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Two explosions ripped through Brussels airport Tuesday during the morning rush hour as hundreds of passengers were trying to check in. (March 22) AP
Image from TV hows Belgian policemen and a soldier carrying an injured person after an explosion at the Maelbeek Metro station in Brussels on Tuesday.(Photo: EPA photo)
BRUSSELS —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Explosions at an<span style="color: Red;">*</span>airport and a downtown<span style="color: Red;">*</span>metro stop during morning rush hour<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rocked the Belgian capital<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tuesday, killing at least 31 people, wounding more than 150<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and shutting down all public transportation.
Terror alerts rose across Europe, in the U.S. and around the world.
Belgium's federal prosecutor confirmed the two blasts at the airport and a third at the metro station were terrorist attacks. The metro station is located near<span style="color: Red;">*</span>buildings that house European Union institutions in central Brussels.
"We were fearing terrorist attacks and that has now happened," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said.
Maggie De Block, Belgium's federal health minister, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the airport attack killed at least 11 people and injured 81. Brussels Mayor Yvan Majeur put the subway death toll at 20, with more than 100 wounded there.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Belgian public broadcaster RTBF<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a total of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>34 dead, but that number could not be immediately verified.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement to the Amaq news agency.
"Islamic State fighters opened fire inside Zaventem Airport before several of them detonated their explosive belts," the statement said, adding that a "martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Malbeek metro station."
Belgium<span style="color: Red;">*</span>raised the terror threat to its maximum level and heightened<span style="color: Red;">*</span>security across the region. Non-essential staff were evacuated from Belgium's power plants in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Doel and Tihange as a precaution, the plants' French operator, Engie, told Reuters.
The attack follows the arrest of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in November's Paris attacks who was captured in Brussels Friday after a four-month manhunt.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Belgium's state news agency reported shots were fired and shouting in Arabic was heard before the explosions at the airport.
President Obama, speaking in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Havana, Cuba, on the third day of a Latin American tour, said the U.S. stands<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with Belgium and that the attack is "yet another reminder that the world must unite, we<span style="color: Red;">*</span>must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith, in fighting against the scourge of terrorism."
Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the attack “an appalling assault on the people of Belgium, on the European Union and on every nation that stands for peace and the rule of law."
Authorities in New York, Washington, Boston and elsewhere announced tighter security at transit hubs and tourist sites.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>There were no indications of specific threats against U.S. targets, authorities said.
USA TODAY
Obama says world must unite against terror after Brussels attack
USA TODAY
U.S. security boosted after Belgium attacks
In Brussels, the government instructed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people to avoid the airport to provide easy access<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for emergency<span style="color: Red;">*</span>responders. Aviation authorities evacuated Brussels Airport,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>diverted incoming flights and canceled all flights until 6 a.m. Wednesday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The airport, about 7 miles northeast of central Brussels,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>serves about 24 million people a year.
RTBF, citing the Belgium prosecutor's office, said Arabic screams were heard in the departures hall before shots rang out, followed by the explosions. A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kalashnikov rifle was found at the scene, RTBF said.
Three Mormon missionaries from Utah were seriously injured in the airport blasts, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said. Church official<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Frederic Babin said the three were hospitalized.
The Belgian Crisis Center said a suspicious package was "neutralized" by security officials shortly after the attack.
Airport worker Anthony Deloos told the Associated Press<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the first explosion took place near<span style="color: Red;">*</span>counters where customers pay for overweight baggage. He and a colleague said the second blast hit near the Starbucks.
Was abt to land in Brx when plane turned. Thoughts go to all affected by terrible acts of terror. Unacceptable attack on our free society
— Cecilia Malmström (@MalmstromEU) March 22, 2016
"We heard a big explosion. It’s like when you’re in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise,” Deloos said, adding that he jumped into a luggage chute to protect himself.
The airport evacuation left<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hundreds of people stuck in the parking lot and on the runway of the airport.
George Dallemagne, a member of Belgium's parliament, drove<span style="color: Red;">*</span>his wife to the airport shortly before<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the explosion occurred. She called at 7:58 a.m. to tell him about the explosion. She told him she heard two blasts and ran toward the Sheraton hotel across from the airport.
She said she saw elderly people on stretchers and people streaming<span style="color: Red;">*</span>out of the terminal with injuries that appeared to be caused by shattered glass. A part of the ceiling in the departures hall collapsed, she told him.
"Brussels Airport extends its deepest sympathy to the friends and relatives of the victims of the explosions in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>departures hall<span style="color: Red;">*</span>earlier this morning," the airport said in a statement.
Immediately following the blast at the metro station, transportation authorities shut down the entire subway system. Thirty minutes later, officials suspended all public transportation, including trams and buses.
Ángela González, 45, lives near an underground station in Brussels.
"Schools are closed, no one is allowed to leave. In fact, no one is allowed out of wherever they are," she said. "All you can hear is sirens and streets are completely deserted."
González said the attacks don't<span style="color: Red;">*</span>make her want to return to her native Spain. "This is not just a Belgium problem, it is a European problem. We would not be safer elsewhere."
The EU, headquartered in Brussels, told its staff to stay at home or remain inside buildings. The location of the metro stop is in a main thoroughfare of Brussels that connects the Schuman roundabout,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where the European Commission and the Council of the EU are located, to the center of the city.
Michel also urged people to stay at home.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>He called the attacks a "black day for Belgium" and urged calm. "We have to face this united," he said.
"We are at war," said French Prime Minister<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Manuel Valls. "We have been enduring acts of war for many months in Europe. And in the face of this war, we need an every minute mobilization." The Paris terror attacks in November killed 130 people.
USA TODAY
Paris terror suspect shot, captured in Belgium
Images on social media showed smoke rising from the airport and panic at the entrance to the Maelbeek metro station.
Alex Rossi, a journalist for Sky News who was in the duty-free area of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>airport at the time of the explosions, told the British broadcaster:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"There was panic, people trying to find shelter where they were after we heard those two explosions. I could feel the building move. There was also dust and smoke as well.”
Simon O’Connor, who works for the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>European Commission in Brussels,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told the Financial Times he was in the airport's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>parking lot when he heard the first explosion and thought it had something to do with construction work.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>He heard the second explosion minutes later.
“I walked to the edge of the car park and you could see a lot of people looking distraught,” he said. “The whole side of the terminal building was blown out. A lot of people had blood on their faces, leg injuries. People began pouring out of the building.”
French President Francois Hollande said the war against terror must be fought "in cold blood."
"Through the attacks in Brussels, the whole of Europe has been hit," Hollande said.
Hjelmgaard reported from Berlin; Reuter reported from Brussels; Bacon from McLean, Va. Contributing: Kevin Johnson in Washington, D.C.;<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Belen Diego,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nikolia Apostolou and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Maya Vidon in Berlin
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