Brussels Zaventem airport rocked by two explosions

[Chicog]

How the hell did they smuggle bombs inside an airport. If this happened in Thailand all barstool investigators here would be mocking the Thai police and calling Thailand a 3rd world country. I guess Thailand is much safer than Europe.

Please someone award this as post of the year.

Yeah, obviously hasn't flown out of Swampy recently.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

The Latest: Official: 15 dead, 55 injured in Brussels subway

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on explosions at Brussels airport and metro station:

A Belgian subway official says there are 15 dead, 55 injured in the subway station attack.

Spokesman Guy Sablon gave the toll to The Associated Press after two explosions hit the Brussels airport on Tuesday morning and a third hit the city's Maelbeek metro station.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, fighting back tears, has stopped short a news conference in Jordan after saying that "today is a difficult day," in reference to the Brussels attacks.

Mogherini was wrapping up her opening statement Tuesday at a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh when she was overcome by emotion. When Judeh resumed speaking, she walked over to him, said "sorry" and briefly embraced him. The two then walked off the stage.

Mogherini and Judeh had been speaking for about 16 minutes when the news conference ended abruptly. In her opening remarks, she had talked about the importance of her visit to Jordan, praising the kingdom's stance against militant Islam.

Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw is calling all three explosions in Brussels "terrorist attacks."

Two of the explosions on Tuesday morning hit Brussels' Zavantem airport and the third struck in the city's Maelbeek metro station. Belgian media report that at least 13 are dead, and authorities are saying there are dead at both sites.

Van Leeuw says "one attack was probably done by a suicide bomber."

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-22

[champers]

Lessons from history might help:

1. The Nazis and the Japanese had clearly defined targets (their armed forces) and the Allies could directly oppose and defeat these armies because of superior military might. What followed WW2 was a far from draconian approach to those defeated due to the lessons learned from WW1. Japan & Germany were not punished, but rehabilitated and welcomed into the "civilised" global community. Now both have strong economies and are peace loving rather than war-mongering nations.

2. The Troubles in Northern Ireland against military groups hidden from view, operating in the shadows of the communities they terrorised. Armed forces for successive UK Governments could not defeat these foes, despite a superior military might, and ultimately a political solution was found by diplomacy, negotiation and finding common ground. Former terrorists now hold senior government positions in Northern Island.

Which solution will work with Muslim terrorists?

[Jonathan Fairfield]

UPDATE

Explosions rock Brussels airport, subway; 28 reported dead
LORNE COOK, Associated Press
JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG, Associated Press


BRUSSELS (AP) — Explosions, at least one likely caused by a suicide bomber, rocked the Brussels airport and subway system Tuesday, prompting a lockdown of the Belgian capital and heightened security across Europe. At least 28 people were reported dead.

A spokesman for the Brussels Metro said 15 people were killed and 55 injured in an explosion on a train, and Belgian media reported at least 13 dead in two explosions at the airport, with many others injured.

Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were. Airports across Europe immediately tightened security.

"We are at war," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a crisis meeting called by the French president. "We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

European security officials have been bracing for a major attack for weeks, and warned that the Islamic State group was actively preparing to strike. The arrest Friday of a key suspect in the November attacks in Paris heightened those fears, as investigators said many more people were involved than originally thought, and that some are still on the loose.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said there was no immediate evidence linking key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam to them. After his arrest Friday, Abdeslam told authorities he had created a new network and was planning new attacks.

Belgian media reported that 13 people were killed at the airport, where two explosions splattered blood across the departure lounge and collapsed the ceiling. The explosions hit during the busy morning rush. Smoke was seen billowing out of the terminal.

Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which handles check-in and baggage services, said the first explosion took place near the Swissport counters where customers pay for overweight baggage. He and a colleague said the second blast hit near the Starbucks cafe.

"We heard a big explosion. It's like when you're in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise," Deloos said, adding that shredded paper floated through the air as a colleague told him to run.

"I jumped into a luggage chute to be safe," he said.

Tom De Doncker, 21, check-in agent intern, was near the site of the second explosion.

"I saw a soldier pulling away a body," he said. "It felt like I was hit too" from the concussion of the blast.

Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM television that the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mixing water with victims' blood.

