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| John Kerry, in Brussels, Says ISIS Is Faltering in Mideast | John Kerry, in Brussels, Says ISIS Is Faltering in Mideast |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Islamic State is desperately lashing out in Europe because its base in the Middle East is rapidly eroding, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday in Brussels, where he traveled to demonstrate the United States’ support for Belgium three days after bombs killed 31 people, including at least two Americans. | The Islamic State is desperately lashing out in Europe because its base in the Middle East is rapidly eroding, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday in Brussels, where he traveled to demonstrate the United States’ support for Belgium three days after bombs killed 31 people, including at least two Americans. |
| “We will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred,” Mr. Kerry said, directly addressing Islamic State militants who have struck Paris; Ankara, Turkey; Tunis; San Bernardino, Calif.; and elsewhere. “And we will come back with greater resolve, with greater strength, and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of this earth.” | |
| Mr. Kerry, standing next to Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium, said that 66 nations, including Belgium, had joined a coalition devoted to fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. | |
| “The very reason that Daesh is resorting to actions outside of the Middle East is that its fantasy of a caliphate is collapsing before their eyes,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the organization. “Its territory is shrinking every day, its leaders are being decimated, its revenue resources are dwindling, and its fighters are fleeing,” he said. | |
| Mr. Kerry said that “basic decency and humanity” were the most effective responses to terrorism. He singled out Dr. Laura Billiet, an American who rushed to a police station after bombs ripped through Brussels Airport, and who immediately set up triage operations, tending to victims with burns and shrapnel wounds, with limited supplies at hand. “No statement could be simpler, and yet no statement could really be more powerful,” he said. | |
| Mr. Kerry confirmed that at least two American citizens were among the dead in Brussels, although their names have not been made public. | Mr. Kerry confirmed that at least two American citizens were among the dead in Brussels, although their names have not been made public. |
| “The United States, I want you to know, is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those who have been very cruelly taken from us — including Americans — and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks,” he said. | “The United States, I want you to know, is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those who have been very cruelly taken from us — including Americans — and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks,” he said. |
| The United States has become keenly attuned to the Islamic State’s use of social media to disseminate its propaganda, and Mr. Kerry appeared to have carefully calibrated his remarks to appeal to Muslims. | The United States has become keenly attuned to the Islamic State’s use of social media to disseminate its propaganda, and Mr. Kerry appeared to have carefully calibrated his remarks to appeal to Muslims. |
| “Those whose lives were torn apart this week were not combatants in any kind of conflict,” he said. “They posed no threat. They wished no one any harm. They were simply going about their lives: airport and subway workers; a Peruvian mother of twins who was training to be a chef; an American personal trainer flying home for Easter; an Indian employee of a high-tech firm; Mormon missionaries; public servants; teachers; tourists.” | “Those whose lives were torn apart this week were not combatants in any kind of conflict,” he said. “They posed no threat. They wished no one any harm. They were simply going about their lives: airport and subway workers; a Peruvian mother of twins who was training to be a chef; an American personal trainer flying home for Easter; an Indian employee of a high-tech firm; Mormon missionaries; public servants; teachers; tourists.” |
| He added: “Contrast these good people, innocent people, with the twisted killers who planted the bombs, terrorists whose sole aim was to kill and maim and sow fear. There, in the sharpest relief possible, we see in that, the difference between life and death, between decency and evil, and between civilization and those who revel in destruction.” | He added: “Contrast these good people, innocent people, with the twisted killers who planted the bombs, terrorists whose sole aim was to kill and maim and sow fear. There, in the sharpest relief possible, we see in that, the difference between life and death, between decency and evil, and between civilization and those who revel in destruction.” |
| Mr. Kerry and Mr. Michel spoke together at the prime minister’s residence. Mr. Michel kept his remarks brief, acknowledging that “we need to improve the fight against terrorism in Europe and in Belgium.” | Mr. Kerry and Mr. Michel spoke together at the prime minister’s residence. Mr. Michel kept his remarks brief, acknowledging that “we need to improve the fight against terrorism in Europe and in Belgium.” |
| He added: “The history between the United States and Europe has been a steady one. They’ve always been side by side.” Switching to English, he said, “I wish also to express my condolences to the American victims.” | |
| The Belgian government has come under heavy criticism for failures in intelligence, law enforcement and information sharing that have allowed Brussels to become a hub of terrorist planning in Europe. | The Belgian government has come under heavy criticism for failures in intelligence, law enforcement and information sharing that have allowed Brussels to become a hub of terrorist planning in Europe. |
| At 2 p.m. on Friday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens will face a parliamentary committee, whose members are expected to ask tough questions about security lapses. | At 2 p.m. on Friday, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens will face a parliamentary committee, whose members are expected to ask tough questions about security lapses. |
| Officials have acknowledged that they should have acted on an alert last year from Turkey about a Belgian with a criminal record, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, one of the suicide bombers on Tuesday. He was detained in Turkey near the Syrian border on suspicion of terrorist activity, but the Belgian authorities never followed up. He was deported to the Netherlands at his request. | Officials have acknowledged that they should have acted on an alert last year from Turkey about a Belgian with a criminal record, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, one of the suicide bombers on Tuesday. He was detained in Turkey near the Syrian border on suspicion of terrorist activity, but the Belgian authorities never followed up. He was deported to the Netherlands at his request. |
| In addition, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said that Mr. Bakraoui’s younger brother, Khalid — also one of the three suicide bombers — had been sought in connection with the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris. | In addition, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said that Mr. Bakraoui’s younger brother, Khalid — also one of the three suicide bombers — had been sought in connection with the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris. |
| Mr. Kerry’s comments came as terrorism investigators across Europe cast a wide net in their effort to detain accomplices, obtain clues and above all avert further violence. | |
| On Thursday night, the Belgian authorities held six people for questioning after raids in central Brussels and in the Schaerbeek and Jette neighborhoods of the city, all in connection with the investigation into the Tuesday attacks. Further details were expected on Friday. | |
| The same night, in a raid on an apartment building in Argenteuil, northwest of Paris, the authorities arrested a Frenchman on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist plot in the “advanced stages” of planning. The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said there was “no tangible evidence” linking that man to the Paris or Brussels attacks. | |
| Also on Thursday evening, the police in Düsseldorf arrested a man long known to the authorities for having ties to Salafists in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, to prevent him from fleeing to Syria, a spokesman for the state prosecutor said. | |
| The suspect, identified by the newsmagazine Der Spiegel as Samir E., did not resist arrest, said the prosecutor’s spokesman, Ralf Herrenbrück. He declined to confirm a report in Der Spiegel that the man had been deported last summer by the Turkish authorities and flown back to the Netherlands, with Khalid el-Bakraoui, after the two were detained while trying to cross into Syria from Turkey. | |
| Mr. Bakraoui, 27, blew himself up at 9:11 a.m. Tuesday at a subway station near the headquarters of the European Union. Ibrahim Bakraoui, 29, blew himself up more than an hour earlier, at 7:58 a.m., at Brussels Airport. |