Brussels on Edge After Blasts at Airport and Subway Station
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Brussels Attacks: What We Know and Don’t Know
By Editor on Mar 22, 2016
Explosion Rocks Brussels Subway
A blast shook the Maelbeek station in downtown
Brussels, not far from the area that houses most of the European
Union’s core institutions.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date March 22, 2016.
Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
Watch in Times Video »
• What happened?
Two
explosions, at least one caused by a suicide attack, in the departure
hall at Brussels Airport killed at least 14 people just before 8 a.m.
local time, or 3 a.m. Eastern time.
About
an hour later, an explosion at the Maelbeek subway station in central
Brussels, not far from the European Union’s core institutions, killed
at least 20 people and wounded more than 106.
• Was it terrorism?
Officially,
Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said there was no information
about whether the attacks were related to the arrest last week of the
main surviving suspect in the assaults in and around Paris last year
that killed 130 people.
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The timing was noted by officials. “We were fearing terrorist attacks, and that has now happened,†Mr. Michel said.
The
suspect arrested on Friday, Salah Abdeslam, is believed to be the sole
survivor of the 10 men who were directly involved in the Paris attacks
on Nov. 13.
• Why Brussels?
In
addition to being the seat of European Union government and the capital
of Belgium, Brussels has become a focus of counterterrorism
investigations, notably since the Paris attacks.
Officials
have also been concentrating on a particular Brussels neighborhood in
an investigation of an Islamic State recruitment network.
Brussels
has a high proportion of citizens who travel to Iraq, insular Muslim
communities believed to have helped shield jihadists, and security
services that have had problems with their counterterrorism operations.
• Who did it?
No claims of responsibility have been reported.
• What is Brussels like now?
The
city, with a population of about one million, is virtually shut down.
The Belgian prime minister is asking residents to “avoid all
movement†as the authorities brace for the possibility of additional
violence.
Flights to and from Brussels Airport, the city’s main international hub, are suspended.
All
subway lines on the Brussels network are closed, as are the Eurostar
trains that connect Brussels to London and the Thalys trains that link
the city to other European capitals.
The European Union complex is locked down. Only employees with badges can approach the building.
• The reaction elsewhere?
Brussels Airport Evacuated After Blasts
Planes, runways and terminals were cleared after two explosions rocked the city’s international airport.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date March 22, 2016.
Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press.
Watch in Times Video »
Paris, London and New York are among the major cities bolstering security around their transit hubs and elsewhere.
Condolences
are coming in from around the world. The Eiffel Tower is to be lit with
the colors of Belgium’s flag. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain
called an emergency meeting of ministers.
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the attacks “aim at the heart of Europe.â€
“We are at war,†the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said.
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