This live blog is now closed. You can follow the latest developments on our new live blog here:
Closing summary
- Two of the Brussels attackers have been identified as brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who acted as suicide bombers at Maelbeek metro station and Brussels airport respectively. The two Belgians were already being sought by police due to suspected links to the November terror attacks in Paris.
-
Najim Laachraoui has been tentatively identified as the second airport bomber by French and Belgian media reports, but this has not been confirmed. Reports on Tuesday that he had escaped and was later arrested proved to be wrong.
- The identity of a third man seen at Zavantem airport has not yet been established. Officials said he is thought to have fled the scene after his own bomb failed to detonate. A manhunt is underway.
- French newspaper Le Monde has reported that a second man, carrying a large bag, was seen on CCTV in the Brussels metro with Khalid el-Bakraoui. This is the first mention of a second attacker in the metro bombing and the Guardian is not yet able to verify this.
- Turkey said it had deported Ibrahim el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands in the summer of 2015 and had warned Belgium that he was a suspected foreign fighter.
- 31 people are confirmed to have died in the two attacks, and 300 wounded. Of these, 150 are still being treated in hospitals, 61 of whom are in intensive care. Four patients remain unidentified.
- Three people have so far been officially identified among the dead: Adelma Tapia Ruiz, Leopold Hecht and Oliver Delespesse.
- European justice and security ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the response to the terror threat.
Updated
'Second metro attacker' – reports
French newspaper Le Monde reports that a second man, carrying a large bag, was seen on CCTV in the Brussels metro with Khalid el-Bakraoui, who authorities say carried out the suicide bombing at Maelbeek station.
This is the first mention of a second attacker in the metro bombing. The Guardian is not yet able to verify this report.
The police manhunt in Belgium continues in pursuit of the third suspect pictured at the airport – whose identity is not yet known.
Authorities have confirmed that one of the airport suicide bombers was Ibrahim el-Bakraoui; the other has been named by the media, though not by officials, as Najim Laachraou.
They – along with Khalid el-Bakraoui, who bombed the Maelbeek metro station – were being sought by police in connection with the terror attacks in Paris, and in particular were thought to be linked to Salah Abdeslam, one of the Paris attackers, who was arrested in Brussels this week.
A fourth man was also part of that police search: Mohamed Abrini, 31, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, who allegedly played a key role in planning the assault on Paris.
Abrini was childhood friend of Abdeslam – their families used to be next-door neighbours in Molenbeek – and was described on his international arrest warrant four months ago as “dangerous and probably armed”.
As my colleagues Angelique Chrisafis and Emma Graham-Harrison reported after the arrest of Abdeslam:
Abrini travelled by car with Salah Abdeslam and his brother Brahim – who blew himself up during the attacks – on 10-11 November when the trio made two round trips between Brussels and Paris to rent hideouts for the Paris attackers.
Abrini then travelled to Paris with the convoy of gunmen and bombers. In the days before the attacks, he was spotted on CCTV footage at a service station in northern France buying soft drinks in the company of Abdeslam and at the wheel of the rented black Clio that was later used in the attacks.
He disappeared the day before the gunmen and suicide-bombers attacked the French capital. It is uncertain whether he helped coordinate the attacks from a distance – his relatives have said he was in Brussels on the night of the attacks.
Abrini is thought to have given up training as a welder aged 18 and begun gravitating towards extremists. He was known to police for thefts and drug-related offences. In 2014, his younger brother Souleymane, 20, died in Syria while fighting in an Islamist militia headed by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who was killed in a police raid on 18 November.
In the year before the Paris attacks, Abrini had travelled to Istanbul and perhaps Syria, as well as to Birmingham in the UK, Germany and Morocco.
Updated
This twin image – of young boys in Idomeni, a refugee camp on the Greek-Macedonian border, and in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek – has made headlines in the Belgian media:
From a friend in Schaerbeek. #BrusselsAttacks #NotYourFault #FromSchaerbeekToIdomeni pic.twitter.com/aoCZcF5FXX
— Hans Dreesen (@hansdreesen) March 22, 2016
Dieter Vandebroeck, whose four-year-old son is shown in the second image, told Belgium’s Radio 2:
I found that picture of that young refugee in Greece very arresting.
I let my son hold up a placard with the message: ‘Brussels says we’re ok! It’s not your fault.’
This amateur footage shows the moment Belgian investigators raided an apartment in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek on Tuesday.
A taxi driver led investigators to the building after realising the three men shown in images released by investigators were the passengers he had driven to the airport that morning.
Inside the apartment, police found 15kg of explosives, 150 litres of acetone, 30 litres of oxygenated water, detonators, a suitcase filled with screws and nails as well as materials, such as plastic boxes, needed to pack the explosives.
So far, only three of the 31 people who died in the attacks on the airport and metro station have been named: Adelma Tapia Ruiz, Leopold Hecht and Oliver Delespesse.
(It is unclear whether the three suicide attackers are included in that death toll.)
The task of identifying the dead is a painstakingly slow one, with names only gradually emerging as experts pore over the remains of victims at both attack sites.
A federal police spokesman told Belgium’s RTBF television that the process has been
complicated by the particularly violent explosions and also because there are a lot of foreigners.
Four wounded patients also remain unidentified, officials said on Wednesday, as they are either in a coma or being kept under a medically induced coma.
You can read more about the victims who have been named here:
A website for worried relatives and friends searching for those missing after the blasts now lists 22 names.
British IT programmer David Dixon, who works in Brussels, is one of those unaccounted for since the explosions.
His aunt, Ann Dixon, said she had sent him a text message on Tuesday morning after hearing about the first attack on the airport. He replied to say he was safe – but shortly after is believed to have boarded the metro to travel to work. His family has not heard from him since.
Ann Dixon said:
It was a relief when he texted back soon afterwards and said he was safe and fine. He said he hadn’t even realised that there had been bombs going off at the airport …
He travelled into Brussels on the Metro every day and after we’d texted he must have gone straight out and got on the Metro that was attacked. It was only an hour later when that bomb went off.
Dixon, originally from Hartlepool, County Durham, did not arrive at his office on Tuesday morning.
Updated
Latest summary
- Two of the Brussels attackers have been identified as brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who acted as suicide bombers at Maelbeek metro station and Brussels airport respectively. The two Belgians were already being sought by police due to suspected links to the November terror attacks in Paris.
-
Najim Laachraoui has been tentatively identified as the second airport bomber by French and Belgian media reports, but this has not been confirmed. Reports on Tuesday that he had escaped and was later arrested proved to be wrong.
- The identity of a third man seen at Zavantem airport has not yet been established. Officials said he is thought to have fled the scene after his own bomb failed to detonate. A manhunt is underway.
- Turkey said it had deported Ibrahim el-Bakraoui to the Netherlands in the summer of 2015 and had warned Belgium that he was a suspected foreign fighter.
- 31 people are confirmed to have died in the two attacks, and 300 wounded. Of these, 150 are still being treated in hospitals, 61 of whom are in intensive care. Four patients remain unidentified.
- Three people have so far been officially identified among the dead: Adelma Tapia Ruiz, Leopold Hecht and Oliver Delespesse.
- European justice and security ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the response to the terror threat.
Updated
European security chiefs will travel to Brussels on Thursday for an emergency meeting to discuss the fight against terrorism.
The EU said the meeting of justice and security ministers was
intended to show solidarity with Belgium, discuss the actual state of play in the fight against terrorism and pursue swift completion and implementation of legislation.
UK troops are on standby in case of an Isis attack in Britain, the UK defence secretary Michael Fallon has said:
We have troops standing by now to back up the armed police. The armed police are the first response – they are being increased so there are now armed police, more visible at railway stations, airports. The number of armed response vehicles is being increased in our big cities.
So that is in hand, but as back-up to come in behind the armed police, we now have military in reserve and they are able to call up troops – some 5,000 at 24 hours’ notice and more behind that.”
Fallon told the BBC that extremists wanted to “create mayhem” in European cities, including London.
Referring to the statement by Turkey that it had warned Belgium and the Netherlands that Ibrahim El Bakraoui – who would go on to become one of the airport suicide bombers – was a “foreign terrorist fighter”, Fallon said:
I saw that report but I honestly think it is far too early to start criticising the Belgian authorities until the investigation is complete, until we know exactly the movements of these particular people.
We know that Daesh [Isis] has an external attack-planning operation that is designed to create mayhem on the streets of western cities. London is not exempt from that.
That’s why we have to work together to combat it and it’s why we are playing such a key part in the coalition against Daesh out in Iraq and Syria.
Najim Laachraoui: what we know
Najim Laachraoui has been named in Belgian media reports – but not officially confirmed – as the second airport suicide bomber.
Like the Bakraoui brothers, he was already being hunted by police in connection with the attacks on Paris, for which he was suspected of being a bomb-maker.
In the confusion following the attacks, local media originally reported that 24-year-old Laachraoui was the suspect in the light-coloured coat and hat believed to have fled the airport without detonating his bomb, and that he had later been arrested. But those reports turned out to be wrong.
Before the Brussels attacks, Belgian prosecutors said DNA evidence had identified Moroccan-born Laachraoui as an accomplice of Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam. His DNA was reported to have been found on “several explosive belts”, as well as at hideouts in Auvelais and Schaerbeek that were used to prepare explosives and hide Abdeslam.
Officials believe he used a pseudonym, Soufiane Kayal, to rent the house in Auvelais. A suspect of that name was said by Belgian police in December 2015 to have crossed the Austria-Hungary border with Abdeslam.
He is also understood to have travelled to Syria in February 2013.
The Bakraoui brothers: what we know
Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29, detonated one of two devices that exploded at Zaventem airport. His younger brother Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, was responsible for a third explosion, in a metro carriage at Maelbeek station.
Both men died in the attacks. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was identified from his fingerprints. Police later found a computer containing a last statement from him, in which he said he felt “in a rush, not knowing what to do, being hunted everywhere, not being safe”, and feared “if this goes on, ending up … in a cell”.
The brothers, both Belgian nationals, had long criminal records, although not for terrorism offences. But police had been searching for them before the Brussels attacks after investigators linked them to the attacks in Paris last November.
