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| Second suicide bomber at Brussels Airport was Islamic State bombmaker, intelligence officials say | Second suicide bomber at Brussels Airport was Islamic State bombmaker, intelligence officials say |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BRUSSELS — An Islamic State bombmaker whose DNA connected him to November’s Paris attacks was one of two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport, two intelligence officials said Wednesday, the strongest link yet between two Islamic State attacks that have stunned Europe with their power and planning. | BRUSSELS — An Islamic State bombmaker whose DNA connected him to November’s Paris attacks was one of two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport, two intelligence officials said Wednesday, the strongest link yet between two Islamic State attacks that have stunned Europe with their power and planning. |
| Najim Laachraoui, 24, who is believed to have prepared explosives for the November Paris attacks, blew himself up at Brussels Airport on Tuesday, according to two intelligence officials, one Arab and one European, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive findings. | |
| Laachraoui, who Belgian prosecutors earlier Wednesday said they believed was on the loose, joined forces in the suicide attack with Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29, a Belgian with an extensive criminal record. A third man who left a bomb in the airport but escaped is still at large, prosecutors said Wednesday. Bakraoui’s younger brother, Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, carried out a suicide bombing on the Brussels metro 73 minutes after the initial attack at the airport, prosecutors said Wednesday. | |
| The Islamic State terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed at least 31 people and injured 270. | |
| [Who is the suspected bombmaker?] | |
| Fears that authorities were closing in may help explain the involvement of Laachraoui in the suicide bombing at the airport. Terrorism experts regard bombmakers, especially those trained in handling sensitive explosives, as among the most valuable and protected members of a terrorist organization. It is highly unusual for them to participate in suicide attacks themselves. | Fears that authorities were closing in may help explain the involvement of Laachraoui in the suicide bombing at the airport. Terrorism experts regard bombmakers, especially those trained in handling sensitive explosives, as among the most valuable and protected members of a terrorist organization. It is highly unusual for them to participate in suicide attacks themselves. |
| The other suicide bomber at the airport wrote of fears that counterterrorism agents were closing in, authorities said Wednesday. | |
| The missive, contained in a discarded computer, did not specifically cite recent raids across Belgium. But its tone suggested a sense that the noose was tightening, according to Belgium’s federal prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw. A raid Friday in Brussels netted Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last year’s Paris attacks. | |
| The computer message also provided insight into the tactics, organization and motivation of the militants who perpetrated the worst attacks on Belgian soil since World War II, and possibly a deeper look into the wider network linked to last year’s Paris massacres. | |
| At least one of the men believed to have been a suicide attacker was deported to Europe from Turkey in July 2015 after Turkey determined he was a militant, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. He suggested that counterterrorism officials had the militant on their radar long before the November Paris attacks or Tuesday’s bloodshed in Brussels. Interpol had also issued a “red notice,” effectively an international arrest warrant, for one of the suspects at the request of Belgian authorities. | At least one of the men believed to have been a suicide attacker was deported to Europe from Turkey in July 2015 after Turkey determined he was a militant, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. He suggested that counterterrorism officials had the militant on their radar long before the November Paris attacks or Tuesday’s bloodshed in Brussels. Interpol had also issued a “red notice,” effectively an international arrest warrant, for one of the suspects at the request of Belgian authorities. |
| [‘People who died weren’t whole anymore. They were in pieces.’] | [‘People who died weren’t whole anymore. They were in pieces.’] |
| In the note — discovered on a computer dumped near an apartment containing bombmaking material — one of the suspected suicide attackers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, apparently described feeling pressure bearing down. | In the note — discovered on a computer dumped near an apartment containing bombmaking material — one of the suspected suicide attackers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, apparently described feeling pressure bearing down. |
| He wrote that he was “in a hurry, no longer know what to do, being searched for everywhere, no longer secure,” according to Van Leeuw’s description of the message, which was not made public. | He wrote that he was “in a hurry, no longer know what to do, being searched for everywhere, no longer secure,” according to Van Leeuw’s description of the message, which was not made public. |
| Authorities now believe that the bombers had close connections to the Paris attackers. | Authorities now believe that the bombers had close connections to the Paris attackers. |
| The same bombmaker may have been involved in both attacks, and Khalid el-Bakraoui is believed to have used an assumed name to rent a Brussels-area apartment where Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found last week. | |
| The computer file does not mention Abdeslam by name, but it says the attackers feared that if they did not strike quickly, they risked winding up in prison alongside “him.” | The computer file does not mention Abdeslam by name, but it says the attackers feared that if they did not strike quickly, they risked winding up in prison alongside “him.” |
| “If they drag on, they risk finishing next to him in a cell,” Van Leeuw said, paraphrasing the content of the file. | “If they drag on, they risk finishing next to him in a cell,” Van Leeuw said, paraphrasing the content of the file. |
| Van Leeuw described the file as a “will.” He did not explain why authorities believed the computer belonged to Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. | |
| [Likely explosives used nicknamed “Mother of Satan”] | |
