Brussels
Massacre 2016
On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated
nail
bombings occurred in
Belgium:
two at
Brussels Airport in
Zaventem,
and one at
Maalbeek metro station in
Brussels.
In these attacks, 28 victims and three
suicide bombers were killed, and 330 people were injured. Another bomb
was found during a search of the airport.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for
the attacks.[4]
The bombings were the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium's history. The Belgian government declared three days of national mourning.
Background
Belgium is a participant in the ongoing
military intervention against ISIL, during the
Iraqi Civil War.[5]
Belgium also has more nationals fighting for
jihadist
forces as a proportion of its population than any other
Western European country, with an estimated 440 Belgians having left for
Syria and
Iraq as of
January 2015.[6][7]
Due to Belgium's weak security apparatus and competing intelligence
agencies, it has become a locus of jihadist recruiting and terror activity.[8]
Terrorist cells in Brussels
Before the bombings, several Islamist terrorist attacks had originated from Belgium, and a number of counter-terrorist operations had been carried out there. In May 2014, a gunman with ties to the Syrian Civil War attacked the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, killing four people.[9][10][11][12] In January 2015, anti-terrorist operations against a group thought to be planning a second Charlie Hebdo shooting had included raids in Brussels and Zaventem. The operation resulted in the deaths of two suspects.[13][14] In August 2015, a suspected terrorist shot and stabbed passengers aboard a high-speed train on its way from Amsterdam to Paris via Brussels, before he was subdued by passengers.[15]
The perpetrators of the attacks in Paris in November 2015 were based in Molenbeek, and Brussels was locked down for five days to allow the police to search for suspects. On 18 March 2016, Salah Abdeslam, a suspected accomplice in those attacks, was captured after two anti-terrorist raids in Molenbeek that killed another suspect and injured two others. At least one other suspect remains at large.[16][17][18][19] Belgian investigators believe that Abdeslam's arrest may have hastened the Brussels bombings.[20] According to the Belgian Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, who spoke after the bombings, authorities knew of preparations for an extremist act in Europe, but they underestimated the scale of the attack.[21]
Bombings
There were three coordinated
nail
bombings: two at
Brussels Airport, and one at
Maalbeek metro station.[24]
Brussels Airport
There were two explosions in the international departure hall at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, at 07:58 local time;[28] one near the American Airlines and Brussels Airlines check-in desks, and the other next to a Starbucks coffee shop. The explosion shattered windows, and significant damage was reported inside the building.[29]
It was reported that shots were fired, and an airport worker said he "heard someone yelling in Arabic before the blasts".[30][31][32] A third bomb was found in a search of the airport and was later destroyed by a controlled explosion. Belgium's federal prosecutor confirmed that the suicide bombers had detonated nail bombs.[33]
After the attack, the Belgian government put the country on its highest terror threat level.[28][34] The airport was closed, and all flight departures and rail journeys to the airport were cancelled.[35][36] The airport was to remain closed until 24 March, but this was eventually extended to 28 March.[37] All inbound flights were either cancelled or diverted to nearby airports, including Charleroi, Ostend–Bruges, and Schiphol.[38]
Maalbeek metro station
Another explosion took place over an hour later at Maalbeek metro station, at 09:11 CET, in the middle carriage of a three-carriage train near the European Commission headquarters in the centre of Brussels, 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Brussels Airport.[36][39][40] The train was travelling between Maalbeek and Kunst-Wet station.[41][42] The Brussels Metro was subsequently shut down at 09:27.[36][43]
Victims
| Citizenship | Deaths | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| not released * | 12 | ||
.svg/23px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium
* |
9[44] | ||
 Netherlands |
3[45] | ||
 United
States * |
2[44] | ||
 People's
Republic of China |
1[44] | ||
 Germany |
1[44] | ||
 Peru |
1[46] | ||
 Sweden |
1[47] | ||
 Switzerland |
1[44] | ||
 United
Kingdom |
1[44] | ||
| Total | 31[46] | ||
| * Some victims had multiple citizenships. Counts are based on preliminary data and may not be complete. | |||
In the bombings, 31 people, including three suicide bombers, were killed, and 330 others were injured, 61 critically.[48] Thirteen died at Brussels Airport, while the remaining 21 died at the metro station.[39] Eighty-one others were injured at the airport, while the rest were injured at the metro station.[49] The bombings were the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium's history.[50]
Identification of the victims proceeded slowly, especially because of the high number of different nationalities involved, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs estimated to be at least forty.[51]
Perpetrators