One Bakraoui brother rented a flat in the Forest area of south-west Brussels that was raided by police last week, leading days later to the capture of Salah Abdeslam, the only known survivor among the Paris attackers.
One of the brothers is also known to have rented a hideout in Charleroi, Belgium, where two Paris attackers, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Bilal Hadfi, met before heading to the French capital.
And one of the Bakraoui brothers is also believed to have provided ammunition and weapons for the Paris attacks.
Many of Thursday’s newspaper front pages are still focused on Brussels: the mourning and the questions that have followed revelations about the identities of some of the bombers.
Le Soir, Belgium
Edition spéciale @lesoir ce jeudi sur les attentats de Bruxelles https://t.co/5txp2EhknI pic.twitter.com/RkCO8AWZw5
— Le Soir (@lesoir) March 23, 2016
PZC, Netherlands
En zo ziet de voorpagina van donderdag 24 maart eruit: pic.twitter.com/SJvsmRpw19
— PZC (@pzcredactie) March 23, 2016
International New York Times
Thursday's International NY Times:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) March 23, 2016
Belgium on high alert and in mourning#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/2N14y24dRG
The Guardian
Thursday's Guardian front page:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) March 23, 2016
Brussels killers linked to Paris terror attacks#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/Asn2ahWQac
The UK’s Daily Telegraph reports that Belgium was ordered to “overhaul” its border force just three weeks ago because guards were failing to check arrivals from high-risk countries against the EU’s counter-terrorism database.
The Telegraph says the European Council gave Belgium “an extensive list of recommendations” on 29 February to address its “deficient” border security:
At Brussels Charleroi airport, which runs budget flights to Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey, untrained border officers were deployed to check passports, and mandatory daily briefings on new security threats did not take place.
The report says that Belgium must “ensure that only the officers who passed the basic border guard training are deployed to perform border checks”.
Belgium’s ambassador to Australia has rejected claims by the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, that Europe’s security is weak, and said blaming the Syrian refugee crisis for terrorism in Europe was dangerous.
On Wednesday the prime minister said “early signs” indicated the Brussels attacks had been inspired or planned by Islamic State in Syria:
Recent intelligence indicates that Isil is using the [Syrian] refugee crisis to send operatives into Europe.
But Belgium’s ambassador to Australia, Jean-Luc Bodon, said the statement was
dangerous because it’s precisely what Isis wants – that we would make a confusion between terrorism and migration and between terrorism and Islam.
He said the Belgian prime minister had asked people “not to blame one community because this is the worst thing that we could do and this is the most counterproductive”.
Turnbull said Australia’s security was stronger than that in Europe because the country has “strong border protection”, with fewer porous borders, and “a much greater insight into people who we would regard as being threats or likely to pose a risk to safety of Australians”.
He said there had been a “real breakdown in intelligence” in Europe:
If you can’t control your borders, you don’t know who’s coming or going. Regrettably they allowed things to slip and that weakness in European security is not unrelated to the problems they’ve been having in recent times.
Bodon said such a claim was “really unfair”:
You have had attacks in most countries … in the USA, in Europe, they’ve taken place in Paris … in London, in Madrid, in Rome – even in Russia and nobody thinks that Russian intelligence and security services are weak.
What we know so far
A quick round-up of what we know and don’t know about developments in Brussels:
- Two of the attackers have been identified as brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who acted as suicide bombers at Maelbeek metro station and Brussels airport respectively. The two Belgians were already being sought by police due to suspected links to the November terror attacks in Paris.
- Reports on Tuesday that another suspect, Najim Laachraoui, had been arrested proved to be wrong. Laachraoui has been tentatively identified as the second airport bomber by French and Belgian media reports, but this has not been confirmed.
- The identity of a third man seen at Zavantem airport has not yet been established.
- Turkey said it had deported Ibrahim Bakraoui to the Netherlands in the summer of 2015 and had warned Belgium that he was a suspected foreign fighter.
- 31 people are confirmed to have died in the two attacks, and 300 wounded. Of these, 150 are still being treated in hospitals, 61 of whom are in intensive care. Four patients remain unidentified.
- Three people have so far been officially identified among the dead: Adelma Tapia Ruiz, Leopold Hecht and Oliver Delespesse.
This is Claire Phipps now picking up the blog again from Ben Quinn.
One of France’s best known ‘public intellectuals,’ Bernard-Henri Lévy, has been sharing his thoughts on the Brussels attacks, and concludes that “Europe is now in a state of emergency”
“What happened in Brussels presented a new scale,” he told BBC Newsnight a little earlier, suggesting that that ISIS could only be defeated through concerted military action to destroy its training camps. Here’s a snatch of what he said:
"Europe is now in a state of emergency... it is not only war, it is general war": Bernard-Henri Lévy aka @BHL https://t.co/uKLciHFMbd
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 23, 2016
Wembley Stadium’s arch has been lit up in the colours of the Belgian flag as England’s Football Association paid its respects to the victims of the Brussels bombings.
The 315-metre long arch, which can be seen for miles across London, was lit in red, yellow and black from 6pm on Wednesday.
The statement of solidarity brought back memories of November’s terrorist attacks in Paris when Wembley was one of several London buildings to be decorated with the French tricolore.
A man who sparked an outcry on Twitter after tweeting about confronting a Muslim woman on a street in south London and challenging her to “explain Brussels” has been arrested by police.
London’s Metropolitan police confirmed that a 46-year-old man had been arrested on Wednesday evening in Croydon on suspicion of inciting racial hatred via social media.
He is understood to be Matthew Doyle, a partner at a south London-based talent & PR agency, who tweeted earlier in the day: “I confronted a Muslim women [sic] yesterday in croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said “Nothing to do with me” a mealy mouthed reply.”
The comments, which followed Tuesday’s bomb attacks at Brussels airport and on the city’s metro system, were later deleted but sparked a furious response from other users of Twitter.
I confronted Croydon and asked it to explain @MatthewDoyle31. Nobody had heard of him ever. A mealy mouthed reply. pic.twitter.com/wAJDWH7zv3
— Khamis M. Mustafa (@realkhamis) March 23, 2016
Following criticism by other users of Twitter, Doyle tweeted: “Who cares if I insulted some towelhead?”
Officers for the Metropolitan police in Croydon tweeted on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested for inciting racial hatred.
Suspect arrested for inciting racial hatred on twitter #ZDERTD #WeStandTogether #Croydon #Community @CroydonAd pic.twitter.com/BcjcKAPrFl
— Croydon MPS (@MPSCroydon) March 23, 2016
Updated
A picture which is said to show a page from the passport of Ibrahim el-Bakraoui when he was arrested in Turkey has been published by the Daily Sabah, an English language newspaper in Turkey.
As reported earlier, the Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric van Leeuw, confirmed media reports that Bakraoui detonated one of two devices that exploded at Zaventem airport, killing himself and 11 others and injuring more than 90.
The Guardian’s Kareem Shaheen reported earlier on emerging details in relation to Bakraoui’s detention and deportation from Turkey.
The Daily Sabah says reports that the 29-year-old entered Turkey on June 11 last year and was detained by Turkish authorities three days later.
Turkish police apprehended El Bakraoui during a routine police check to catch possible terror suspects in Turkey’s Gaziantep province and deported him from Istanbul Atatürk Airport.
Updated
Belgians, and others, are continuing to remember the dead and show solidarity with those hurt in the attacks. Here’s the scene in the Place de la Bourse, Brussels, via the BBC’s Anna Holligan:
Tonight in heart of the city #Brussels @BBCRadio4 #BrusselsAttacks pic.twitter.com/uGLgTs94hy
— anna holligan (@annaholligan) March 23, 2016
.. the black, yellow and red of Belgium’s flag is meanwhile being projected on landmarks around the world. Here’s the London Eye:
#London pays tribute #belgium #brussels #trafalgarsquare #londoneye #southbank #flag #solidarity pic.twitter.com/KujL3rz798
— Kieran Brown (@Kierbro) March 23, 2016
Angelique Chrisafis, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent, has been in Schaerbeek, the area of north-east Brussels from where the three men involved in the attack on Brussels airport departed on Tuesday.
She describes the top-floor fat where they had been staying:
The letterboxes were all stuffed to overflowing with junk mail and supermarket coupon catalogues. In the small entrance hallway, a bare bulb poked from a broken light, there was paint dotted across the old mosaic-tiled floor and signs of decorating work going on the first floor.
“I spoke to them once, there were two brothers,” said a local painter and decorator of the mysterious group of men who had spent time on the fifth floor. “I saw one of them in the lift only once – he had a beard – but he never spoke, and the others I never saw at all,” said Jairo Valderana, a Colombian who lived next door to them on the fifth floor, his front-door metres away from the men’s hideout.
Valderana, who arrived in Brussels with his wife and daughters, aged 14 and 18, a month ago said he had never heard anything strange from the flat until police arrived on Tuesday night shouting at all the neighbours to put their hands up.
Updated
David Cameron has suggested Christian leaders should help their “brothers and sisters who are Muslim” fight against extremism in the wake of the Brussels terror attack.
Speaking at an Easter reception at 10 Downing Street, his official residence, Cameron referred to the “dark and difficult world we’re currently living in” and said he wanted to “fortify” people to defeat extremism.
“This is the great fight that we have to join,” Cameron said in the comments first reported by Bloomberg.
Our brothers and sisters who are Muslims, they want our assistance. We should be reaching out and wanting to help them battle against extremism.
We have to build stronger and more resilient communities. We have to make sure that people who are drifting into an extremist mindset are yanked back.
Updated
Nicolas Hénin, the French journalist who was kept as hostage by Isis for 10 months, writes in a just-published piece for the Guardian that those who held him will draw as much satisfaction from the “banal images” of the three airport attackers as other images associated with the group, such as the black flags and orange suits prisoners are made to wear.
He writes that the picture sends a message:
…. that the enemy looks ordinary and walks among you. It is one of the goals of Isis to sow division and make us afraid of one another. That was one of the things I learned during my captivity.
He adds that how Europe reacts is now absolutely crucial, “but the omens are not good”:
Already Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, and François Hollande, the president, have fallen into the trap of referring to this challenge as a “war”. That is the last thing they should be saying. I can tell them from my experience that this is the sort of approach Isis wants.
