Europeans have been struck once again after more than 32 people were killed in Belgium in two bomb blasts that exploded at an international airport and another at a metro train station near European Union headquarters in Brussels.
Belgian police said 11 people were killed at Zaventem international airport north east of Brussels, while and another 20 died in a blast that struck a metro station near the headquarters of the European Union – Europe’s political institution.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for both attacks in which the group said targeted “Crusader states allied against the Islamic State.”
The attacks also came just days after Belgian authorities arrested Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last November’s terror attacks in Paris that were also claimed by IS.
The move by Belgian authorities to raise the nation’s terrorism alert to the highest level including diversion of planes and trains as well as ordering people to stay where they were, confirmed many people’s fears that more attacks could be on the way.
The attacks were condemned by world leaders including US president Barrack Obama. Obama, whose historic trip to Cuba was interrupted by the terrorist attacks, ordered all US flags to fly at half-mast.
Obama vowed to track the terrorists: “We will do whatever it takes, working with nations and peoples around the world, to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, and to go after terrorists who threaten our people.”
French Prime Minister Francois Hollande declared thus; “we are at war” while British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that “we will never let these terrorists win.”
Belgian police released a photo of three men who were thought to have carried out the attack at the airport. Two of the men are believed to have died in the blasts, while another one is thought to be on the run.
A massive man hunt is underway across Belgium.
