The U.S. Embassy in Brussels is recommending that Americans in Belgium stay where they are and avoid public transportation.
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Blasts then rock Maelbeek station close to EU HQBRUSSELS A series of explosions ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train on Tuesday, killing around 35 people and injuring more than 200 in the latest attacks to rock Europe.
Two Jet Airways crew members were injured in the explosions which led the airline to cancel all its flights to and from the Belgian capital till tomorrow. Two bombs went off at the Brussels Airport in Zaventem around eight A.M. local time, outside the airport’s security checkpoints.
In a statement the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said that “their number one priority is always the safety and security of our passengers and all airport employees”.
President Obama was right to strongly condemn the Brussels attackers in the preface to his speech in Havana this morning. Tuesday’s attacks followed on the heels of last week’s capture of Europe’s most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam, in a bloody raid in Brussels. A regional governor says there are “more than 10 deaths” at the airport and at least 20 killed at the subway station. He said Sunday that authorities took the claim seriously because “we found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations and we have seen a new network of people around him in Brussels”. Security was tightened at the Dutch border with Belgium. Pictures on social media showed smoke rising from the terminal building through shattered windows and passengers running away down a slipway, some still hauling their bags.
Emergency services attend the scene following the blast at Maelbeek metro station.
– Shortly after 0800 GMT: A third explosion hits a train in Maalbeek metro station near European Union headquarters. Belgium’s interior minister, Jan Jambon, said on Monday that the country was on high alert for a revenge attack following Abdeslam’s arrest.
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“We know that stopping one cell can… push others into action”. Indeed, they bear hallmarks of the coordinated attacks the group carried out in Paris past year, which killed 130 people at several public locations, including a music venue and several eateries. “We are aware of it in this case”, Jambon said.
