Brussels: explosions in airport and metro

Brussels explosions: Many dead in airport and metro terror attacks

Brussels, Belgium (CNN)Three explosions that ripped through the Belgian capital of Brussels on Tuesday killed at least 26 people and wounded 130 more, according to Belgian media, and raised the reality of terror once again in the heart of Europe.

“We were fearing terrorist attacks, and that has now happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters.

Belgian federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said it was too soon to know exactly how many people died in the bombings. Yet the Brussels Metro Authority reported that 15 died and 55 were wounded in the subway station blast. And Belgian media report at least 11 more people were killed in the two blasts in the Brussels Airport departure hall.

Of the two explosions at the airport, at least one was a suicide bombing, Van Leeuw said. A blast happened there outside the security checkpoints for ticketed passengers and near the airline check-in counters, an airline official briefed on the situation said.

The subway station blast happened in the Brussels district of Maalbeek, near the European quarter, where much of the European Union is based, according to CNN affiliate RTL.

Richard Medic, who arrived at the station shortly after that explosion, wasn’t surprised by the carnage after all that Europe has gone through recently, including the November’s massacre in Paris that ISIS claimed responsibility for.

“I think, after the Paris attacks, we were assuming like this would happen,” the Brussels resident told CNN. “And it was a matter of time.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/22/europe/brussels-explosions/index.html