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Brussels explosions: multiple casualties after airport and metro blasts – live | |
(35 minutes later) | |
9.54am GMT | |
09:54 | |
Angelique Chrisafis | |
All trains to Brussels stations from Paris have been cancelled, writes Angelique Chrisafis. | |
At Paris’s Gare du Nord station scores of passengers on a morning Thalys train ready to depart for Brussels were told to get off the train and that all international departures to Belgium had been suspended. | |
9.52am GMT | |
09:52 | |
Jason Burke | |
Were the apparent attacks revenge for Salah Abdeslam’s arrest? asks Jason Burke. | |
Any threat from Islamic militants to Europe may rise and fall, but does not disappear when a single figure is arrested, however much he was sought. The “major blow” struck on Friday, as senior policymakers called it, now looks less major. | |
Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam shot and arrested in Brussels Read more | |
The second is that both terrorists and those trying to stop them seek to keep the initiative. This has a practical and a psychological aspect. For counter-terrorist agencies, the aim is to get information fast enough to mount raids and sweep up suspects before they even have time to work out who among them has been picked up and who might have talked, let alone plan a new strike. Networks quickly fall apart under such relentless pressure, as was shown in Iraq in the middle of the last decade. | |
For the terrorists, the aim is to show they can still terrorise, mobilise and polarise with violence. This is not so much about revenge, but simply demonstrating a continued capability. They may be down but, they are saying, they are not out. | |
Related: Brussels attacks: were they revenge for Abdeslam's arrest? | |
9.49am GMT | |
09:49 | |
American Airlines said all of its employees and contractors are accounted for after the blast at the airport departure hall. | |
Statement from @AmericanAir on #Brussels airport explosions. All employees accounted, no reported injuries. pic.twitter.com/rbBjs76fni | |
Here’s an aerial view of the blast site. | |
9.44am GMT | |
09:44 | |
Shaun Walker | |
There’s been some bitter reaction to the attacks from Russia, writes Shaun Walker. | |
The chair of the Duma’s foreign policy committee, Alexei Pushkov, tweeted: “While [Nato chief Jens] Stoltenberg, is busy fighting the imaginary ‘Russian threat’ and putting troops in Latvia, under his nose in Brussels people are blown up.” | |
Пока Столтенберг, себя не помня, сражается с мнимой "росс. угрозой" и размещает войска в Латвии, у него под носом, в Брюсселе взрывают людей | |
And more Russian schadenfreude came from foreign ministryspokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who reportedly said: “You can’t support terrorists in one part of the globe and not expect them to appear in others.” | |
Захарова о взрывах: Нельзя поддерживать террористов в одних частях планеты и думать, что они не придут в другие pic.twitter.com/pRPXqxGocG | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.48am GMT | |
9.40am GMT | |
09:40 | |
Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, has warned the Belgian public to “avoid any movement” for the time being. | |
Pour le moment, nous demandons à la population d'éviter tout déplacement. Call centre de centre de crise : 1771. | |
Reinforcements have arrived at Michel’s office. | |
Additional military reinforcements have been deployed near the PM office. #Brussels (image via @Le_Bux) pic.twitter.com/L02QLY7kRG | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.48am GMT | |
9.37am GMT | |
09:37 | |
Brussels airport will stay closed until 6am on Wednesday. | |
UPDATE: the airport is closed until 6am tomorrow and all incoming and departing flights are cancelled. More info >> https://t.co/6PnldKaPmv | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.40am GMT | |
9.35am GMT | |
09:35 | |
Eurostar in London has suspended trains to and from Brussels Midi station. | |
UPDATE: No trains are currently running to or from Brussels Midi. Brussels customers are advised to postpone, and not come to station. | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.40am GMT | |
9.33am GMT | |
09:33 | |
Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament, has condemned what he described as “heinous attacks”. | |
My thoughts with #Brussels and its citizens after these heinous attacks. Stay in a safe place, follow instructions of authorities | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.40am GMT | |
9.31am GMT | |
09:31 | |
This aerial view shows how close the metro blast was to the EU buildings in Brussels. | |
9.29am GMT | |
09:29 | |
There are unconfirmed reports that 23 people have been killed in both attacks. | |
The Belgian broadcaster VTM said 10 people were killed in the blast at the Maelbeek metro station. Earlier, it said the death toll at the Zaventem airport in Brussels had risen to 13. | |
Updated | Updated |
at 9.41am GMT | |