Two brothers, Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, Belgian nationals of Moroccan descent,[52] are believed to have carried out two suicide bombings during the attacks.[53][54] In security camera video of the airport, Ibrahim is seen with two other men;[40][54] one of them was identified as Najim Laachraoui,[53][55] who also carried out a suicide bombing during the attacks.[56] All three identified suspects were linked to the same terrorist cell that plotted the November 2015 Paris attacks.[57]
In the airport security video, the men are seen pushing suitcases believed to have contained the bombs that exploded in the departure hall. A taxi driver who drove them to the airport said he tried to help the men with their luggage but they ordered him away.[21] Ibrahim and Laachraoui each appear to be wearing a glove which may have concealed detonators to the explosives.[54][58]
Hours after the attacks, the police were directed to a home in Schaerbeek, a northern suburb of Brussels, by the taxi driver who drove the suspects to Brussels Airport.[21] Inside the home they discovered a nail bomb, 15 kilograms (33 lb) of acetone peroxide, 151 litres (33 imp gal; 40 US gal) of acetone, nearly 30 litres (7 imp gal; 8 US gal) of hydrogen peroxide, other ingredients for explosives, and an ISIL flag.[59][27] They also found a laptop belonging to Ibrahim El Bakraoui inside a waste container near the house.[54] The laptop had a suicide note stored on it, in which Ibrahim stated that he was "stressed out", felt unsafe, and was "afraid of ever-lasting eternity".[60]
Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui
The El Bakraoui brothers were born in Brussels and raised in Laken, a residential suburb in northwestern Brussels. Their father, a retired butcher and a devout Muslim, emigrated from Morocco; their mother was described as "conservative and reclusive".[61]
The brothers were known to the Belgian authorities. Unlike other radicalised ISIL adherents, who started as petty criminals, the men had a history of committing more serious crimes.[62] They were believed to have rented an apartment that housed some of the assailants involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks and supplied ammunition for them.[63] Ibrahim died in one of the suicide bombings at Brussels Airport, while Khalid died in the suicide bombing at the metro station. Both of them had evaded capture during an anti-terrorist police raid in Brussels on 15 March 2016.[54]
Ibrahim El Bakraoui
Ibrahim (born 9 October 1986 in Brussels) was involved in the attempted robbery of a currency exchange office in January 2010, where he shot at police with a Kalashnikov rifle while providing a lookout for his accomplices. One police officer was shot in the leg but survived.[61] The Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, and the Mayor of Molenbeek, Philippe Moureaux, described the shooting as a "fait divers" (a small daily news item) and "normal in a large city", causing controversy.[64] In 2010, Ibrahim was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released on parole in 2014 under the condition that he not leave the country for longer than a month. He failed to abide by the conditions of parole and was sought again by the authorities.[61][62][65]
According to the authorities in Turkey, they detained Ibrahim as a militant in June 2015 and deported him to the Netherlands. Belgian authorities were informed of the detention and deportation, but they apparently ignored the warnings, and the Netherlands released Ibrahim after failing to establish any link to terrorism.[21][63]
Khalid El Bakraoui
Khalid (born 12 January 1989 in Brussels) was one of three men directly involved in a bank robbery on 27 October 2009, in which they kidnapped an employee and forced her to drive them to her workplace in Brussels and deactivate the alarm. They made off with €41,000. About two weeks later, Khalid stole a vehicle and was later found with it and a number of other stolen vehicles in a warehouse. Though he was detained, he was not charged at the time.[61] Khalid was also arrested in 2011 for the possession of Kalashnikov rifles. In September 2011, he was convicted of the carjackings, the weapons possession, and the 2009 bank robbery, being sentenced to five years in prison. He was released from prison after serving most of his sentence.[54][61][62] Following his release, he violated the conditions of his parole, and Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest in August.[when?][27]
Najim Laachraoui
Najim Laachraoui (also known under his cover name, Soufiane Kayal; born 18 May 1991 in Ajdir, Morocco)[66] was confirmed to be one of the two suicide bombers at the airport on 23 March.[53][55][56][67] He was born in Morocco but raised in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels, where he studied electromechanical engineering at a local Catholic high school.[68] He reportedly travelled to Syria in February 2013.[67][68]
Like the El Bakraoui brothers, he evaded capture during the police raids on 15 and 18 March 2016 which captured Salah Abdeslam.[69] Laachraoui is believed to be an accomplice of Abdeslam's, with whom he travelled across Europe under the false identity of Soufiane Kayal.[67][69] Laachraoui is also believed to have made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks.[67]
Other suspects
It was initially reported that the man on the right of the CCTV footage, who is at large, was Laachraoui. The man on the left, who died in the suicide bombings in the airport, remains unidentified. Reports about a suspect arrested in the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht being Laachraoui turned out to be false.[55][73][74] It was later confirmed that the man on the left was Laachraoui; the man at large remains unidentified.[56] Belgian authorities think the unidentified man was a handler or supporter for Ibrahim and Laachraoui.[75] Belgian media identified the third man as Fayçal Cheffou, an independent journalist.[72][76]
