suspects, after investigations traced some of them back to Molenbeek.

‘Screaming in Arabic’

The first explosions struck shortly after 8am at Zaventem airport. Smoke poured from a damaged terminal building as panicked passengers including many injured people rushed away from the site, some still carrying luggage.

One witness said he heard a man shouting in Arabic before the first blast.

“I heard ‘bang’, and then a man screaming in Arabic,” said Alphonse Youla, 40, who works for a security firm. “There was a couple withdrawing cash in front of me. The woman exploded and lost both legs. Her husband lost one leg and so did a police officer.”

“The windows of shops were blown out and there was blood everywhere,” he added.

As hospitals throughout Brussels dealt with the dead and injured, officials said at least 11 people were killed and 31 severely wounded in the attack on Zaventem. The preliminary death toll in the subway bombing, which came about an hour later, was 20 people with scores more injured.

The blast hit the front carriages of a train pulling into a station that serves the European Union’s main institutions, including the Commission, Council and Parliament. Smoke billowed from the station entrance and some of the dead and injured were taken to a nearby hotel, where the lobby was full of people covered in blood, according to a POLITICO reporter on the scene.

“I was on the metro train pulling into the station when there was a massive explosion,” said one commuter, who asked not to be named. “Lights went out, smoke everywhere, sounds of multiple explosions, everyone dropped to the floor. Thankfully I managed to escape by prying the car door open with some other passengers and running for the exit.”

A police bomb squad then carried out another controlled blast at nearby Arts-Loi metro station, by which time the entire metro system had been evacuated.

Dark morning in Brussels

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said nobody had claimed responsibility for the bombings. The country had been on the alert for fresh attacks following last week’s arrest of Abdeslam, especially since at least two suspects connected to the Paris plot — including Najim Laachraoui, who is believed to be a bomb-maker — were still on the run.

Asked if the attacks could be linked to Abdeslam’s arrest last Friday, Michel said: “We don’t have any information on that.”

However, neighboring Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, said it was possible the attacks were sparked by the arrests, adding that the bombers were not just targeting Belgium but “everyone who is part of the EU.”

Belgian authorities opened an emergency number for those concerned about relatives: +32 2 753 7300. Flags flew at half-staff in the European quarter and messages of condolence poured in from world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“Dark morning here in Brussels,” tweeted Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO which is also headquartered in Brussels. “My thoughts are with those affected and the Belgian people. We stand together with our ally Belgium.”