"It was atrocious. The ceilings collapsed," he said. "There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere."

"We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene," he said.

Near the entrance to Brussels' Maelbeek subway station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union, rescue workers set up a makeshift medical treatment center in a pub. Dazed and shocked morning commuters streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon.

"The Metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion," said Alexandre Brans, 32, wiping blood from his face. "It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the Metro."

Francoise Ledune, a spokeswoman for the Brussels Metro, said on BFM television there appeared to have been just one explosion on the subway in a car that was stopped at Maelbeek. Spokesman Guy Sablon said 15 were killed and 55 injured in that attack.

At the airport, passengers fled as quickly as they could.

Amateur video shown on France's i-Tele television showed passengers including a child running with a backpack dashing out of the terminal in different directions as they tugged luggage. Another image showed a security officer patrolling inside a hall with blown-out paneling and what appeared to be ceiling insulation covering the floor.

Marc Noel, 63, was about to board a Delta flight to Atlanta, to return to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. A Belgian native, Noel says he was in an airport shop buying automobile magazines when the first explosion occurred 50 yards away.

"People were crying, shouting, children. It was a horrible experience," he told AP. He said his decision to shop might have saved his life. "I would probably have been in that place when the bomb went off."

With three runways in the shape of a "Z," the airport connects Europe's capital to 226 destinations around the world and handled nearly 23.5 million passengers in 2015.

Passengers were led onto the tarmac and the crisis center urged people not to come to the airport.

Authorities told people in Brussels to stay where they were, bringing the city to a standstill. Airport security was also tightened in Paris, London and other European cities.

In Paris, France's top security official said the country was immediately reinforcing security at airports, train stations and metros.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-22

[Thorgal]

I await the hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters taking to the streets condemning this outrage.

Belgian government requested to all people from Brussels to stay inside.

#PrayforBelgium and other Facebook lookalikes have been created.

Eiffel Tower will be lighted black/yellow/red tonight...

Many Muslims and others expressed their solidarity and condemnation.

It's not forbidden to use yourself these channels...

Edited March 22, 2016 by Thorgal

[Jonathan Fairfield]

French prime minister: "We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

BRUSSELS (AP) — French prime minister: "We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

[Hammock]

Probably the EU bureaucrats have to sit and analyze why are these terrorists so cruel, what has made them hate the world, why are they so angry? But this should be done in a very polite way, trying not to upset them.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Hammock

[zakk9]

Lessons from history might help:

1. The Nazis and the Japanese had clearly defined targets (their armed forces) and the Allies could directly oppose and defeat these armies because of superior military might. What followed WW2 was a far from draconian approach to those defeated due to the lessons learned from WW1. Japan & Germany were not punished, but rehabilitated and welcomed into the "civilised" global community. Now both have strong economies and are peace loving rather than war-mongering nations.

2. The Troubles in Northern Ireland against military groups hidden from view, operating in the shadows of the communities they terrorised. Armed forces for successive UK Governments could not defeat these foes, despite a superior military might, and ultimately a political solution was found by diplomacy, negotiation and finding common ground. Former terrorists now hold senior government positions in Northern Island.

Which solution will work with Muslim terrorists?

Stop financing them might be a good start. Stop sending them weapon wouldn't be so bad either.

[Heng]

War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

[NCC1701A]

[stickylies]

Meanwhile, the highest sunni authority has condemned the attacks.

[Steely Dan]

I await the hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters taking to the streets condemning this outrage.

I await the Muslim community fears a backlash headlines after a woman in a headscarf gets her ankle clipped by a shopping trolley.

[Yahooka]

French prime minister: "We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

BRUSSELS (AP) — French prime minister: "We are at war. We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war."

Exactly like many of us have said for years.And please let the countries in Europe that want to close their borders(permantly) do so.The Schengen treaty is slowly becoming a nighmare securitywise.

[Prbkk]

Dreadful business but virtually impossible to stop with suicide bombers unless Israel-like security is put in effect. These are reminiscent of the 70s: Lod Airport ( now Ben Gurion), Athens Airport, Milan Railway Station and others. They were effective terror techniques then and equally so now, sadly

[Celer et Audax]

The cause is not yet clear.

I will pre-empt and bet my mortgage that it was NOT a gas leak.

