ISIS claims Belgium attacks

Blasts end lives of 34 at airport, in subway

As travelers move through the smoke-filled Belgian airport after Tuesday’s attack, Brazilian basketball player Sebastien Bellin, a former member of the Belgian national team, lies wounded. “What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said.
As travelers move through the smoke-filled Belgian airport after Tuesday’s attack, Brazilian basketball player Sebastien Bellin, a former member of the Belgian national team, lies wounded. “What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said.

BRUSSELS -- Bombs exploded Tuesday at the Brussels airport and in the city's subway, killing at least 34 people and wounding scores of others, and a European capital was again locked down because of heightened security threats. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.


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AP/Belgian federal police

This surveillance image shows three men suspected of carrying out the bombings Tuesday at Belgium’s Zaventem Airport. The man at right is still being sought by the police; the other two, each wearing a black glove, were “probably” suicide bombers, prosecutors said.

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AP/Georgian Public Broadcaster

Injured women sit in the Brussels airport Tuesday after two explosions ripped through the airport departure area.

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AP

Subway passengers leave a darkened car after a blast near European Union headquarters.

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The New York Times/official White House photo

President Barack Obama and National Security Adviser Susan Rice listen to Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco as they get an update Tuesday on the terrorist attacks in Brussels. They took the call at the residence of the U.S. Chief of Mission in Havana.

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AP

Rescuers load a wounded woman into an ambulance Tuesday near the Maelbeek subway station in downtown Brussels.

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AP

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel speaks during a media conference in Brussels on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Explosions, at least one likely caused by a suicide bomber, rocked the Brussels airport and subway system Tuesday, prompting a lockdown of the Belgian capital and heightened security across Europe.

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AP

A map showing the Brussels attacks.

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AP

People put candles on painted hearts with the Belgian colors Tuesday at the place de la Bourse in the center of Brussels, while mourning the victims of attacks at the city’s airport and one of the city’s metro stations.

The two airport blasts, at least one of them blamed on a suicide bomber, left behind a chaotic scene as windows were blown out, ceilings collapsed and travelers streamed out of the building.

About an hour later, another bomb exploded in the subway system near the European Union headquarters. Terrified passengers had to evacuate through darkened tunnels.

"What we feared has happened," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. "In this time of tragedy, this black moment for our country, I appeal to everyone to remain calm but also to show solidarity."

Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were for most of the workday.

Authorities also released a photo taken from closed-circuit TV of three men pushing luggage carts, saying two of them apparently were the suicide bombers and that the third -- dressed in a light-colored coat, black hat and glasses -- was at large.

Police later conducted raids in Brussels and found a nail-filled bomb, chemical products and an Islamic State flag in the search of a house in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, the state prosecutors' office said in a statement.

Transit agencies across Europe tightened security. The French government ordered 1,600 extra police officers to patrol the nation's borders, including at train stations, airports and ports. Germany federal border police stepped up control measures at the frontier with Belgium and at rail stations and airports, said Frank Borchert, a police spokesman.

In New York City, subway and other transportation systems were placed on high alert, with authorities deploying additional counterterrorism units to crowded areas and transit locations. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said there is no "specific, credible intelligence" pointing to a similar plot in America, but he said the Transportation Security Administration would deploy additional security at major airports and rail stations around the country.

"We are at war," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a meeting in Paris. "We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

Added French President Francois Hollande: "Terrorists struck Brussels, but it was Europe that was targeted, and it is all the world which is concerned by this."

In a joint statement, EU leaders showed solidarity with Belgium and said they are "determined to face this threat together with all necessary means."

Justice ministers and interior ministers from across the 28-nation EU planned an emergency meeting, possibly Thursday morning, to assess the fallout. The subway blast was beneath buildings that normally host EU meetings.

European security officials have been expecting for a major attack for weeks and warned that the Islamic State was preparing to strike. The arrest Friday of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the Nov. 13 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.

Certain neighborhoods in Brussels, like the Molenbeek quarter, have bred extremists and supplied foreign fighters. Plotters linked to the Paris attacks and others have either moved through or lived in parts of the city.

The Islamic State said in a post through the group's Amaq news agency that its extremists opened fire in the airport and that "several of them" detonated suicide belts. It said another suicide attacker struck in the subway. The post said the attack was in response to Belgium's support of the international coalition that's battling the group in Iraq and Syria.

The militant group later released a statement promising "dark days" for countries allied against it, threatening that "what is coming is worse and more bitter." The group also released photos purportedly showing its fighters in Syria giving out candy to children to celebrate the Brussels attacks, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites.

Authorities in Brussels found and neutralized a third bomb at the airport after the chaos from the two initial blasts had eased, said Florence Muls, a spokesman for the airport. Bomb squads detonated suspicious objects found in at least two locations elsewhere in the capital, but neither contained explosives, authorities said.