The terrorists don’t just want to talk about a war, they hope to provoke, within Europe itself, a civil war. But this is not a war, and we must not see it as such.
I prefer to call it large-scale political violence. And the important thing about that approach is that we have seen large-scale political violence before in our history. If we adopt a militaristic, warlike vocabulary, there will be no way back from that. We will only strengthen our enemies.
You can read the pieces in full here:
Updated
An American couple who were feared to have been among those caught up in the blasts in Brussels are alive, according to Janet Shamlian of NBC News.
BREAKING: Tennessee couple missing in Brussels terror attack found alive! Injuries unknown pic.twitter.com/v6XDTfhC7m
— Janet Shamlian (@JanetShamlian) March 23, 2016
Calls are mounting to urgently redress a “security deficit” at the heart of the European Union by crafting more of a collective response to terror attacks, according to the Financial Times.
It quotes Antonio Tajani, an Italian centre-right MEP who is responsible for internal security at the European Parliament, as saying:
We need to create a sort of Europol for intelligence or we risk being hit again. It’s not enough to say that we are against terrorism if the Italians and the Germans don’t talk to each other, if the French and Belgians don’t talk to each other
Aside from intelligence sharing, some in Europe’s security apparatus are said to believe that the real issue is a patchiness when it comes to security capabilities.
While Britain and France have significant resources, followed perhaps by Germany, Belgium’s own state security service is said to be severely stretched.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog now from Raya Jalabi.
Updated
Latest summary
Here’s what we know so far:
The attackers
- Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui have been identified as suicide bombers at the metro station and Brussels airport respectively. The two Belgians were already being sought by police due to suspected links to the November terror attacks in Paris.
- Belgian media retracted an earlier report that a third suspect, Najim Laachraoui, had been arrested after a major manhunt. Laachraoui has since been tentatively identified as the second airport bomber by French and Belgian media reports, but this has not yet been verified by the Guardian.
- Ibrahim Bakraoui was detained and deported to the Netherlands from Turkey in the summer of 2015, the Turkish president said. Turkey said it had warned Belgium that he was a suspected foreign fighter.
- Three suspects were captured on CCTV at the airport, two wearing black gloves on their left hands thought to have concealed detonators.
Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis spoke to neighbors in Schaerbeek, for more on the four Brussels attackers. Read the full report here.
The victims
- In an update on Wednesday afternoon, Belgium’s health minister Maggie de Block said that there were 31 dead from both attacks. The number of wounded had gone up to 300 (from 270): 150 were still being treated in hospitals across the country, 61 were still in intensive care.
- Four patients remain unidentified, as they were either in a coma or were being kept under a medically induced coma.
- The injured come from 40 countries.
- Three people have been officially identified among the dead. Adelma Tapia Ruiz was the first victim of the attacks to be named. A wounded Jet Airways crew member pictured in the immediate aftermath of the explosion in her torn and bloodied yellow uniform has been named as Nidhi Chaphekar.
Read the full report on victims here.
The investigation
- Anti-terror police raided a flat in Brussels suburb of Anderlecht on Wednesday, making one arrest.
- During a raid on Schaerbeek following the attacks, police also found 15kg of explosives, 150 litres of acetone, 30 litres of oxygenated water, detonators, a suitcase filled with screws and nails as well as materials, such as plastic boxes, needed to pack the explosives.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terror attacks, saying its operatives had carried out “a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices”. A later statement promised further attacks, saying “what is coming is worse and more bitter”.
Belgium is now facing awkward questions over the bombers’ links to Paris terror cell, writes Jon Henley. (Read the full report here).
The Global Response
- Barack Obama said that destroying Isis is his ‘top priority’ in wake of Brussels attacks
- A minute’s silence for the victims was observed in central Brussels. It ended with sustained applause by those who had gathered at the Place de la Bourse.
- Belgium has asked EU ministers to meet to discuss the attacks; this could take place on Thursday morning.
The practicalities
- The Brussels metro closed at 7pm local time. It will reopen on Thursday.
- Brussels airport announced a suspension of all passenger flights until Saturday 26 March.
That’s it from New York, handing over the blog to Ben Quinn in London
• This post was updated on 24 March 2016. An earlier version referred to the Turkish prime minister where the country’s president was meant.
Updated
The fallout from the attacks on Brussels is continuing to have an impact on the UK’s debate ahead of the referendum on membership of the European Union.
The UK’s defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has said in the last hour that he rejects the argument from a former head of MI6 from 1999 to 2004, Sir Richard Dearlove, who claimed that said “the cost to Britain would be low”, from a security perspective, if it were to leave the EU.
“What is very clear to me is that we should not be leaving intelligence sharing partnerships,” Fallon said in an interview with Channel 4 News.
“That is exactly not the thing to do. We should be coming to the aid of our allies and friends rather than walking out on them.”
“This is a European problem and what we certainly can’t do, long beore the referendum is to leave an arrangement which allows is to pool intelligence and information with allies that are just 20 miles away across the channel.”
Updated
Arthur Neslen has been speaking to survivors of the twin attacks in Brussels. Here’s an interview with Joe Hennon, who was on the train behind the one that exploded in Maelbeek:
Hennon, an Irish commission official was on the train behind the one that exploded in Maelbeek. The first he knew of the tragedy was when “the lights went off and then the engine went off,” he said. “I immediately thought something was up so I got off. A lot of people were standing around looking towards Maelbeek but it was hard to see what was going on. A few people started running up the ‘down’ escalator but most just went up the normal way.”
Outside, police were descending on Maelbeek from all sides with sirens blaring. Smoke was fuming from the station. Hennon said: “It looked like there were hundreds of people coming out of every building onto the street. At one point they all began running up the street from Maelbeek in every directions, provoking a stampede. It was hard to work out what was going on.”
“Police were trying to get through the traffic, telling people to get up on the sidewalk and make way for them. I was torn between seeing what was going on and trying to help, but you don’t really know, there could be someone down there with a Kalashnikov running amok, so I just walked to the nearest park.”
Arthur Neslen has been speaking to survivors of the twin attacks in Brussels. Here’s an interview with David Crunelle, an art director who was at Zaventem airport when the bombs went off:
Four minutes before Tuesday morning’s explosion at the Zaventem airport, David Crunelle, a 36-year-old art director, arrived at the main hall to drop off his luggage for a flight to Japan. The counter was opposite the check-in booths run by Delta and American Airlines.
“Suddenly, there was a huge blast and dust crashed down from the ceiling,” he said. “We heard people screaming, shouting and panicking. Then there was another blast a few seconds later. I was 20 metres from the first explosion so my right eardrum was slightly damaged by the noise.”
In an instant, the hall was transformed into a theatre of glass, dust and bomb casualties strewn across the floor and shrouded in smoke, he said.
“A lot of people had their skin cut off or damaged by small pieces of glass that had exploded from the ceiling, windows and walls,” Crunelle said. “Injured people were walking out dizzy and in complete shock. In the center of this hall, close to the second explosion, I saw between five and seven bodies on the ground.”
The airport’s artificial ceiling was collapsing, which made it hard to see. “We saw a few corpses – I don’t want to say corpses but people who weren’t able to walk or stand up – right at the end of the terminal.”
“I didn’t notice the two people but I’m sure we arrived at around the same time and our paths crossed,” Crunelle said. “I feel very, very lucky to be alive”.
Updated
Turkish officials have provided more detail of Ibrahim Bakraoui’s detention and deportation from Turkey in the summer of 2015, including on their warnings to Belgium that he was a suspected foreign fighter, writes the Guardian’s Middle East reporter Kareem Shaheen.
Bakraoui arrived in Antalya, a popular tourist destination, in June 2015. He was detained a week later in Gaziantep by Turkish security forces, who flagged him after he had entered the country as a potential foreign fighter that Turkey believed intended to travel to Syria.
Belgium was informed of his arrest by Turkey on the 14th of July, and the Belgian authorities replied on the 20th of July, saying they had detained Bakraoui before but had released him because they were unable to find any terror links. Turkey wrote back to Belgium warning them that he was considered a foreign fighter with links to Syria.
Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands upon his request. Since Belgium did not request an extradition, he was free to travel anywhere in the EU zone. In such a situation, the Turkish government informs the country of nationality (Belgium) and the destination country (the Netherlands) of his status.
Turkey currently has over 38,000 individuals from 128 countries who are banned from entering Turkey, and have deported over 3,200 individuals.
Updated
According to several French and Belgian media reports, the second Zaventem airport suicide bomber has been identified by Belgian authorities as Najim Laachraoui.
Le Monde is reporting that Laachraoui was identified by his DNA, which Agence France-Presse is eporting was found at several hide-outs used by the November Paris attackers, as well as on explosive material used during the November attacks on Paris and Saint-Denis.
The Guardian has not yet independently verified these reports.
Update: 300 wounded, 61 remain in intensive care, 40 nationalities
Here’s an update on the conditions of the wounded, from the office of Belgian health minister Maggie de Block. Here are the main updates:
- There are more than 300 wounded from both attacks.
- 150 are still being treated in hospitals across the city.
- 61 patients are in intensive care.
- Four patients remain unidentified on Wednesday afternoon, as they are either in a coma or are being kept under a medically induced coma.
- The most serious injuries were sustained from severe burns, sometimes accompanied by war wounds like blast injuries with some patients being struck by metallic fragments.
- On Wednesday, the hospitals received a certain number of victims who had initially gone home but who have since sustained hearing problems due to the powerful explosions.
- The wounded have been treated in various hospitals across the nine Belgian provinces, including regional, university and specialist hospitals and regional burn centers.
- The Belgian foreign ministry is in touch with foreign embassies in Brussels to coordinate identification, since the wounded come from more than 40 countries.
- After the attacks, about 2,200 non-wounded airport travelers were lodged overnight while waiting for solutions from their airlines. By the end of Wednesday, it is expected that approximately 800 people will again be staying overnight emergency reception centers.
(read the announcement in French)
More on the hospitals treating the wounded here:
Updated
More on the 2015 deportation from Turkey of Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, one of the two suspected Zaventem airport bombers, from Middle East reporter Kareem Shaheen who spoke with a Turkish counter-terrorism official:
- El-Bakraoui was detained in June 2015, one week after arriving in Antalya from a European destination, and after he had traveled from Antalya to Gaziantep.
