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Brussels hit by explosions at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station Brussels hit by explosions at Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station
(35 minutes later)
A series of explosions has ripped through the departure hall of a Brussels airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital, killing at least 34 people and leaving many more wounded. At least 34 people have been confirmed dead and more than 180 injured after a series of explosions, at least one triggered by a suicide bomber, ripped through the departure hall of Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital.
Two blasts targeted the main hall of Zaventem airport at about 8am local time (7am GMT) with a third detonating in Maelbeek metro station, about 100 metres from the headquarters of the European commission, shortly afterwards, as commuters were making their way to work in the rush hour. Two blasts targeted the main hall of the airport at about 8am, with a third detonating in the Maelbeek metro station, about 100m from the headquarters of the European Commission, just over an hour later as commuters were making their way to work in the rush hour.
Related: Brussels airport explosions – live updatesRelated: Brussels airport explosions – live updates
The apparently coordinated explosions came four days after the arrest in a Brussels shootout of the only known survivor of of group of 10 Islamist attackers who killed 130 people in a string of suicide bombings and shootings in Paris in November. The seemingly coordinated explosions came days after Belgian officials warned of possible attacks following the arrest in a Brussels shootout on Friday of Salah Abdeslam, the only known survivor of the 10 Islamist attackers who killed 130 people in a string of suicide bombings and shootings in Paris in November.
The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, described the attack as “a black day for Belgium”. “What we feared, has happened,” he said, adding that authorities are worried about the possibility of more attacks. “We realise we face a tragic moment. We have to be calm and show solidarity.” Belgium raised its terror alert to its highest level. The airport was immediately evacuated and all flights suspended until at least Wednesday morning. Some 200 flights were diverted, trains to the airport – as well as Thalys and Eurostar international rail services to Brussels – were cancelled, and the Brussels metro system shut down. Other airports across Europe tightened security.
Maggie de Block, the Belgian health minister, said 14 people died and 81 were injured in the airport explosions, which the Belgian prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw, said were caused by a suicide attack. The Belga news agency quoted witnesses at the airport as saying shots were fired and shouts in Arabic heard shortly before the blasts. “What we feared has happened: there were two attacks this morning,” the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, told a news conference, speaking of a “black day” for Belgium and adding that more might follow: officials have warned in recent days of revenge attacks and said some members of Abdeslam’s network were still at large.
Local media quoted witnesses at the airport as saying shots were fired and shouts in Arabic heard shortly before the airport blasts, which the health ministry said had killed 14 people and injured at least 80 more. The Belgian state prosecutor confirmed the airport explosions were caused by a suicide attack.
Pictures and video posted on social media showed smoke rising from the terminal building through shattered windows, devastation inside the departure hall with ceiling tiles and glass scattered across the floor, and passengers running along a slipway, dragging their bags behind them.Pictures and video posted on social media showed smoke rising from the terminal building through shattered windows, devastation inside the departure hall with ceiling tiles and glass scattered across the floor, and passengers running along a slipway, dragging their bags behind them.
Yvan Mayeur, the mayor of Brussels, said at least 20 people were killed and 106 injured in the Maelbeek metro blast. La Libre newspaper said the explosions occurred near the Brussels Airlines and American Airlines desks in the main hall. Anthony Deloos, an airport worker, said the first explosion also occurred near the counters of the handling agency Swissport, where customers pay for overweight baggage, with the second going off near a Starbucks cafe.
The station is on the rue de la Loi, which connects central Brussels with the main European Union institutions. The state broadcaster, RTBF, and other media reported a third, unexploded device and firearms including a Kalashnikov had also been found at the airport and that several controlled explosions were carried out. The wounded were being treated at Brussels’ St-Luc university hospital and other city-centre hospitals.
Brussels police spokesman Christian De Coninck earlier confirmed there were casualties but could not say how many: “There are victims, serious injury, people have died. I have no idea yet on the numbers of injured or dead.” Yvan Mayeur, the mayor of Brussels, said at least 20 people were killed and 106 injured at the Maelbeek metro station, on the rue de la Loi, which connects central Brussels with the main European Union institutions. Emergency workers told local media that 17 people’s injuries were critical.
First aid was being administered in a nearby pub, AP reported, as shocked morning travellers streamed from the station and police set up a security cordon. First aid was initially administered in a nearby pub, as shocked morning travellers streamed from the station and police set up a security cordon.
Françoise Ledune, a spokeswoman for the Brussels metro, told BFM TV there appeared to have been just one explosion, in a carriage that was stopped at Maelbeek. The Brussels metro authority, STIB, said a single blast occurred at 9.11am in the second carriage of a train that was stopped at Maelbeek.
“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.” An emergency services spokesman, Pierre Meys, said the blast had been “extremely strong. Everything is destroyed, everything is in pieces. There is damage as far away as an underground car park at the end of the street, and the shockwave was felt in the stations on either side. That’s why people were talking about two or three explosions.”
At Zaventem, passenger Jef Versele, 40, from Ghent, told journalists he heard two explosions. “I was on my way to check in and two bombs went off – two explosions,” he said. “I didn’t see anything. Everything was coming down. Glassware. It was chaos, it was unbelievable. It was the worst thing.” Wiping blood from his face, one passenger, Alexandre Brans, 32, told AFP that the metro was “just leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion. It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.”