Michel said there was no immediate evidence linking the attacks with Abdeslam. After his arrest, Abdeslam told authorities that he had created a new network and was planning new attacks.

'it was a war scene'

Tuesday's explosions at the airport in the Brussels suburb of Zaventem came just after 8 a.m., a busy period when thousands of people were inside. Belgian Health Minister Maggie de Block said that more than 10 people were killed and dozens were wounded.

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.

Video from moments after the blasts showed travelers huddled next to check-in counters and lying near luggage and trolleys as dust and the cries of the wounded filled the air. Dazed people stumbled from the scene.

Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which handles check-in and baggage services, said the first explosion took place near the counters where customers pay for overweight bags. He and a colleague said the second blast hit near a Starbucks cafe.

"I jumped into a luggage chute to be safe," Deloos said.

The subway bombing came after 9 a.m., killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100, Mayor Yvan Majeur said. But Majeur warned that the death toll could rise.

"The situation in the subway is extremely chaotic," he said at a news conference.

Near the entrance to the station, rescue workers set up a makeshift treatment center in a pub. Morning commuters streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon.

"The metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion," said Alexandre Brans, 32, wiping blood from his face. "It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro."

"We felt a boom; we felt the building tremble," said Henk Stuten, 50, who works for the European Commission in an office above the station. "We saw through the windows that people were rushing out of the metro exit."

The airport was ordered closed for the rest of the day and CEO Arnaud Feist said it would be shut at least through today. About 600 flights in or out of Brussels were diverted or canceled, Muls said.

The metro also was ordered closed as the city was locked down. By the end of the workday, city officials said residents could begin moving around on the streets of the capital and that train stations were reopening. But Peter Mertens of the Belgian crisis center said the threat of more attacks "is still real and serious."

"People ask me if I'm scared," said Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, 35, who works for the European Commission. "I'm not scared actually. I'm just very sad, very angry and I feel hopeless, and that is the worst -- the hopelessness."

3 U.S. Mormons injured

Officials from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said three missionaries from Utah were seriously injured in the airport attack and had been hospitalized.

The church identified them as Richard Norby, 66, of Lehi; Joseph Empey, 20, of Santa Clara; and Mason Wells, 19, of Sandy. The three men had been serving in Paris and were at the airport with a fourth missionary who was on her way to an assignment in Ohio.

In April 2013, Wells and his father felt the ground shake when a pressure-cooker bomb exploded a block away from where they were watching his mother run the Boston Marathon. That attack killed three people.

Several students from Arkansas' Hendrix College were in Brussels on Tuesday as part of a study-abroad program, but the Conway college said in a statement that all of them were safe.

"We are relieved to know that our Hendrix students in Belgium are all safe, but are grieving with the rest of the world for the people of Belgium, the dead, the injured and all the lives that have been forever changed by this act of terror," Hendrix President William Tsutsui said in the statement.

President Barack Obama pledged to "do whatever is necessary" to help Belgian authorities seek justice.

"We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people," Obama said in Havana, where he was closing a three-day visit to Cuba.

Obama said the attacks provided another reminder "that the world must unite" in "fighting against the scourge of terrorism."

"We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world," he said.

Obama also called Michel to offer his condolences.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was closely monitoring the unfolding events and "would not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people."

After the attacks, U.S. European Command announced prohibitions on unofficial military and Defense Department employee travel to Brussels "until further notice."

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on the U.S. to take the lead in filling holes in its European allies' counterterrorism capabilities.

"The terrorists who are tearing apart the Islamic world have now shown repeatedly that they can and will strike at the heart of Europe and the West," he said in a statement.

"We must turn this moment of anguish into a galvanizing event, one that steels the resolve of the United States and our allies to do what it takes to defeat radical Islamic jihadism," Cotton said.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told members House Armed Services Committee that the attacks in Brussels will not deter the U.S. from its plan to defeat the Islamic State as soon as possible.

"No attack -- no attack will affect our resolve to accelerate the defeat of ISIL," Carter said, using the acronym for the militant group.

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee that as recently as last fall the terrorist group had the momentum in Iraq and Syria. The picture has changed significantly, he said.

"Since that time, they not only have less territory, they have less resources, they has less freedom of movement, and we have reduced the number of fighters that are actually able to flow back and forth," Dunford said.

But, Dunford added, "this morning was another reminder that there is a long fight ahead."

Information for this article was contributed by Lorne Cook, John-Thor Dahlburg, Raf Casert, Raphael Satter, Angela Charlton, Lori Hinnant, Paisley Dodds, Josh Lederman, Alicia C. Caldwell, Vladimir Isachenkov, Vanessa Gera, Richard Lardner and staff members of The Associated Press; by John Follain, Ian Wishart, James G. Neuger, Phil Serafino, Mark Deen and staff members of Bloomberg News; and by Alissa J. Rubin, Aurelien Breeden, Anita Raghavan and staff members of The New York Times.

A Section on 03/23/2016

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