- He was not arrested based on specific intelligence provided from Europe, but because they suspected him of being linked to foreign fighter networks as part of a Turkish police investigation.
- After he his arrest, he was deported as per standard procedures. The Belgian and Dutch authorities were informed. He was deported to the Netherlands, per his own request, according to Erdogan.
- The Belgian authorities were informed of his arrest, but they said that they had no information specifically linking him to terrorism, so did not request extradition.
• This post was updated on Wednesday 23 March to correctly reflect that el-Bakraoui was in fact known to Belgian authorities.
Updated
Earlier today, Belgian police raided a house in the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht, and detained someone – mistakenly identified by early media reports as the fugitive suspect Najim Laachraoui. Paul Nolan visited Anderlecht following news of the raids:
Burly masked men from Belgian’s security forces huddled outside a residence in Anderlecht, the latest building that appears to have a connection to terrorism.
Locals looked on incredulously as the masked men exited with boxes filled with files before speeding away in dark cars.
Michelle, 43, who lives two blocks away, said she was worried but not surprised by the raid. A cafeteria worker at a local school, she said that teachers were generally unable to control the students at the school, and she linked the terror attacks to the violence she sees in the playground. She said she would move far away if she could afford it.
A grim industrial-looking canal runs through the neighborhood alongside car spare parts businesses. Tourists are drawn to the Erasmus Museum and Jean-Claude Van Damme has his very own statue here.
Vincent, 53, has been living here for the past 16 years. He is part of the Flemish-speaking minority in Brussels though speaks fluent French. Sipping a beer outside Chez Marie on Place de la Vaillance, he said traditional Belgian brasseries like this one are a dying breed. Moroccans, he said, have become the majority and changed the face of Anderlecht. Although he accepts the change, he said he is nostalgic for the past.
But two locals, Janaid, 19, and Anass, 21, have a more optimistic view of the area having grown up here. On the way to play basketball with friends, they said Anderlecht has a lot to offer. They never feel bored or threatened. When asked if they were shocked that Anderlecht could be connected to the terror attack they said they had heard the news on the radio and found it hard to believe.
Further up the road, military personnel and armored vehicles guarded the entrance to metro Saint Guidon. A local Stib transport official said people have been steering clear of public transport despite only 10 stations being closed. Shopkeepers and businesses were for the most part operational, even if under a latent threat of impending terror. The question that remains is whether this is the new normal.
Updated
Brussels airport has announced a suspension of all passenger flights until Saturday 26 March.
There will be no passenger flights into and out of #brusselsairport till Friday 25 March included. Contact your airline for flight info.
— Brussels Airport (@BrusselsAirport) March 23, 2016
Updated
Turkey: Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was attacker detained and deported
A Turkish government official has confirmed to the Guardian that the bomber referred to in Erdogan’s earlier statement is Ibrahim el-Bakraoui.
- El-Bakraoui, who was identified from fingerprints, blew himself up at Zaventem airport.
- During the search of an apartment in Schaerbeek, police found a laptop containing a note written by el-Bakraoui. In the statement, he wrote that he suspected the police were searching for him, and that he did not want to end up in a cell.
Updated
Meanwhile, there are long queues to get through security checks at Brussels’ central train station.
That's veeeery long queue to be security-checked into #Brussels Gare Central. Metro replacement buses working well pic.twitter.com/nRiIKA13sK
— Ryan Heath (@PoliticoRyan) March 23, 2016
Gare centrale très difficile d'accès #bruxelles pic.twitter.com/oESQMieXbn
— Gil Durand (@Guitariosott) March 23, 2016
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will travel to Belgium on Friday to meet with Belgian and EU officials, a spokesman has said.
Kerry is in Moscow to hold talks with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, in a meeting arranged after the Russian president’s surprise announcement on 14 March that he was partially withdrawing his forces from Syria.
Arrived in Moscow, focused on Syria, Ukraine, and other issues at an important moment in US-#Russia relations. pic.twitter.com/EyazFfTu7N
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 23, 2016
Updated
Erdogan: 'one Brussels attacker caught in Turkey last June'
Turkey’s president has said one of the Brussels attackers had been caught in Turkey in June 2015, and deported to the Netherlands by his request, according to Reuters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey reported the deportation to the Belgian authorities in July 2015 and also notified Dutch authorities, adding that Belgium “ignored” Turkey’s warning that the attacker was a militant.
• This post was updated on 24 March 2016. An earlier version referred to Turkey’s prime minister where the country’s president was meant.
Updated
It was a normal day’s commute and about 50 people sat in Joaquin Romero’s train carriage, which had just stopped at Maelbeek. A woman sitting next to him asked “Where is Arts-Loi?” Romero began to reply that it was the next stop. And then chaos descended, writes Arthur Neslen in Brussels.
“Just as I finished answering, I saw a blinding white light – a big flash – and there was smoke all around me and people shouting,” he said. “It was a living nightmare, like a movie. That same sense of time having stopped. I was in front of the door and it was completely destroyed, so I jumped through it.”
It was 9.11am and Khalid el-Bakraoui had just detonated a suicide vest in the next carriage. Reports of the attack at the airport an hour and a half before had already filtered through to passengers, and some began to panic.
Romero, 50, a chemicals worker, was supposed to be taking photos at an event organised by his employer, the Cefic trade association, but in the rush to get out he left his camera bag behind.
“The first thing I did was just to shout ‘I’m still alive! It’s OK!’ about 10 times but my ears had a ringing noise in them,” he said.
Amid the pandemonium, Romero saw that people were bounding up the stairs – which were blast-damaged but still usable – and he followed them.
“I didn’t check to see if anyone else was injured. I just wanted to save myself,” he said. “Then I touched my neck and there was a sharp feeling. That’s when I realised there was a piece of glass stuck in it.”
Romero ran out of the station and asked a nearby police officer what to do – but the officer did not understand what had happened. Then Romero looked back. “I saw a lot of people with blood on their faces – so much blood that I couldn’t recognise if they were men or women and I realised that I had been very lucky.”
The glass splinter was small and, despite of his proximity to the blast, Romero sustained only a minor cut, a fact he attributes to his clothing. “I had a scarf on yesterday and maybe that is what saved my life,” he said.
He finally found a pharmacy worker who cleaned and dressed the wound, then called his wife and family. Romero has since been prescribed sedatives and plans to see a trauma counsellor.
Updated
Israel’s minister of transport, intelligence and atomic energy has delivered a harsh critique of Belgian anti-terrorism strategy shortly after co-ordinated attacks claimed by Isis that left at least 31 people dead.
In jarring and unsympathetic language, Yisrael Katz declared in an interview on Israel Radio: “If in Belgium they continue to eat chocolate and enjoy the good life with their liberalism and democracy, and do not understand that some of the Muslims there are planning terror, they will never be able to fight against them.”
Katz’s crass remarks came amid a flurry of columns in the Israeli media and remarks by security experts, criticising the European strategy against Isis, barely 24 hours since the deadly attacks – and with a large element of victim blaming.
Also joining in was former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, who echoed Katz’s remarks, although in moderately less inflammatory language, blaming the attacks on Belgian’s “laid-back culture” in a country he described as “ultra-liberal, that exists with no governability”.
“It is human nature to react only after large-scale disasters. An example is the September 11 terror attacks in New York. But immediately after the terror attack in New York, the US came to its senses and carried out extensive reforms, of a scope that it had not carried out since the end of the cold war. Homeland security in the US today, from the aspects of budgets and manpower, is the largest ministry in the US cabinet. They also upgraded their law enforcement and intelligence systems by the same degree.
“The European Union, in numbers, has more residents that the US. It could be that the disaster that befell them yesterday will finally wake them up. Isis succeeded in discerning, very well, the soft underbelly of western Europe. And that is Brussels, Belgium, a country that is ultra-liberal, that exists with no governability. It has had a transition government for years because it is impossible to form a real government. It is a country that is madeup of three ethnic groups with three languages, French, Flemish and German. It is a country in which the people don’t know how to communicate with each other because of the language problems.
“There is a general laid-back culture. So the bad guys discerned this, and slowly but steadily, set up base there. They found fertile ground for building a base of helpers from their own people and religion. The Muslim quarters in Brussels are quarters that the police will not enter. In short, that is the situation today. And to get out of it, and this is not just Belgium, Europe has to come to its senses and to decide that this is a number one priority. Belgium is not on its own. We saw that it was a terrorist from Belgium who carried out the terror attack in France.”
Katz’s remarks were immediately condemned by Israeli opposition figures. “The government has devised a system to eradicate terrorism: stop eating chocolate,” opposition MK Shelly Yachimovich tweeted.
For his part, the Zionist Union leader, Isaac Herzog, said: “Stop this contemptible talk. Where did you get the chutzpahto degrade innocent victims of terror? Where do you get this miserable cynicism from? This is a distortion of the most basic human morality. This is a painful moment internationally that obligates all people to identify with the bereaved families, whoever they are, and wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”
Updated
Latest Brussels transport advisory from Belgium’s crisis center:
Attention: metro will be closed in #Brussels from 7pm. Via @STIBMIVB More information: https://t.co/7aeU4AmzGT
— CrisisCenter Belgium (@CrisiscenterBE) March 23, 2016
Speaking in Argentina, where he is on an official visit, Barack Obama has renewed his call for the world to “stand united against terrorism” and pledged that the US will pursue Isis aggressively.
Updated
The Brussels attacks became an opportunity for Republicans in the US Congress to open a new line of attack against closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, writes the Guardian’s US national security editor, Spencer Ackerman.
At a foreign affairs committee hearing today, two Republican members of the House of Representatives predicted that the deadly attacks would sway European states to reverse their longstanding support for shuttering the wartime detention center.
But envoys from the US state and defense departments rubbished the suggestion.
Dana Rohrabacher, a conservative California Republican, mocked “the idea that people throughout the world are going to be so upset with us for keeping a significant number of people who are captured as part of terrorist units incarcerat[ed] in Guantánamo, that’s such a horror story that it’s a recruitment vehicle … let me suggest that if that is true, that our European allies and some others believe that these hardened murderers, who murder men, women and children, and incarcerating them in Cuba or anywhere else, let me suggest that that attitude of our European friends may well be changing in the next six months or so when they realize that the slaughter that’s taking place in Paris and now in Brussels is part of an international movement to destroy western civilization and replace it with a caliphate.”