Unfortunately I'm sure we will find that this was carried out by followers of the religion of peace

[i claudius]

The religion of hate,strikes again

[theguyfromanotherforum]

No worries. Just light up le tour d'eiffel in some fancy flag colors and also make sure you use the belgian flag facebook app in profile picture.

That's how we fight terrorists.

[zakk9]

The cause is not yet clear.

I will pre-empt and bet my mortgage that it was NOT a gas leak.

Unfortunately I'm sure we will find that this was carried out by followers of the religion of peace

Religion of peace? You mean Islam? Must be. It can't be anything coming from civilized, western countries of course. We just spread peace and democracy, like here in Sirte, Libya:

Sirte before we sent them our warmest regards:

[wabothai]

How the hell did they smuggle bombs inside an airport. If this happened in Thailand all barstool investigators here would be mocking the Thai police and calling Thailand a 3rd world country. I guess Thailand is much safer than Europe.

Ohh, just hush.

[Celer et Audax]

I await the hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters taking to the streets condemning this outrage.

Don't hold your breath!!!

[Yunla]

sorry for the dead people:( horrible photos and nearly happening every day nowadays. I hate loss of human life at such events and for nothing!

but yes, if enough tolerance is shown or Europe does not have fascist non tolerant politicians effecting the citizens, i believe maybe no ISIS or no bombings now.

so a young muslim guy being discriminated, listening Hitler rhetoric from the likes of Trump, facing hatred due to his religion from politicians and pushed by people in Europe,they are thrown out of planes just bc they muslim too.

then they become muslim radicals as those ISIS guys wash the brains of those young guys easily due to non tolerant and non supportive paranoid European society.

so non tolerance is the result of such radicalism. what do you expect?

I am attending a prayer group this evening for the victims of these barbaric and cowardly attacks upon defenceless civilians. My thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and the families of all those affected.

Many of us from Europe lost grandparents and other family members in WW2. Those family members died for only one tangible reason, to create a lasting peace in Europe. For this reason we are collectively very sensitive when the modern peace in Europe is broken. I think it is important to remember this when discussing the feelings of most Europeans when confronted by these acts.

The other issue is that many of the people caught up in these random attacks, those same people may well have marched against the invasion of Iraq. They might have written online articles for years, to protest against the terrible war crimes being committed in the Middle East. They might have given generously to Unicef in those countries, to help Muslim children affected by the wars.

There really is no "us versus them" this time, no uniforms or opposing forces lined up facing eachother on a battlefield. People who opposed the wars and genocidal crimes committed in the Middle East, might be the same people who get caught up in these random bombings. And vice versa, peaceful normal Muslim families might randomly be the ones being blamed for the terrorist acts.

As Christians, we are sickened when we see the brutality of ISIS. However, as Christians we are also sickened when we see the dead and injured Muslims whose nations were bombed in recent decades. These sorrowful feelings are shared by my peaceful atheist friends, and my peaceful Muslim friends too.

We are all collectively poorer when we abandon our humanity, for any reason whatsoever. It is important to not allow extremists and criminals from any side, to rob us of our humanity and our compassion, as that would be a surrender of the very ideals that brought peace to Europe in the first place.

[Prbkk]

No worries. Just light up le tour d'eiffel in some fancy flag colors and also make sure you use the belgian flag facebook app in profile picture.

That's how we fight terrorists.

Well, the "we are at war" comment is interesting because in my observation there is tighter security on the Bangkok BTS than on the Paris metro. Admittedly they are of a very different size but there is absolutely ZERO checking of bags going onto the RER to/from CDG or on the metro. One would like to believe the old adage that the best security is the stuff you cannot see. Or are those comments there to calm a very anxious public because if these people are prepared to die in the act then some of the attacks will succeed.

The dilemma for France, Belgium, others is to what extent you start doing things like bag checks, and consequently the system grinds to a halt, and if so for how long.

[Chicog]

The cause is not yet clear.

I will pre-empt and bet my mortgage that it was NOT a gas leak.

