This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/belgian-authorities-identify-attackers-as-pair-of-brothers-as-manhunt-continues/2016/03/23/0c79c1ae-f064-11e5-a2a3-d4e9697917d1_story.html
The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 9 | Version 10 |
|---|---|
| Belgian prosecutor: Anti-terror crackdowns may have spurred attackers | Belgian prosecutor: Anti-terror crackdowns may have spurred attackers |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BRUSSELS — The men who brought chaos and carnage to Brussels may have been spurred to act by fears that counterterrorism agents were closing in, according to a message linked to one of the suspected suicide bombers that was described by authorities Wednesday. | BRUSSELS — The men who brought chaos and carnage to Brussels may have been spurred to act by fears that counterterrorism agents were closing in, according to a message linked to one of the suspected suicide bombers that was described by authorities Wednesday. |
| The missive, contained in a discarded computer, does not specifically cite recent raids across Belgium, including one that netted a key suspect in last year’s Paris attacks. But its tone suggests a sense that the noose was tightening, according to Belgium’s federal prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw. | |
| The message also gives apparent insight into the tactics, organization and motivation of the militants who perpetrated the worst attack on Belgian soil since World War II, and possibly a deeper look into the wider network linked to last year’s Paris massacres. | |
| [‘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. | |
| 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. |
| Bakraoui, 29, was identified by authorities as among three suicide bombers — his younger brother Khalid, 27, and another man — who struck Brussels airport and a metro station in back-to-back attacks, killing at least 31 people and injuring 270. | Bakraoui, 29, was identified by authorities as among three suicide bombers — his younger brother Khalid, 27, and another man — who struck Brussels airport and a metro station in back-to-back attacks, killing at least 31 people and injuring 270. |
| A fourth suspect — whose airport bomb failed to detonate — is still at large. The Islamic State terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attacks. | |
| 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.” |
| [Who is the suspected bombmaker?] | [Who is the suspected bombmaker?] |
| “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” discovered on a computer. He did not explain why authorities believed the computer belonged to Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. | Van Leeuw described the file as a “will” discovered on a computer. He did not explain why authorities believed the computer belonged to Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. |
| 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. | |
| Belgian media initially reported that a suspect arrested Wednesday was 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui, whom European security officials have described as a suspected Islamic State bombmaker. | Belgian media initially reported that a suspect arrested Wednesday was 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui, whom European security officials have described as a suspected Islamic State bombmaker. |
| But those reports were later retracted, and Van Leeuw said Laachraoui was still being sought. His DNA was found on at least one bomb used in the Paris attacks. | But those reports were later retracted, and Van Leeuw said Laachraoui was still being sought. His DNA was found on at least one bomb used in the Paris attacks. |
| [Likely explosives used nicknamed “Mother of Satan”] | [Likely explosives used nicknamed “Mother of Satan”] |
| The latest violence has left European leaders again scrambling for ways to plug holes in security. | |
| 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, 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, 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 Thursday, officials said. At Brussels’s main synagogue, events marking the Purim holiday were called off. | |
| [Belgium’s synagogues go quiet for Jewish holiday of Purim] | [Belgium’s synagogues go quiet for Jewish holiday of Purim] |
| 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. | |
| The targets in Brussels — home of the European Union and NATO — also appeared to have been chosen for their symbolic value and for their ease of access. | The targets in Brussels — home of the European Union and NATO — also appeared to have been chosen for their symbolic value and for their ease of access. |
| “What we had feared has happened,” said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “This is a black moment for our country.” | “What we had feared has happened,” said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “This is a black moment for our country.” |
| [How the Brussels attacks could force Obama to betray his policy instincts] | [How the Brussels attacks could force Obama to betray his policy instincts] |
| The attackers first struck with twin bombings at the international airport, where early-morning travelers were preparing to board flights linking Brussels to cities across the continent and around the world. An hour later, a subway car transiting beneath the modernist glass-and-steel high-rises that house the E.U. erupted in smoke and flame. | The attackers first struck with twin bombings at the international airport, where early-morning travelers were preparing to board flights linking Brussels to cities across the continent and around the world. An hour later, a subway car transiting beneath the modernist glass-and-steel high-rises that house the E.U. erupted in smoke and flame. |
| Some of the injured lost limbs as shrapnel from the blasts radiated through packed crowds. Cellphone video recorded in the minutes after the airport blasts showed children cowering on a bloody floor amid the maimed and the dead. | Some of the injured lost limbs as shrapnel from the blasts radiated through packed crowds. Cellphone video recorded in the minutes after the airport blasts showed children cowering on a bloody floor amid the maimed and the dead. |
| 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. | 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. |
| [Has terrorism become the new normal in Europe?] | [Has terrorism become the new normal in Europe?] |
| Surveillance camera images show the man, wearing a hat pulled low, next to Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and another man — still unidentified who is believed to have died in the blasts. All three are walking through the airport departure hall with apparent explosive-packed cases on luggage carts. | |
| Images from a subway station revealed desperate scenes as people dressed for a day’s work stumbled from the mangled wreckage into a smoke-filled tunnel. | |
| Authorities acknowledged that they had been readying for an attack. But nothing like this, they said. | Authorities acknowledged that they had been readying for an attack. But nothing like this, they said. |
| “We never could have imagined something of this scale,” Interior Minister Jan Jambon told Belgian television station RTL. | “We never could have imagined something of this scale,” Interior Minister Jan Jambon told Belgian television station RTL. |
| 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. | |
| [How Belgium became a hub for militants] | [How Belgium became a hub for militants] |
| The State Department also issued an alert on traveling in Europe, urging Americans to avoid crowded places and to exercise caution during religious holidays and at large festivals or events. | The State Department also issued an alert on traveling in Europe, urging Americans to avoid crowded places and to exercise caution during religious holidays and at large festivals or events. |
| Europe has struggled mightily with spillover from the churning conflict in Syria. Thousands of European citizens have traveled there to fight in a war that has become a focal point for jihadists around the world. Many have returned to Europe radicalized. Europe has vowed to confront them. | Europe has struggled mightily with spillover from the churning conflict in Syria. Thousands of European citizens have traveled there to fight in a war that has become a focal point for jihadists around the world. Many have returned to Europe radicalized. Europe has vowed to confront them. |
| “This is a kind of scenario every capital in Europe feared since the November attacks last year. A mixture of foreign fighters coming back with experience, local sympathizers on the other hand,” said Rik Coolsaet, a terrorism expert at Ghent University who has advised the Belgian government on how to fight radicalization. “You have such a large number of soft targets, and you cannot secure all of them.” | “This is a kind of scenario every capital in Europe feared since the November attacks last year. A mixture of foreign fighters coming back with experience, local sympathizers on the other hand,” said Rik Coolsaet, a terrorism expert at Ghent University who has advised the Belgian government on how to fight radicalization. “You have such a large number of soft targets, and you cannot secure all of them.” |
| James McAuley and Anthony Faiola in Brussels, Daniela Deane and Karla Adam in London, and Brian Murphy, Carol Morello and Matt Zapotosky in Washington contributed to this report. | James McAuley and Anthony Faiola in Brussels, Daniela Deane and Karla Adam in London, and Brian Murphy, Carol Morello and Matt Zapotosky 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 |