“You think our allies are going to change their position in light of Brussels and Paris? … Isn’t there a chance they will change their position with respect to our activities in Gitmo in light of recent events?” asked Representative David A Trott of Michigan.
Paul Lewis, the US defense department official tasked with implementing Barack Obama’s plans to close Guantánamo, appeared unpersuaded.
“Sir, it’s been a continuing position that they want Gitmo closed. That our leadership and the Bush administration leadership said the costs of Gitmo outweigh the benefits”, Lewis said.
The Obama administration’s longstanding plans for Guantánamo are to continue to hold without charge about 45 of the remaining 91 detainees at a different facility, something human rights groups consider a mockery of “closing” Guantánamo. Even that plan, the hearing underscored, is in jeopardy on Capitol Hill, where Obama needs Congress to change a law banning the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to US soil.
Updated
Latest summary
Here is a round-up of the latest key developments:
- Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui have been named by the Belgian federal prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw, as the two suicide bombers who killed at least 31 people in Tuesday’s attacks. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, who was identified from fingerprints, blew himself up at Zaventem airport. He was seen in the centre of CCTV footage released last night. Khalid el-Bakraoui, who is not thought to be on the airport CCTV, attacked the metro train at Maelbeek station.
- The man on the right in the airport CCTV footage has been named by the Belgium media as Najim Laachraoui. He is still on the run after he was mistakenly reported to have been arrested in a police raid in Anderlecht.
- During the search of an apartment in Schaerbeek, police found a laptop containing a note written by Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. In the statement, Ibrahim wrote that he suspected the police were searching for him, and that he did not want to end up in a cell.
- One person was brought in for questioning in Schaerbeek on Tuesday night and was still being investigated by the police. Another person has been released after questioning.
- During the Schaerbeek raid police also found 15kg of explosives, 150 litres of acetone, 30 litres of oxygenated water, detonators, a suitcase filled with screws and nails as well as materials, such as plastic boxes, needed to pack the explosives.
- The latest official death toll from the attacks on the airport and Maelbeek metro station stands at 32 but is expected to rise. Leeuw said 270 people were injured.
- Three people have so far been named as victims: civil servant Olivier Delespesse and law student Leopold Hecht were killed in the metro attack. Adelma Tapia Ruiz, from Peru, the first victim of the attacks to be named, was killed at the airport.
- A minute’s silence for the victims was observed in central Brussels. It ended with sustained applause by those who had gathered at the Place de la Bourse.
- US presidential candidate Donald Trump has urged British Muslims to do more to report extremism. In an interview with Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “It’s like they are protecting each other.”
- British national David Dixon is among those missing. Downing Street said four Britons were injured in the attacks, including three who were still in hospital.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocities and promised further attacks, saying: “What is coming is worse and more bitter.”
Handing over the liveblog to Raya Jalabi in New York.
Updated
Here’s a video explainer on the suspected attackers.
An American teenager who was wounded in the Brussels terror attacks had previously escaped injury in the Paris and Boston bombings.
Chad and Kimberly Wells said on Wednesday it was a “miracle” their son, Mason, 19, survived the deadly attacks in Belgium, saying he was just metres from where a bomb exploded at Zaventem airport.
Wells said his son escaped with minor burns and was in “good spirits”. It has also emerged that Mason survived the Boston marathon explosion in 2013 and last year’s attacks in Paris.
Updated
Here’s video of the minute’s silence observed across Brussels. Large crowds gathered outside the European commission building to remember the victims, while lawmakers and Belgian royals gathered inside to do the same.
Updated
The British embassy in Brussels has opened a book of condolences on Facebook, writes Oliver Milne.
Introducing the digital book, Britain’s ambassador to Belgium, Alison Rose, wrote: “The UK stands in solidarity with Belgium at this difficult time. Our thoughts are with those affected by the attacks. We invite anyone who wishes to send a message of condolence to use this virtual book. Thank you.”
Those wishing to sign it, can do so here.
Updated
The French prime minister has again urged the European parliament to approve passenger name records (PNR), insisting the proposed system would help intercept terrorist suspects.
Speaking in Brussels, Manuel Valls said: “We would have had a good chance to intercept a number of individuals, if PNR had existed. It protects individual liberty but it can also allow us to track and catch terrorists. We need this tool in order to keep a closer eye on those who need to be tracked. The European parliament has to show that it is fully committed to combatting terrorism.”
Valls also called for “massive” investment in security systems. “Let’s not forget there are young people who are leaving for Syria to fight and they are coming back and fighting their own fellow countrymen and women. There are lots of people in France who are being won over by Salafism and radical Islamism, things that have led to events in Paris, Brussels and elsewhere,” he said.
“Young people need to keep a clear head. The best way of fighting this ideology of death is through life, living through the basis of our values such as tolerance.”
Updated
A third victim of the attacks has been identified, writes Haroon Siddique.
The Federation of Wallonia-Brussels announced on Facebook that one of its employees, Olivier Delespesse was killed in the attack on Maelbeek metro.
“Our thoughts go out to his family,” it said. His colleague Anne Hellemans had previously posted an appeal for information regarding his whereabouts on Facebook.
She later wrote: “The news that we have received concerning Olivier Delespesse is bad... He died in the bombing of the metro yesterday.”
Disparition: Olivier DELESPESSE, passé par Maelbeek et n'est jamais arriver à son travail. #AttentatsdeBruxelles pic.twitter.com/Q4zFkeUpRN
— Laura Borguet (@0palina) March 22, 2016
Two other victims have been named as Belgium law student Leopold Hecht and Peruvian Adelma Tapia Ruiz.
The king and queen of Belgium visited Zaventem airport this afternoon to pay their tributes to the emergency services who responded to yesterday’s attacks, writes Oliver Milne.
During the visit, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde expressed their gratitude to firefighters and the airport staff.
This afternoon the royal couple will visit a nearby military hospital which treated some of the first victims of yesterday’s suicide bombings.
Updated
Zaventem airport remains closed while police continue to investigate. A Twitter account managed by the airport said it was unclear when it would reopen.
Investigation still ongoing. Until we have access to the building & can assess damage, it remains unclear when we can resume operations.
— Brussels Airport (@BrusselsAirport) March 23, 2016
Updated
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, is giving a press conference in Brussels with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Live now: press conference by @JunckerEU & PM of France @manuelvalls. https://t.co/cAWAOVeEpe #BrusselsAttacks pic.twitter.com/2IRB2hrnpE
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) March 23, 2016
Updated
Three members of staff at the European commission were injured in the attacks, Politico reports.
Commission vice-president Kristalina Georgieva confirmed the officials were among the victims of the attacks, but did not provide details about the circumstances or the extent of their injuries.
“The commission’s staff is ready to contribute to the fight in Europe against what has become so frequently an enormous stress for our people,” said Georgieva, who handles human resources and administration for the EU’s executive body.
Updated
Reuters has a few more details from the press conference held by the federal prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw.
Two brothers carried out suicide bombings at Brussels airport and on the metro on Tuesday, adding that airport bomber Ibrahim el-Bakraoui had left a will on a computer.
His brother Khalid blew himself up on a carriage of the Brussels metro at Maelbeek station, Leeuw said. Two other men captured on CCTV at the airport with Ibrahim had yet to be identified, he said.
The first bomb at the airport went off near desk 11 at 7.58am (6.58am GMT) and the second followed 9 seconds later near desk 2 of the departure hall, Leeuw said.
The prosecutor quoted Ibrahim’s will as saying: “Always on the run, not knowing what to do any more, being looked for everywhere, not being safe any longer and that if he waits around any longer he risks ending up next to the person in a cell.”
The second airport suicide bomber has not been identified, while a third man, who left the airport before the explosions, is still being hunted, Van Leeuw said.
During a raid in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek on Tuesday night, police found 15kg of explosives, 150 litres of acetone, 30 litres of oxygenated water, detonators, a suitcase filled with screws and nails as well as materials, such as plastic boxes, needed to pack the explosives.
Updated
The bells of Belgium’s oldest university rang out to the tune of John Lennon’s Imagine last night, writes Oliver Milne.
“Hope must survive”, tweeted the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, sharing a short video of its library bells playing the anthem for peace.
Updated
Saint-Louis University in Brussels says one of its students, Leopold Hecht, 20, was a victim of the attacks, writes Haroon Siddique.
In a Facebook post, the university said the law student was “one of the unfortunate victims of the barbarous acts perpetrated on Tuesday 22 March at the Maelbeek metro station”, adding: “There are no words to describe our dismay at the news. All our thoughts are with his family and relatives.”
Leopold Hecht, Saint-Louis University Student, Killed At Maalbeek Station ISIS Bombing https://t.co/JwZBsWiD2X pic.twitter.com/DRAezEjWEx
— UJReview (@UJReview) March 23, 2016
Updated
Here’s a summary of the main points from the press conference given by the Belgian federal prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw, writes Oliver Milne.
- The prosecutor confirmed Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was responsible for the first explosion at Zaventem airport yesterday morning.
- The second suspect, responsible for a second suicide bombing at the airport, has not been identified.
- The explosion at Maelbeek occurred while part of the train was in the station. The bomber has been identified as Khalid el-Bakraoui. Both the el-Bakraoui brothers had “very heavy police files” unconnected with the attacks, Leeuw said.
- The third suspect, seen on the right of the CCTV photograph dressed in white, was not identified by the prosecutor, despite media organisations naming him as Najim Laachraoui. He is the subject of an active manhunt.
- Van Leeuw confirmed the attackers had travelled to the airport by taxi from the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek.
- During the search of an apartment in Schaerbeek, police found a laptop containing a note written by Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. In the statement, Ibrahim wrote that he suspected the police were searching for him, and that he did not want to end up in a cell.
- One person was bought in for questioning in Schaerbeek last night and is being investigated by the police. Another person has been freed after a thorough interrogation, he said.
- Leeuw said 31 people were confirmed dead in the attacks and a further 270 injured.
Updated
One person was bought in for questioning in Schaerbeek last night and was being interviewed by the police, Belgium’s federal prosecutor said, according to translation by Sky News. Another person had been released after a thorough interrogation, he added.
