The airport after the bombing
The 2016 Brussels bombings took place on 22 March 2016 when two Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Brussels Airport and one at the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels, Belgium. 28 were killed in the attacks and 136 wounded, which occurred just four days after November 2015 Paris attacks perpetrator Salah Abdeslam was captured by Belgian authorities.
Prelude[]
The Brussels suburb of Molenbeek was a major base for jihadists in Western Europe, and it was said to have been the location of the planning of the November 2015 Paris attacks by Brahim Abdeslam, Salah Abdeslam, and Abdelhamid Abaaoud. On 18 March 2016, Belgian authorities captured Salah Abdeslam in a police raid on his apartment, and he told them that he had been planning more attacks while there. Soon after, Russia's FSB warned Belgium that three Islamic State members had entered the country, Turkey also warned Belgium about terrorists returning to Belgium, and Interpol had an arrest warrant out for Khalid al-Bakraoui, but Belgium ignored the warnings. As a result, the terrorists were able to gain the element of surprise against the government.
Attacks[]
The three suspects in the airport bombing: Najim Laachraoui, Brahim al-Bakraoui, and Mohamed Abrini
On the morning of 22 March 2016 Mohamed Abrini, Brahim al-Bakraoui, and Najim Laachraoui entered the Brussels Airport and carried with them baggage trolleys containing bombs; they planned to detonate bombs in the crowded airport. At 8:00 AM, one of the suicide bombers headed to the check-in counters of Brussels Airlines and American Airlines, not far from the departures hall, where he blew himself up after shooting at crowds of people and shouting in Arabic. Soon after, another bomber detonated explosives near a Starbucks café in the airport. Two suicide bombers - identified as Brahim al-Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui died at the airport; a man pictured on a CCTV wearing a white coat - identified as Abrini on 8 April - went on the run. 13 people were killed at the airport; it seemed for a short while that the attack was over. However, at 9:11 AM, Brahim's brother Khalid al-Bakraoui detonated his explosives on a three-carriage train at the Maalbeek metro station while the train was travelling to Schuman Station, and 21 were killed; Osama Krayem was shown accompanying al-Bakraoui before leaving. Smoke could be seen exiting the metro station from its entrance, and the reaction to the bombings by regular civilians was caught on camera. A total of 31 people were killed and 300 injured in the heinous attacks, the deadliest terrorist attacks in Belgian history.
Aftermath[]
Two terrorist suspects being arrested by Belgian police
In the aftermath of the attacks, the Brussels metro and important buildings were evacuated and closed down; taxis provided their services for free due to the metro being unavailable. France closed its border with Belgium, and the Netherlands increased police presence along their southern border with Belgium. Two suspects were arrested by the Belgian government soon after the attacks, and the terror alert in the country was again raised to its highest level, repeating the 2015-16 state of lockdown in the capital following the Paris attackers. The attack showed the world that Belgium was still a hotbed for terrorism, and that the terrorist problem in Molenbeek had not yet been solved. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in both Arabic and French via their social media accounts.
On 23 March 2016, Brahim al-Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui was identified as the airport bombers (Laachraoui was initially speculated to have escaped the attack, as well as being the man in the white coat; he later turned out to be the man to the far left in the CCTV screenshot), Khalid al-Bakraoui as the subway bomber, and a fourth unidentified bomber as the man in the white coat. The identification came after a period of confusion about the identities of the attackers as well as who died. In addition, it took a while to compile the nationalities of the victims, as they came from many countries. On 25 March 2016, the mysterious "man in white" caught in CCTV footage from the airport was mistakenly identified as Faycal Cheffou, a Belgian man who was on a terrorism watchlist beforehand while working as a freelance journalist; on 8 April 2016 Mohamed Abrini was arrested and confessed to being the third airport bomber, while Osama Krayem was identified as the second metro bomber. Several terror suspects were rounded up in police raids following the attacks.