Versele, who was one or two floors above one of the blasts near the American Airlines desk, said he believed many people had been injured. “There were lots of people on the ground,” he said. “The bomb came from downstairs. It was going up through the roof. It was big. About 15 windows were just blown out from the entrance hall.” At Zaventem airport, passenger Jef Versele, 40, from Ghent, said he had heard two explosions. “Everything was coming down,” he said. “Glassware. It was chaos. There were lots of people on the ground. About 15 windows were just blown out from the entrance hall.”
Jean-Pierre Lebeau, a French passenger who had just arrived from Geneva, told AFP he had seen wounded people and “blood in the elevator”. Lebeau said he smelled gunpowder at the scene and saw the ceiling had collapsed. Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM TV 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. It was a war scene.”
Zaventem airport, which serves about 23 million passengers a year, said it had suspended all flights and the complex had been evacuated, with passengers being taken in coaches to a secure area and flights diverted to Liège. Jean-Pierre Lebeau, a French passenger who had just arrived from Geneva, said he had seen wounded people and “blood in the elevator”. Lebeau said he smelled gunpowder at the scene and saw the ceiling had collapsed.
“There have been two explosions at the airport. The building is being evacuated. Don’t come to the airport area. All airport operations have been suspended until further notice,” Zaventem said on Twitter. It later added that the airport would stay closed until Wednesday morning. Marc Noel, 63, was in an airport shop when the first explosion occurred. “People were crying, shouting, children. It was a horrible experience,” he told AP. If he had not stopped to buy magazines, he said, “I would probably have been in that place when the bomb went off.”
Trains to the airport were also cancelled, the international Thalys services to Brussels from France and Eurostar services from London were halted, and the Brussels metro system was shut down. Belgian authorities raised the city’s terror threat level to maximum. International condemnation of the attacks was swift. In France, prime minister Manuel Valls said: “We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war.” President François Hollande said terrorists had “struck Brussels, but it was Europe that was targeted, and all the world that is concerned.” The Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said the Eiffel tower would be lit in the colours of the Belgian flag in “solidarity with Brussels”.
EU staff were told not to come to work until the situation was stabilised. Human resources commissioner Kristalina Georgieva tweeted: “Following situation in Brussels, EU institutions working together to ensure security of staff & premises. Please stay home or inside buildings.” “These attacks mark another low by the terrorists in the service of hatred and violence,” said EU president Donald Tusk. In London, prime minister David Cameron said he would chair a Cobra crisis response meeting, adding that he was “shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels”.
Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, said the blasts were an “attack against democratic Europe”, while German justice minister Heiko Maas denounced “a black day for Europe” and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said the blasts “show once more that terrorism knows no borders and threatens people all over the world”.
Frederica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, fought back tears as she reacted to news of the attacks during a press conference in Jordan. “Today is a difficult day,” she said.Frederica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, fought back tears as she reacted to news of the attacks during a press conference in Jordan. “Today is a difficult day,” she said.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reacts to news of #Brussels attacks during a press conference in Jordan pic.twitter.com/hRqfEWyxl1EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reacts to news of #Brussels attacks during a press conference in Jordan pic.twitter.com/hRqfEWyxl1
Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in November’s attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, Stade de France and a string of cafes and restaurants in Paris, was captured in the Molenbeek district of Brussels on Friday, having apparently managed to hide out for more than four months in the Belgian capital. The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of both the EU and Nato, was in lockdown. EU staff were told not to come to work, with human resources commissioner Kristalina Georgieva tweeting: “EU institutions working to ensure security of staff and premises. Please stay home or inside buildings.”
Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in November’s attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, Stade de France and a string of cafes and restaurants in Paris, was captured in the Molenbeek district of Brussels where he grew up on Friday, having apparently managed to hide out for more than four months in the Belgian capital, where French and Belgian police believe the Paris attacks were planned.
Related: Brussels attacks show how global terror networks act localRelated: Brussels attacks show how global terror networks act local
The Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, had warned on Sunday that Abdeslam “was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons … and a new network around him in Brussels”. The Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, warned over the weekend that Abdeslam “was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons … and a new network around him in Brussels”.
The interior minister, Jan Jambon, repeated the warning on Monday, adding that the country was now on high alert for a revenge attack. The interior minister, Jan Jambon, repeated the warning on Monday, adding that the country was now on high alert for a revenge attack. “We know that stopping one cell can … push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,” he told public radio.
“We know that stopping one cell can … push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,” he told public radio. Belgian prosecutors this week named one of two men still sought in connection with the Paris attacks as Najim Laachraoui, 24, who reportedly travelled to Syria in 2013 and was previously identified by his alias Soufiane Kayal.
In London, the British prime minister, David Cameron, said he would chair a meeting of the Cobra response committee following the explosions. Laachraoui was travelling with Abdeslam in September 2015 when their car was stopped at the Hungarian border with Austria. Also in the car was Mohammed Belkaid, who was shot dead by a police sniper in a raid in Brussels on Tuesday in the operation that led to Abdeslam’s capture three days later. A second suspect has previously been named as Mohamed Abrini, 31, a Belgian national and childhood friend of Abdeslam in Brussels.
“I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help,” Cameron said on Twitter.