Frederic van Leeuw also named Belgian national Khalid el-Bakraoui as the suspected suicide bomber at Maelbeek metro station.
Updated
Leeuw said 31 people were killed in the attacks, but the death toll was likely rise as some of those injured were critically ill. He also said 270 people were injured in the explosions.
Updated
Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic van Leeuw is giving a news conference. He confirmed media reports that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was the suicide bomber at the airport.
Leeuw also confirmed that a third suspect, Najim Laachraoui, was still on the run.
Updated
Police across Britain are expected to continue their heightened presence on the streets and around transport hubs and other potential targets, writes Vikram Dodd.
The aim is to ease public anxiety after the Brussels atrocities, but also to act as a deterrent. The increase in visibility is expected to continue over the busy Easter weekend.
Updated
The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, was joined by his French counterpart, Manuel Valls, and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, as they laid wreaths outside Maelbeek metro station.
Juncker tweeted: “These events hurt us but do not scare us. We will all face the terrorist threat.”
Ces évènements nous touchent mais ne nous effrayent pas. Nous ferons face ensemble à la menace terroriste #Maelbeek pic.twitter.com/UEubJGjwAY
— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) March 23, 2016
Updated
The European commission’s agriculture department remains closed today while structural engineers conduct safety tests, writes Oliver Milne.
The department, located above Maelbeek station, will remain closed until experts have assessed the damage caused by yesterday’s blast, the department’s commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, has said.
Commissioner Georgieva said that DG Agri building above Maelbeek station remains closed and will be checked for infrastructure damage.
— Eric Maurice (@er1cmau) March 23, 2016
Updated
Andrew Sparrow, the Guardian’s political correspondent, is covering prime minister’s questions where David Cameron is expected to summarise the outcome of today’s emergency meeting. There will then be a statement from the home secretary on the UK’s security response.
Updated
More details are emerging about those missing and injured in the attacks.
Two Dutch citizens missing
The Dutch foreign ministry has confirmed that it is searching for two of its nationals who are missing following the explosion at Zaventem airport, writes Oliver Milne. Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant is reporting that the missing pair are from Maastricht and were travelling through Zaventem on a journey to the US.
Indian technology worker missing
Raghavendra Ganeshan, an Indian national who works in Brussels, has been missing since the attacks. His mother, Annapoorni Ganeshan, told News Minute that she spoke to him before he left for work on Tuesday, andhe took the metro line that was hit to the office every day.
She said: “He told me that he was leaving to work. About an hour later I got a call from my other son, who lives in Germany, saying there was a blast in Brussels. I checked the news. Initially I only saw it was in the airport. But later there were news flashes that there was a blast in the metro line from Merode to Park station. This is the metro my son uses to commute to the office every day.
Ganeshan worked for the technology company Infosys in Brussels.
India’s minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, confirmed the authorities were looking for him.
We are doing our best to locate Raghavendran Ganesh. /2
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 23, 2016
19 Portugese injured
At least 19 Portuguese were injured in the attacks, according to the Patricia Kowsmann at the Wall Street Journal. There is a large community of Portuguese ex-pats in Brussels – 50,000, according to Kowsmann, citing government figures.
Updated
Here is a round-up of the latest key developments:
-
Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui have been named by the Belgian state broadcaster as the two suicide bombers who killed at least 31 people in Tuesday’s attack. RTBF said Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, is suspected of blowing himself up at Zaventem airport. Khalid went on to attack the metro train at Maelbeek station.
- A third man seen in CCTV footage at the airport has been named as Najim Laachraoui, who was already wanted by the police. He is still on the run after he was mistakenly reported to have been arrested in a police raid in Anderlecht.
- The latest official death toll from the attacks on the airport and the Maelbeek metro station stands at 31 but is expected to rise. Up to 230 people are reported to have been injured.
- Adelma Tapia Ruiz, from Peru, was the first victim of the attacks to be named.
- US presidential candidate Donald Trump has urged British Muslims to do more to report extremism. In an interview with Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he said: “It’s like they are protecting each other.”
- British national David Dixon is among those still missing. Downing street said four Britons were injured in the attacks, including three who were still in hospital.
- An explosive device containing nails, “chemical products” and an Isis flag were discovered in a raid in Schaarbeek, a northern suburb of Brussels.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility and promised further attacks, saying: “What is coming is worse and more bitter.”
Updated
The defence secretary has said Britain’s intelligence services are concerned about the prospect of Islamic State militants acquiring nuclear weapons, writes Ewen MacAskill.
Michael Fallon was asked if there was a danger of Isis acquiring nuclear weapons. He replied: “Yes, this is a new and emerging threat.”
He said it was obviously a concern that a non-state actor with finance and know-how could acquire nuclear weapons.
Fallon made the remarks after giving a speech on Trident at the Policy Exchange thinktank.
Asked about the UK’s response to the attack on Belgium, he said: “We have to immediately double-check our own security arrangements and, of course, offer as much help to the country affected, Belgium.”
Ways to help Belgium had been discussed at Cobra yesterday, and again this morning, he added.
The home secretary, Theresa May, is due to make a Commons statement on UK security at 12.30pm.
Fallon added: “We made it very clear to the Belgian authorities that we are ready to offer any technical assistance they need. It is a small country.”
The UK government argues that data collected by the surveillance agency GCHQ might be able to help.
The UK changed its approach to counter-terrorism after the the 2005 London bombings and could use that experience to help the Belgian intelligence agencies, who have repeatedly complained about being understaffed and underfunded.
Updated
Belgium’s football match against Portugal has been cancelled for security reasons. Tickets will be refunded in April, the Belgian FA has announced.
Updated
Laachroui 'not arrested'
Belgian media are now rowing back on earlier reports that Najim Laachraoui was arrested.
La Libre Belgique newspaper said another person had been arrested in Anderlecht.
DH, which first reported the story, also said the man detained in the Anderlecht district had been misidentified, Reuters reports.
Police and prosecutors have been declining all comment but will hold a news conference at noon GMT.
Apologies for the confusion. Laachraoui’s arrest had been reported in multiple Brussels media outlets, citing police sources.
Updated
Police officer in balaclavas have been photographed outside an apartment in Anderlecht. It is not thought to be connected with the reported arrest of the suspect Najim Laachraoui.
BBC Newsnight producer Warwick Harrington said witnesses reported seeing two women being taken away.
Brussels attacks: Witness to Anderlecht raid reports two women being taken away by police.
— warwick harrington (@warwickhs) March 23, 2016
Earlier he tweeted these images.
Police may have Brussels attacker Najim Laachraoui. Apartment in Anderlecht raided, police removing a vehicle. pic.twitter.com/kOXS8LMm5m
— warwick harrington (@warwickhs) March 23, 2016
Brussels attacks: police remove 2 vehicles from outside apartment in Busselenbergstraat, Anderlecht. pic.twitter.com/nsVMSs6s1Y
— warwick harrington (@warwickhs) March 23, 2016
Updated
Our latest news story wraps up this morning’s main developments on the reports of the arrest of the key suspect and the naming of the suspected suicide bombers.
The city of Brussels has asked the Royal Belgian Football Association to cancel a forthcoming friendly against Portugal.
The match was due to be played at the King Baudouin stadium in the city centre on 29 March.
The football association has said it will consult the federal government, police and security services before making a decision.
La ville de Bruxelles demande l'annulation de Belgique-Portugal @BelRedDevils https://t.co/s5QL1q0Iii pic.twitter.com/HMpgwKPMP2
— Sudpresse Sports (@sudpressesports) March 23, 2016
The Belgium national team did not train for a second day after the attacks.
Updated
The minute’s silence was impeccably observed and ended with sustained applause by those who had gathered at the Place de la Bourse. Someone shouted “long live the Belgians”,
Updated
Minute's silence
Institutions and the public in Brussels are about to observe a minute’s silence in honour of the victims of Tuesday’s attacks.
12:00 CET Minute of silence for the victims of yesterday's #BrusselsAttacks. Live: https://t.co/P0BIU0PzXA pic.twitter.com/5p1hnMxO09
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) March 23, 2016
A partir de 12h un périmètre de sécurité sera mis en place suite à une minute de silence du Roi, Reine et premier pic.twitter.com/cGHp69sRJx
— ZPZ PolBru (@zpz_polbru) March 23, 2016
Will observe minute of silence today at noon to honor the victims of #Brussels
— Denise Bauer (@AmbassadorBauer) March 23, 2016
attacks. #UnitedAgainstTerrorism w/ #Belgium @CharlesMichel
Updated
One Briton missing, four injured
Downing Street says it is concerned about a British national who has been missing in Brussels following the attacks.
It said four Britons had been injured, three of whom were in hospital.
David Dixon, a former British Airways employee from Hartlepool, is believed to have been on a metro train at the time of the attack on Maelbeek station.
No 10 did not mention Dixon in its statement, which said:
“We are concerned about one missing British national and we are in close contact with the Belgian authorities. We are aware of four British nationals who were injured in the attacks – three are being treated in hospital, one has already been discharged. Our embassy staff are working to assist all British nationals affected.
“In terms of travel advice, we continue to advise people to follow the advice of the Belgian authorities. Therefore we are no longer advising against travel to Brussels. British nationals in Belgium should remain alert and vigilant, stay away from crowded places, and follow the instructions of the Belgian authorities.
“Here in the UK, we stepped up the security presence at a number of locations across the country yesterday and we will maintain this in the coming days. The national threat level remains at SEVERE (an attack is highly likely) and the public are advised to be ‘alert but not alarmed’.
“Government departments will be observing a minutes silence at 11am UK time. The prime minister will update MPs at the start of PMQs, followed by an oral statement from the home secretary later this afternoon setting out the government’s response to the attacks.”
Updated
Other media outlets in Belgium are independently reporting the arrest of Najim Laachraoui in Anderlecht, Oliver Milne reports.
Flemish-speaking journalist Michael Sephilha reported the added detail that the suspect had been arrested in a pizza restaurant.
Laachraoui gevat in pizzeria, Abdeslam na grte pizza-bestelling. IS-terroristen zijn blijkbaar pizza-liefhebbers #BrusselsAttacks #junkfood
— Michael Sephiha (@sephke) March 23, 2016
L’Echo is also reporting Laachraoui’s arrest, along with radio stations RTL and Nieuws+.
