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A spokesman for the Brussels Metro said 15 people were killed and 55 injured in an explosion on a train, and Belgian media reported at least 13 dead in two explosions at the airport, with many others injured. Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were. Airports across Europe immediately tightened security. "We are at war," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a crisis meeting called by the French president. "We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."
European security officials have been bracing for a major attack for weeks, and warned that the Islamic State group was actively preparing to strike. The arrest Friday of a key suspect in the November attacks in Paris heightened those fears, as investigators said many more people were involved than originally thought, and that some are still on the loose. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said there was no immediate evidence linking key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam to them. After his arrest Friday, Abdeslam told authorities he had created a new network and was planning new attacks.
Belgian media reported that 13 people were killed at the airport, where two explosions splattered blood across the departure lounge and collapsed the ceiling. The explosions hit during the busy morning rush. Smoke was seen billowing out of the terminal. Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which handles check-in and baggage services, said the first explosion took place near the Swissport counters where customers pay for overweight baggage. He and a colleague said the second blast hit near the Starbucks cafe. "We heard a big explosion. It's like when you're in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise," Deloos said, adding that shredded paper floated through the air as a colleague told him to run. "I jumped into a luggage chute to be safe," he said.
Tom De Doncker, 21, check-in agent intern, was near the site of the second explosion. "I saw a soldier pulling away a body," he said. "It felt like I was hit too" from the concussion of the blast. Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM television that the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mixing water with victims' blood. "It was atrocious. The ceilings collapsed," he said. "There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere." "We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene," he said.
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Two explosions hit Zaventem airport at about 07:00 GMT, and another struck Maelbeek metro station an hour later. The government has not confirmed casualty numbers. Brussels transport officials say 15 died at Maelbeek and media say up to 13 died at the airport. Belgium has now raised its terror threat to its highest level. The attacks come four days after Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in the Paris attacks, was seized in Brussels.
Prime Minister Charles Michel called the Brussels attacks "blind, violent and cowardly", saying they were a "tragic moment in our country's history. I would like to call on everyone to show calmness and solidarity". European Union president Donald Tusk said: "These attacks mark another low by the terrorists in the service of hatred and violence." The airport and whole transport system in Brussels are closed.
'Blood everywhere'
Two blasts tore through the departures area of Zaventem airport shortly after 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT). The Belgian prosecutor said "probably a suicide bomber" was involved. The Belga news agency reports that shots were fired and shouts in Arabic were heard before the two explosions. Images on social media showed panic as people fled the airport. All flights have been diverted. Eurostar has cancelled all trains to and from Brussels.
Security has been stepped up at Gatwick and Heathrow airports and the UK Foreign Office has advised British nationals to avoid crowded areas in Belgium. UK PM David Cameron will chair a meeting of the Cobra response committee later on Tuesday morning. France has stepped up security. President Francois Hollande has held a cabinet meeting to discuss the Belgian explosions. There is also extra security at Dutch airports.
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Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian were among those present, according to the president's office. The deadly explosions were carried out at Brussels airport earlier on Tuesday by a suicide bomber, Belgium's federal prosecutor said according to broadcasters VTM and RTBF. A further blast struck a metro station in the capital shortly afterwards.
The blasts at the airport and metro station occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of a suspected participant in the November militant attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Police had been on alert for any reprisal action in both capitals, which lie about 315 kilometers apart across an open border.
France's Hollande calls emergency meeting after Brussels blasts
For more that 30 years, Europe has been warned about the danger of its progressive, leftist, multicultural, policies when it comes to Muslim immigration, who have a completely different culture to the West and for whom Jihad and Sharia Law are PRE REQUISITES ORDAINED BY MOHAMED!!!!!
And.... here we are now, inevitably the consequences have arrived.....and arrived with a vengeance, as more and more young Muslim men are turning to radical Islam.
These attacks are going to become more and more frequent and unless there is a total and complete change of EU policy, Europe is doomed, in fact I think probably it's already too late to recover.
Either politically or through terrorism, it looks like Islam will take over.
For more that 30 years, Europe has been warned about the danger of its progressive, leftist, multicultural, policies when it comes to Muslim immigration, who have a completely different culture to the West and for whom Jihad and Sharia Law are PRE REQUISITES ORDAINED BY MOHAMED!!!!!
And.... here we are now, inevitably the consequences have arrived.....and arrived with a vengeance, as more and more young Muslim men are turning to radical Islam.
These attacks are going to become more and more frequent and unless there is a total and complete change of EU policy, Europe is doomed, in fact I think probably it's already too late to recover.
Either politically or through terrorism, it looks like Islam will take over.
Watched a great documentary on the Paris bombings the other day. And as one French Muslim youth put it, "One day, we're gonna burn all this shit down." He means it. Things are gonna worse in Western Europe.
For more that 30 years, Europe has been warned about the danger of its progressive, leftist, multicultural, policies when it comes to Muslim immigration, who have a completely different culture to the West and for whom Jihad and Sharia Law are PRE REQUISITES ORDAINED BY MOHAMED!!!!!
And.... here we are now, inevitably the consequences have arrived.....and arrived with a vengeance, as more and more young Muslim men are turning to radical Islam.
These attacks are going to become more and more frequent and unless there is a total and complete change of EU policy, Europe is doomed, in fact I think probably it's already too late to recover.
Either politically or through terrorism, it looks like Islam will take over.
Watched a great documentary on the Paris bombings the other day. And as one French Muslim youth put it, "One day, we're gonna burn all this shit down." He means it. Things are gonna worse in Western Europe.
You are right.
Europe has hardy any security defenses left, they can only stand there and observe how these hostile Muslims rape all they want , destroy.... and go on with their criminal activities.
It's impossible to send them all back to the Middle East.....they will become like a festering sore, getting bigger and bigger all the time.
Very sad and extremely difficult times for Europe - all because of its own doing.
It's just too late. The damage is done. Islamic Terrorism isn't going away in Western Europe. In fact, it's gonna grow more deadly.
It's just too late. The damage is done. Islamic Terrorism isn't going away in Western Europe. In fact, it's gonna grow more deadly.
You are so right...
I'm just waiting for something to blow up in Germany... or Sweden. It's not a matter about "if" it will happen, it's "when".
