AFTER the arrest in Brussels last week of Salah Abdeslam, a chief suspect in the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people on November 13th, there was every reason to fear other Islamist terrorists might strike again quickly. Belgium’s interior minister, Jan Jambon, had given warning that stopping one terrorist cell “can push others into action”.
A day later, on March 22nd, they acted. At least one suicide bomber, who reportedly shouted in Arabic and fired shots before setting off an explosive device, struck the crowded departures hall at Brussels Zaventem airport, at 8am. A second explosion was reported moments later, apparently as panicking crowds ran from the scene of the first explosion. By mid-morning the death toll at the airport had reached at least 11.
Roughly an hour later at least one other attacker detonated a bomb on a train carriage inside the Maelbeek metro station, close to the head offices of several European institutions. The Belgian authorities, who had closed the metro for several days following the Paris attacks in...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/1Rdcujc
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