BREAKING Najim #Laachraoui arrested in #anderlecht CONFIRMED https://t.co/3Hui8ehtlN pic.twitter.com/otRnekbqvy
— L'Echo (@lecho) March 23, 2016
The state broadcaster RTBF said there had been an arrest in Anderlecht in connection with the attacks, but it could not confirm whether Laachraoui was the suspect.
Updated
A minute’s silence will be held in Brussels at noon (1100 GMT) as a tribute to the victims.
We’ll observe a minute of silence at noon today to honour the victimes of yeterday’s attacks. #BrusselsAttacks pic.twitter.com/NT9kfhOFJ6
— STIB-MIVB (@STIBMIVB) March 23, 2016
Updated
'Suspect arrested'
The main surviving suspect in the attacks, Najim Laachraoui, has been arrested in the south-west Brussels suburb of Anderlecht, according to Belgian media.
#NajimLaachraoui arrêté à Anderlecht ! https://t.co/Q805GZ4cjf #BrusselsAttacks pic.twitter.com/2tYK0x7W9I
— DH.be (@ladh) March 23, 2016
So far only Dernière Heure is reporting the arrest. DH magazine is considered the closest thing Belgium has to a tabloid newspaper.
Updated
Angelique Chrisafis in Brussels and Jon Henley in London have more on Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui.
Citing sources close to the investigation, the broadcaster RTBF said in an unconfirmed report that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui detonated one of two devices that killed himself and at least 11 others at Zaventem airport close to the Belgian capital. More than 90 other people were injured.
RTBF says Khalid el-Bakraoui was responsible for a third explosion in a metro carriage at Maelbeek station on the rue de la Loi, about 250 metres from the offices of the European commission. At least 14 people died in that attack, and more than 130 were wounded.
On Tuesday, Belgian police appealed for information about three men captured on CCTV camera wheeling loaded baggage trolleys through Zaventem airport. Initial reports on Wednesday morning identified two of the men, dressed in black, as the el-Bakraoui brothers, and the third as 24-year-old Najim Laachraoui.
However, the latest RTBF report only places Ibrahim el-Bakraoui at the airport, raising questions about the identity of a possible fourth attacker.
The two el-Bakraoui brothers, both Belgian nationals, were well-known to police as longstanding criminals in the capital. More recently, it emerged that they had links to the Paris attacks last November that killed 130 people.
Updated
A senior British counter-terrorism police officer has condemned Donald Trump’s claim that British Muslims are not reporting extremists in their communities to police.
The deputy assistant commissioner, Neil Basu, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Trump’s comments were wrong and could spark hate crimes.
He said: “If we demonise one section of the community, that is the worst thing we can do. We are absolutely playing into the terrorists’ hands of making people feel hate.”
Basu admitted British police had to do more to encourage Muslims and other Britons to report suspicious activity.
Updated
The health minister, Maggie De Block, said on VRT radio this morning that the death toll for both attacks was at least 31 but that figure was likely to rise.
At least 20 people were killed in the attack on the metro; 11 were killed at the airport.
Associated Press is reporting 34 dead on the basis of a source in the crisis centre.
Updated
The Belgium broadcaster RTBF says one of the el-Bakraoui brothers is suspected of carrying out the suicide bombing at Maelbeek metro station, and not the airport bombing as previously reported.
It said Ibrahim el-Bakraoui is suspected of carrying out a suicide attack at the airport, but his brother Khalid carried out the metro attack.
If confirmed this would complicate things. If one of the airport suspects was Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and another was Najim Laachraou, who was the third bomber identified in the CCTV footage?
It is conceivable that Khalid el-Bakraoui was involved in the attack at the airport, which occurred around 8am, and then travelled to Maelbeek station, which was attacked at 9.11am.
Federal prosecutors are due to provide further information this morning.
Updated
The French prime minister has said the Brussels attacks underline the need for the European parliament to approve a passenger name record (PNR).
Associated Press quoted Manuel Valls as saying: “It is urgent to adopt the European PNR. The European parliament has waited too long to adopt this text. It must examine and adopt it in April, it is time.”
Valls is going to Brussels today and says he will express his “full solidarity” with Belgium’s people.
He is due to give a press conference at 2pm local time with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Updated
David Cameron has finished chairing a second meeting of the government’s emergency committee. He will update the Commons during prime minister’s questions.
I have just chaired another COBRA meeting on the Brussels terror attacks. I will update the House of Commons at noon.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) March 23, 2016
Updated
Eurostar train services to Brussels have resumed.
We're running a normal service on our Brussels route. If you're travelling today, please allow extra time to check in.
— Eurostar (@Eurostar) March 23, 2016
Meanwhile, life in Brussels is “getting back to normal”, according to the UK’s EU commissioner, Lord Hill of Oareford, PA reports.
He was speaking before a meeting of European commissioners to discuss the response to the terrorist attacks.
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he played down suggestions that the attacks would lead to changes to the EU’s Schengen system of borderless travel.
But he conceded that there were questions about how the Schengen system was operating. Hill said: “What we need to have first of all is co-operation between member states on this.”
He said the first he heard of the bomb only hundreds of yards from his office was via news reports. Fellow workers, who were already digesting the news of the earlier attack on the airport, went to the office windows to see “a plume of smoke” rising from Maalbeek station, he said.
There was “initially shock and then the realisation that this was a serious attack also became clear”, he added.
Hill said he walked home at the end of the day, rather than using a car, as “my own kind of probably meaningless gesture” of solidarity, and was already able to see signs of life returning to normal.
“There were people sitting out having a drink and the bars were full of young people and I took that as an actually rather encouraging sign. There were lots of people walking because the public transport wasn’t working,” he said.
“It’s back working this morning, trams are running, there are buses running, there’s Metro running and train stations are opening, so there are signs of life getting back to normal after that initial shock.”
Updated
Angelique Chrisafis in Brussels has more on the third possible suspect in the airport attack.
Najim Laachraoui, 24, who Belgian media reported grew up in the Brussels neighbourhood of Schaerbeek, was well-known to police. He is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2013 and was thought to have been key in a recruitment ring of Brussels youths for jihad.
In 2014, an international arrest warrant was issued against him, but this appears not to have stopped him returning to Belgium. Since December, police investigating the Paris attacks have been looking for a man under the alias of Soufiane Kayal, who it recently emerged was Laachraoui. His DNA was found in two hideouts used by Paris attackers and also on explosive material.
The state broadcaster RTBF reported that he could have been one of the bomb makers involved in November’s Paris attacks.
Updated
The home secretary Theresa May has argued that membership of the EU helps Britain to fight terrorism, saying it allows countries to “stand together” against the threat, writes Anushka Asthana.
In an interview before the atrocity in Brussels but published today in the Times, she suggested that tackling the security threat was what convinced her to back the Remain camp and added that the terrorists “will not win”.
“I think this is an issue people should look at more broadly, but on the security front there are good reasons for us to be members of the European Union,” she said.
“The UK threat level is at severe, which means a terrorist attack is highly likely. We know that since November 2014 seven terrorist plots have been disrupted in the UK. What’s important is that we work with others to ensure that we can respond.”
May, who will attend a Cobra meeting this morning with colleagues to discuss the UK’s reaction to the attacks in Brussels, talked about how rejoining the European arrest warrant paved the way for a “quicker ... smooth” process that didn’t rely on a series of bilateral agreements. And she said the EU was able to share fingerprints and DNA information, which was an “important tool” to help catch criminals.
The interview comes amid controversy after leading UKIP figures were accused of using the terror attacks to boost their case for leaving the EU. Nigel Farage, the party leader, retweeted a message from a newspaper columnist that said Brussels was the “jihadist capital” of Europe and “Remainers dare to say we’re safer in the EU”. Today it has emerged that Lord Howard, speaking before the attacks, claimed that the EU’s open borders were encouraging terrorists into the continent.
“The second is a consequence of the Schengen agreement which, according to the former Head of Interpol ‘is like hanging a sign welcoming terrorists to Europe’,” the former Tory leader said on Tuesday.
Updated
Trump accuses Muslims of 'protecting each other'
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has urged British Muslims to do more to report extremism.
In an interview with Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain he said: “It’s like they are protecting each other. They have to open up to society, they have to report the bad ones.”
Speaking in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks, said: “I would say this to Muslims ... when they see trouble they have to report it. They are not reporting it.”
The el-Bakraoui brothers can be added to a long list of brothers involved in terrorism.
The Guardian’s Jason Burke, wrote about “jihad by family” in the wake of November’s Paris attacks which included the brothers Ibrahim Abdeslam – who blew himself up outside the Comptoir Voltaire restaurant – and Salah Abdeslam who was captured in Brussels on Friday.
He wrote:
Ten years ago, US military intelligence officials in Iraq identified having a close family member already involved as the greatest predictor of an individual becoming involved in violent militancy, Islamic or otherwise.
This may be a brother, or it may be a father. Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a British aspiring rapper turned Isis recruit, is the son of Adel Abdel Bary, an Egyptian militant who came to the UK in 1991 and was later convicted in New York for his role in al–Qaida’s attack on US embassies in east Africa in 1998. In the UK more recently, along with siblings, parents of jihadis have been detained and some charged with Syria-related offences.
Research by New America, a nonpartisan thinktank in the United States, showed that more than a quarter of western fighters have a familial connection to jihad, whether through relatives who are also fighting in Syria and Iraq, through marriage or through some link to other jihads or terrorist attacks.
Updated
The family of a missing British man who has not been seen since leaving for work in Brussels on Tuesday morning have been talking about the agonising wait for news.
David Dixon, a former British Airways employee from Hartlepool, is believed to have been on a metro train at the time of the attack on Maelbeek station.
Marie Sutcliffe, sister of Dixon’s partner, said her sister Charlotte had spent much of yesterday going to various hospitals in Brussels looking for him. “Understandably she’s very, very distressed,” Sutcliffe said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she added: “It’s just waiting, which is heartbreaking and very worrying.”
She said the family had been struggling with the communication network in Brussels, which was overwhelmed following Tuesday’s attacks. “There’s no phone network. I’ve tried to phone him and other people have,” she said.