Unfortunately I'm sure we will find that this was carried out by followers of the religion of peace

Religion of peace? You mean Islam? Must be. It can't be anything coming from civilized, western countries of course. We just spread peace and democracy, like here in Sirte, Libya:

Sirte before we sent them our warmest regards:

Perhaps a couple of photos of Opposition areas before and after Qadafi sent them his "warmest regards" would offer some balance to this debate.

[Chicog]

Well, the "we are at war" comment is interesting because in my observation there is tighter security on the Bangkok BTS than on the Paris metro.

Do you mean those funny things that beep when you walk past the smiling buffons that man them?

Not really what I'd call "security".

Edited March 22, 2016 by Chicog

[Asheron]

Every single attack comes from one ideology, Islam

I'm with Trump keep them out and if necessary revoke any passports of those who are suspects, especially in the EU.

Enough is enough, let them go and blow themselves up in the desert, so we can join them in their celebrations!!

if you are with Trump, move to USA!

just because pervert sects like ISIS bombed somewhere, all muslim does not mean bad people!

or it does not mean you can discriminate them or revoke their passport and send them where?

if you are not happy with muslim, you can move to mars. bc they are everywhere and with such words, you just inviting more bombs!

hatred brings hatred!

Is that also your view about nazis?

[MadDog2020]

just think straight. you camp them in Somalia and you think they will never come back to hunt you and people think like you?

such action is same as how nazis camped all jews!

all you need is more tolerance and better politicians on top. be careful whom you are voting for next time and select some competent politicians!

or basically camp yourself and people like you!

I don't need to be camped I've never hurt anyone all my life and I've never wished ill on people, up until now.

I just don't want to be anywhere near Muslims, I have that right unless you can show me otherwise

More tolerance.....for what blowing people to bits?

Yes the Nazis committed unforgivable atrocities upon a people for no reason, Islam is committing atrocities on people for no reason. Who has the closer link to Nazism?

sorry but you cannot call ISIS islam. they are a pervert bloody sect.

and such thinking (or ignorance) liek all muslim are bombers and killers etc is what brings those bombs.

just think straight. you camp them in Somalia and you think they will never come back to hunt you and people think like you?

such action is same as how nazis camped all jews!

all you need is more tolerance and better politicians on top. be careful whom you are voting for next time and select some competent politicians!

or basically camp yourself and people like you!

Original post removed due to too many posts. More tolerance? I don't think any of those innocent people who died today would agree with you.

.

sorry for the dead people:( horrible photos and nearly happening every day nowadays. I hate loss of human life at such events and for nothing!

but yes, if enough tolerance is shown or Europe does not have fascist non tolerant politicians effecting the citizens, i believe maybe no ISIS or no bombings now.

so a young muslim guy being discriminated, listening Hitler rhetoric from the likes of Trump, facing hatred due to his religion from politicians and pushed by people in Europe,they are thrown out of planes just bc they muslim too.

then they become muslim radicals as those ISIS guys wash the brains of those young guys easily due to non tolerant and non supportive paranoid European society.

so non tolerance is the result of such radicalism. what do you expect?

So are you blaming Trump for this? Get a life.

This is Muslim brothers through and through. What other religion is so barbaric to walk into an airport and blow it up. If they keep it going the world is going to stuff all of them back into the sand hole they all came from and turn it to glass. Then we all can stop worrying about this crap.

[NCC1701A]

34 dead as per Sky News.

[wherma22]

I await the hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters taking to the streets condemning this outrage.

Dont hold your breath...

[stickylies]

Dreadful business but virtually impossible to stop with suicide bombers unless Israel-like security is put in effect. These are reminiscent of the 70s: Lod Airport ( now Ben Gurion), Athens Airport, Milan Railway Station and others. They were effective terror techniques then and equally so now, sadly

Bologna rail station u mean I think ...

[augustwest]

Time to take our homelands back............This shit will never stop all the time WE bend over.......

i'm sure the native americans think the same thing ...

All the Americas, whether north or south have European influx. Australia, New Zealand, you name it, just to live a life........This lot are killing for one reason only, which I do not have to post..

the muslims in my quarter, yes i live surrounded by them, live a life too, working, feeding children, eating and sh*tting just like u and me. they mean no harm. there's a serious problem with radical pyscho muslims, true, but out of 22% of the world population, muslims (1,5 billion), how many blow themselves up in airports ?

Not enough