Prosecutors recently charged a man with terrorist offenses, in connection to the attack in Belgium on March 22, 2016. In Belgium there were three coordinated nail bombings, two at the Brussels airport in Zaventem and one at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels.
There were two coordinated explosions in the International departure hall in the Zaventem airport in Brussels. One was near the British airways and Iberia check-in desks, and the other one was between a Starbucks coffee shop and Brussels airlines check-in desks. The explosions shattered windows and caused significant damages in the building. There was also a third bomb that was found when they searched the airport, but later was destroyed by a controlled explosion. Belgium’s federal prosecutor confirmed that suicide bombers had detonated nail bombs. About an hour later, another explosion took place at Maalbeek Metro Station in the middle of a three carriage train which was near the European Commision headquarters in the center of Brussels. The train was between Maalbeek and Kunst-West station when the bomb exploded at 9:11. They shut down the Brussels metro at 9:27.
After the attack, the Belgian government put the country on its highest terror threat level. They closed the airport and all flight departures and rail journeys to the airport were cancelled. The airport was planned to remain closed until March 24th, but it was extended until the 28th. All flights were cancelled or they were at other airports. Approximately thirty-five people died including three suicide bombers and around three hundred people were injured. Sixty-two people were in a critical state and four of them passed away in the hospital. Also, eighty-one people were injured at the airport and the rest of the injured people were at the Maalbeek metro station. This was the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium’s history.
The federal prosecutors officers said the operation was connected to the arrest in Paris, the state militants link the attacks in Paris last November that killed 130 people to the Brussels bombing. The prosecutor’s office said that six people were held in Brussels, three were released and the other three are in custody and may face possible charges. In Germany, Der Spiegel magazine said German police had arrested two people, one who received phone messages with the name of the metro station bomber and the word “fin” which is french for “end.” This was said three minutes before the bomb went off at the metro station.
The attack was a week after Belgian police killed a militant during a house raid that led them to find Salah Abdeslam, he was the only suspected participant in the paris attack to have been captured alive. Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, two brothers are suspected for being involved with the attack, carrying out two suicide bombs. In a security camera video, Ibrahim is seen with two other men, one who was identified as Najim Laachraoui who also carried out a security camera. All of the three identified suspects are linked to the same terrorist cell that plotted the attacks in Paris. In the security footage, the three men are pushing carts with suitcases, which are believed to have carried the bombs that exploded in the departure hall.
President Barack Obama said “the U.S. will do whatever it is necessary to support Belgium” and “This is yet another reminder that the world must unite. We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism.” The U.S. was also concerned about strike prior to attack, and is now worried that other members of the terror cell could go underground, regroup, and strike.