| Authorities also found large stockpiles of bomb-building materials at his apartment in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels, the prosecutor said: 33 pounds of TATP explosives, nearly 40 gallons of acetone, eight gallons of hydrogen peroxide, detonators and a suitcase full of nails and screws. | Authorities also found large stockpiles of bomb-building materials at his apartment in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels, the prosecutor said: 33 pounds of TATP explosives, nearly 40 gallons of acetone, eight gallons of hydrogen peroxide, detonators and a suitcase full of nails and screws. |
| Khalid el-Bakraoui, the younger brother, was identified by his DNA in the attack on the subway, the prosecutor said. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was identified by fingerprints recovered at the scene of the airport blast. | Khalid el-Bakraoui, the younger brother, was identified by his DNA in the attack on the subway, the prosecutor said. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was identified by fingerprints recovered at the scene of the airport blast. |
| Belgian media initially reported that a suspect arrested Wednesday was Laachraoui, 24. But those reports were later retracted. His DNA was found on at least one bomb used in the Paris attacks. | Belgian media initially reported that a suspect arrested Wednesday was Laachraoui, 24. But those reports were later retracted. His DNA was found on at least one bomb used in the Paris attacks. |
| The latest violence has left European leaders again scrambling for ways to plug holes in security, even though it became increasingly clear Wednesday that at least one of the attackers had repeatedly passed through security nets without being detained by European authorities. | The latest violence has left European leaders again scrambling for ways to plug holes in security, even though it became increasingly clear Wednesday that at least one of the attackers had repeatedly passed through security nets without being detained by European authorities. |
| Turkey warned European authorities that one of the suspected suicide bombers was a “foreign terrorist fighter,” Erdogan, the Turkish leader, said Wednesday. A Turkish official cited by the Associated Press later said that the suspect was Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and that in July 2015 he had been deported to the Netherlands at his request. European authorities let him go because they could not establish links to terrorism, Erdogan said. | Turkey warned European authorities that one of the suspected suicide bombers was a “foreign terrorist fighter,” Erdogan, the Turkish leader, said Wednesday. A Turkish official cited by the Associated Press later said that the suspect was Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and that in July 2015 he had been deported to the Netherlands at his request. European authorities let him go because they could not establish links to terrorism, Erdogan said. |
| [How Belgium became a hub for militants] | |
| In Brussels, leaders called for new powers to fight terrorism, although it was unclear whether there would be any progress this time, since similar proposals were made, then rejected, after last year’s attacks in Paris. | In Brussels, leaders called for new powers to fight terrorism, although it was unclear whether there would be any progress this time, since similar proposals were made, then rejected, after last year’s attacks in Paris. |
| French Prime Minister Manuel Valls repeated calls for sweeping new powers to be given to European intelligence agencies, warning that the future of European unity is at stake. | French Prime Minister Manuel Valls repeated calls for sweeping new powers to be given to European intelligence agencies, warning that the future of European unity is at stake. |
| “If the European project is running out of steam, if the populists are gaining in popularity, it’s because a lot of speeches are not followed up in reality,” Valls said Wednesday in Brussels, criticizing the vows for reform that have followed other recent terrorist attacks but yielded few concrete changes. | “If the European project is running out of steam, if the populists are gaining in popularity, it’s because a lot of speeches are not followed up in reality,” Valls said Wednesday in Brussels, criticizing the vows for reform that have followed other recent terrorist attacks but yielded few concrete changes. |
| “In the years to come, the [E.U.] member states will have to invest massively in their security systems,” he said. | “In the years to come, the [E.U.] member states will have to invest massively in their security systems,” he said. |
| In further signs of jitters across Belgium, sports officials called off a soccer match between Belgium and Portugal scheduled for Tuesday in Brussels “because of security concerns.” | In further signs of jitters across Belgium, sports officials called off a soccer match between Belgium and Portugal scheduled for Tuesday in Brussels “because of security concerns.” |
| Brussels Airport will remain closed at least through Friday, officials said. At Brussels’s main synagogue, events marking the Purim holiday were called off. | |
| Authorities had been bracing for a possible attack in Belgium for months as the country struggled to stem a tide of homegrown extremism and as the Islamic State repeatedly threatened to hit Europe in its core. | Authorities had been bracing for a possible attack in Belgium for months as the country struggled to stem a tide of homegrown extremism and as the Islamic State repeatedly threatened to hit Europe in its core. |
| [Has terrorism become the new normal in Europe?] | [Has terrorism become the new normal in Europe?] |
| The attack at the airport could have been far worse, said Belgium’s federal prosecutor, Van Leeuw. The biggest bomb — packed inside the suitcase that was wheeled on a cart by the man now being sought by a massive dragnet — failed to go off, he told reporters. | |
| In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that “approximately a dozen” Americans were injured in the blasts, but that “a number” of U.S. citizens remained unaccounted for on Wednesday — without providing more specific figures. | In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that “approximately a dozen” Americans were injured in the blasts, but that “a number” of U.S. citizens remained unaccounted for on Wednesday — without providing more specific figures. |
| Griff Witte, Missy Ryan, James McAuley and Anthony Faiola in Brussels and Brian Murphy and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report. | |
| Read more: | Read more: |
| Live updates on the death toll, attack scenes and reactions around the world | Live updates on the death toll, attack scenes and reactions around the world |
| Why is Brussels under attack? | Why is Brussels under attack? |
| At NATO headquarters, alert status raised just miles from attacks | At NATO headquarters, alert status raised just miles from attacks |
| Five stories you should read to understand the Brussels attacks | Five stories you should read to understand the Brussels attacks |