Investigators revealed the presence of another suspect in the bombings, who was seen with Khalid El Bakraoui at the metro station; he also remains at large.[75]
On 24 March, six people were arrested in police raids in Brussels, Jette and Schaerbeek, all in connection with the investigation into the bombings.[75]
On 25 March, a 28-year-old Moroccan man was detained following a routine police check in Giessen, Germany; the man, a failed asylum-seeker, is believed to have been in contact with the Brussels attackers' immediate network.[77]
As of 26 March, twelve men were arrested in connection to the bombings. That same day, Belgian prosecutors charged a man named Fayçal C., detained two days prior in front of the Belgian prosecutor's office, with "terrorist murders, attempted murder relating to terror plots, and links to terror groups". It is unclear if he is Fayçal Cheffou.[76][78][79]
Aftermath
Raids and searches were made across Belgium, and security was heightened in a number of countries as a result of the attacks.[42][80]
Belgium
belle_-_22_mars_2016.jpg)
Authorities temporarily halted air traffic to the airport and evacuated the terminal buildings.[28][81][82] The airport was to be closed to passenger traffic until 27 March 2016.[83] The Berlaymont building, which is located near Maalbeek station and is the headquarters of the European Commission, was placed in lockdown. Controlled explosions were carried out on suspicious objects around Maalbeek station.[84]
All public transport in the capital was shut down as a result of the attacks.[85][86] Brussels-North, Brussels-Central, and Brussels-South stations were evacuated and closed, and Eurostar journeys to Brussels Midi station were cancelled. All trains from Paris to Brussels were also cancelled. Taxis in Brussels transported passengers free-of-charge for the duration of the lockdown.[87] Paris's Gare du Nord railway station, with services to Brussels, was also temporarily closed.[35]
The Belgian Interior Ministry raised the terror alert level in the country to the highest level following the attacks.[88] The government warned that some perpetrators might still be at large and urged citizens to use social media before trying to reach friends and family via telephone services.[why?][87]
The country's two nuclear power plants – Tihange and Doel – were partially evacuated as a precaution.[89]
Temporary border checks were implemented by Belgian and French authorities at some major crossings on the France-Belgium border.[90][91]
The federal government announced three days of national mourning,[92] lasting from Tuesday until Thursday, and flags were flown at half-mast on public buildings.[93] They also held a one-minute silence at noon local time on 23 March.[92]
Also on 23 March, Muslim organisations such as the "League of Imams in Belgium" and the "Executive of the Muslims in Belgium" publicly condemned the bombings and expressed their condolences to the victims and their families.[94]
Other countries
Soon after news of the attacks broke, security was increased, particularly at airports, railway stations and other transport hubs, in countries such as Denmark,[95][96] France,[97] Germany,[87] the Philippines,[98] Greece,[99] Ireland,[100] Italy,[101] Malta,[102] the Netherlands,[103][104][105] the United Kingdom,[42][106] and the United States.[107] In addition, Israel stopped flights from Europe for the rest of the day;[108] additional police were deployed to the Belgian border with the Netherlands;[109] the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the Belgian authorities were advising against non-essential travel to Brussels;[110][111] and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels warned of the possibility of more attacks, recommending "sheltering in place and avoiding all public transportation".[57]
Reactions
A number of countries, national leaders and international organisations expressed condolences and lit monuments.
A few hours after the attack, the French-language hashtag #JeSuisBruxelles (#IamBrussels), along with the Dutch-language #ikwilhelpen (#iwanttohelp)[112] and images of the Belgian comic character Tintin crying, all became popular on social media websites.[113][114][115][116][117]
Some news websites criticized the disproportionate emphasis placed on the attacks in Brussels over similar attacks in other countries, particularly in Turkey, which occurred days before.[117][118]
In a televised address to the nation on 22 March, Philippe, King of the Belgians expressed his and the Queen's sorrow at the events and offered their full support to members of the emergency and security services.[119]
Brussels Massacre 1370
ex Wiki
The Brussels massacre was an
anti-Semitic [ anti-Jew in fact ] episode in
Brussels
in 1370 in connection with an alleged
host desecration at the Brussels synagogue. A number of Jews, variously
given as six[1]
or about twenty,[2]
were executed or otherwise killed, while the rest of the small community was
banished.[1]
The event was commemorated by local Christians as the Sacrament of Miracle,[3][4]
as it was said that the desecrated hosts stabbed by a Jew had miraculously shed
blood and been otherwise unharmed.[5]
The
cult of the putative miracle survived until after the
Second World War.[1]
Notice that the Wiki is eagerly pretending that the whole thing is a pack of lies. It contrasts with their attitude to the Holocaust® Story, which absolute truth - allegedly.