Updated
Third 'suspect' named
The Brussels airport attacker still at large has been tentatively identified by the Belgian media as Najim Laachraoui.
He is described by the DH website as a possible suspect based on an apparent resemblance to a photo of Laachroui released by police last night.
Laachraoui was already wanted by the police after his DNA was found in houses used by the Paris attackers last year, prosecutors said on Monday.
He had travelled to Hungary in September with Paris attacks prime suspect Salah Abdeslam.
#TERRORISME A rechercher - Najim LAACHRAOUI https://t.co/8WCyCZdJP9 pic.twitter.com/S4UZnG3XYf
— Avis de recherche (@police_temoin) March 21, 2016
Updated
What we know so far
Here is a round-up of the latest key developments:
- Brothers Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui have been named by the Belgian state broadcaster as the two suicide bombers who detonated their explosives at Zaventem airport on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and injuring up to 100.
- The Belgian brothers were already being sought by police due to suspected links to the November terror attacks in Paris.
- The latest official death toll from the attacks on the airport and the Maelbeek metro station stands at 31. Up to 230 people are reported to have been injured.
- Adelma Tapia Ruiz, from Peru, was the first victim of the attacks to be named.
- Belgian police have launched a series of raids in a massive manhunt for a third man, who was pictured with the suicide attackers at the airport but is thought to have escaped following the attacks without detonating his own suitcase bomb.
- An explosive device containing nails, “chemical products” and an Isis flag were discovered in a raid in Schaarbeek, a northern suburb of Brussels.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility and promised further attacks, saying: “What is coming is worse and more bitter.”
The Belgian state broadcaster RTBF is reporting that two of the suspected terrorist suicide-bombers at Brussels airport were Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui.
The Belgian el-Bakraoui brothers were well-known to the police as longstanding criminals in the Belgian capital and more recently it emerged they had clear links to November’s Paris attacks.
This connection to the Paris attacks and to recent police raids in Brussels, in which some suspects escaped from police, is a very significant development. If the Brussels bombers prove to be part of the same cell as the Paris attackers, this will raise serious questions about potential police and intelligence failings.
The el-Bakraoui brothers are from Brussels and have a long history in organised crime in Belgium. They were among the suspects on the run and being hunted by Belgian police since the police raids of recent days.
One of the brothers had rented the flat in Forest, south west Brussels which was raided by police last Tuesday, exactly a week before the Brussels attacks, and where Salah Abdeslam, the Paris suspect had been present. In that Forest raid, heavy weapons and an Islamic State flag were found and one member of the Paris attacks cell, an Algerian Mohamed Belkaïd, was shot by a police sniper.
One of the el-Bakraoui brothers is also known to have rented one of the hideouts of the Paris jihadist team, in Charleroi in Belgium, where two of the attackers met before heading to Paris in November to carry out the attacks that killed 130 people: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader, and Bilal Hadfi, one of the Stade de France suicide bombers.
One of the el-Bakraoui brothers is also believed to have provided ammunition and weapons for the Paris attacks in which gunmen opened fire on bars and at a rock concert at the Bataclan, RTBF reported.
Updated
Airport suicide bombers identified
Belgium’s state broadcaster RTBF has named Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui as the two men who detonated suitcase bombs, killing themselves and several others, at Zaventem airport.
The brothers were already being sought by police, suspected of hiring properties as hideouts for the Paris terrorist team.
The Guardian cannot immediately verify this identification.
Soldiers have been checking people’s bags as they entered Brussels’ metro network this morning, Press Association reports.
The public transport network is partially reopening today, although some stations remain closed.
Every person was asked to open their bags by armed troops before they were allowed to descend the steps at a station at de Brouckère.
There are reports that France’s Toulouse airport is currently being evacuated. There are no further details at this stage, but I’ll bring you any updates here.
Australian PM: Europe 'allowed security to slip'
The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has criticised European security arrangements, arguing they were allowed to “slip” before Tuesday’s attacks in Belgium.
Turnbull had been asked whether an terrorist act similar to that in Brussels could occur in Australia. He told the ABC:
You cannot guarantee that there will be no terrorist incident.
But I can assure Australians that our security system, our border protection, our domestic security arrangements are much stronger than they are in Europe, where regrettably they allowed security to slip.
Turnbull said vulnerabilities in European security were “not unrelated to the problems they’ve been having in recent times”. And he singled out the Schengen agreement, saying:
People are able to freely travel across borders within Europe – that poses security challenges, coupled with clearly very porous external borders as we’ve seen plenty of evidence of that.
My point really was to say that those arrangements have security consequences.
The opposition leader, Labor’s Bill Shorten, said it was too soon after the attacks for “the prime minister [to] be telling the Belgians what they did wrong”.
Australia’s official threat level currently indicates a terrorist attack is “probable”.
Updated
If you’re waking up in Europe now, here’s a reading list to bring you up to date on the latest developments:
- Quick catch-up: what we know so far
- Full report: police hunt for suspected bomber
- First victims named as stories of survival emerge
- Front pages around the world – in pictures
And for more in-depth reading:
Roads around the site of the explosion at Maelbeek metro station remain closed and transport authorities are asking Brussels residents to avoid the area:
RAPPEL
— RTL Trafic (@RTLtrafic) March 23, 2016
Périmètre de sécurité dans la #ruedelaloi est encore d'application et donc pas encore accessible #BrusselsAttacks #Bruxelles #trafic
The VTM TV channel in Brussels reports that a taxi driver who took the three suspects to the airport later led police to a house in Schaerbeek, in the north of Brussels, that was raided on Tuesday night – a raid that officials said yielded an explosive device, as-yet unidentified chemicals and an Islamic State flag.
The trio yesterday morning ordered a large taxi for three persons and five pieces of luggage.
When the taxi arrived, it turned out to be too small for the luggage. The three men were not at all happy with it.
After the driver had dropped off the men and he heard about the attack, he realised the link and he went to the police.
Other reports say at least one suitcase that would not fit into the taxi was left behind and was found later by police searching the property.
The taxi driver reportedly said that the three men would not let him help them to load the suitcases into the vehicle.
Updated
No flights in or out of Brussels today
Brussels airport says there will be no flights into or out of Zaventem airport on Wednesday.
As soon as we have access to the terminal building, we can assess the damage. Later today we will assess when operations can be resumed.
— Brussels Airport (@BrusselsAirport) March 23, 2016
Passengers are advised to contact their airline for further information.
Updated
Belgium’s interior minister, Jan Jambon, says the investigation into the airport attacks is focusing on the three men pictured pushing suitcases on trolleys through the departure hall – and particularly a man in a light-coloured coat and a hat who is believed to have fled the airport after his bomb failed to detonate:
Two of them killed themselves, suicide bombers, and the third left a bomb in the airport but it didn’t explode, lucky. We are now looking for this guy.
Belgian police have issued further images of the suspect, asking: “Do you recognise this man?”
Peruvian Adelma Tapia Ruiz, 36, was the first publicly confirmed death from the attack. Ruiz, who lived in Brussels, was at the airport to see off relatives of her Belgian husband, Christopher Delcambe, who was reportedly injured.
Ruiz’s brother, Fernando Tapia Coral, said in an interview that the couple’s twin four-year-old daughters went outside the gate area to play shortly before the explosion and Delcambe followed them. He was unable to find Tapia Ruiz after the blast.
Tapia Coral confirmed his sister’s death on Facebook, saying:
This tragedy today touched the doors of my family this morning in the Brussels airport, when my sister Adelma Tapia died in the terrorist attack and was not able to survive this jihadist attack that we’ll never understand.
Wednesday’s newspaper front pages around the world are, unsurprisingly, dominated by the Brussels attacks. You can see several of them here:
Opening summary
Welcome to continuing coverage of the terror attacks in Brussels and the police search for a suspect believed to have fled Zaventem airport, scene of the first explosions.
Here is what we now know, as Belgium awakes to a day of mourning.
The victims
-
The latest official death toll stands at 31. Up to 230 people are reported to have been injured.
- Two blasts took place at Zaventem airport, to the north-east of the city centre, at around 8am local time; at least 11 people died here and up to 100 were injured.
- A third bomb went off at Maelbeek metro station on the rue de la Loi, close to the European Union headquarters, around an hour later. Twenty people died in this attack and 130 were injured.
- Adelma Tapia Ruiz was the first victim of the attacks to be named. The 37-year-old Peruvian woman was killed at the airport, where she was reported to be catching a flight with her Belgian husband, Christophe Delcambe, and their twin four-year-old daughters Maureen and Alondra, who survived.
- A wounded Jet Airways crew member pictured in the immediate aftermath of the explosion in her torn and bloodied yellow uniform has been named as Nidhi Chaphekar.
The suspects
- Two of the suspected attackers were captured on CCTV dressed in black and wearing black gloves on their left hands thought to have concealed detonators. Federal prosecutor Frederic van Leeuw said the two men “very likely committed a suicide attack”.
- Belgian police launched a series of raids in a massive manhunt for a third man, who is thought to have escaped following the attacks without detonating his own suitcase bomb.
- The identities of the men are not known and police have issued further photographs asking the public to help name them.
The investigation
- An explosive device containing nails, “chemical products” and an Isis flag were discovered in a raid in Schaarbeek, a northern suburb of Brussels.
- Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terror attacks, saying its operatives had carried out “a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices”. A later statement promised further attacks, saying “what is coming is worse and more bitter”.
- But it was still “too early to make a direct connection between the attacks in Paris and today’s attacks”, Van Leeuw said.
The global response
- The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, described it as a “black day” for Belgium, saying: “What we feared has happened.” He said Belgium would have three days of national mourning.
- The League of Imams in Belgium condemned “firmly the criminal and unspeakable acts … which took the lives of tens of our citizens and injured countless others”.
- Vigils have taken place across Belgium and around the world, including at Brussels’ Place de la Bourse.
The practicalities
- Brussels Airport will remain closed on Wednesday, and the metro will be running a reduced service. But schools are expected to open as normal following Tuesday’s city lockdown.
- The US state department has issued a fresh warning to Americans in Europe advising them to be vigilant in public places or when using public transport, and to avoid crowded places.
- Belgium has asked EU ministers to meet to discuss the attacks; this could take place on Thursday morning.
Updated
