Terror stalks Europe

A series of apparently coordinated explosions ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train yesterday, killing at least 26 people in the latest attacks to target Europe.
Security was tightened across the jittery continent and transport links paralysed after the bombings that Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel branded “blind, violent and cowardly”.
“This is a day of tragedy, a black day,” Michel said on national television. Foreign Minister Didier Reynders warned that authorities fear suspects are still at large in the city that is home to Nato and the European Union.
The bloodshed came just four days after the dramatic arrest in Brussels on Friday of Salah Abdeslam – the prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks claimed by the Islamic State group – after four months on the run.
Belgian authorities had been on alert after Abdeslam, Europe’s most wanted man, told investigators he had been planning an attack on Brussels.
Two blasts targeted the main hall of Zaventem Airport at around 8am (2pm GMT), with prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw saying there was at least one suicide bomber.
A third hit a train at Maalbeek metro station near the European Union’s main buildings, just as commuters were making their way to work in rush hour.
Pierre Meys, spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade, said at least 11 people had been killed at the airport, while transport operator STIB said at least 15 had died in the underground blast and 55 were wounded. Witnesses said victims lay in pools of blood at the airport, their limbs blown off. There were chaotic scenes as passengers fled in panic, with a thick plume of smoke rising from the main terminal building.
“A man shouted a few words in Arabic and then I heard a huge blast,” airport baggage security officer Alphonse Lyoura said, his hands bloodied. “A lot of people lost limbs. One man had lost both legs and there was a policeman with a totally mangled leg.” The explosions triggered a transport shutdown in the city. Flights were halted with metro, tram and bus services all suspended.
Airports across Europe swiftly announced they were boosting security, including in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
Across the Atlantic, New York and Washington ordered extra counter-terror officers to crowded areas and train stations.
Leaders across Europe reacted with shock and solidarity, urging cooperation in the fight against terrorism on a continent that has been on high alert for months.
“The whole of Europe has been hit,” said French President Francois Hollande, whose country is still reeling from jihadist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November.
British Prime Minister David Cameron warned of the “very real” terrorist threat faced by countries across Europe, declaring: “We will never left these terrorists win.”
Russia and Turkey – also targets of deadly attacks in the last eight months – said the blasts highlighted the need to fight terrorism of every hue and across all borders.
Major international train lines into Brussels were suspended, while security was also beefed up at Belgium’s nuclear plants and at EU buildings in the French city of Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament.
In Cairo, the head of Sunni Islam’s leading seat of learning, Al-Azhar, said the attacks “violate the tolerant teachings of Islam,” and urged the international community to confront the “epidemic” of terrorism.
It has been a week of drama and bloodshed in Brussels. Last Tuesday saw a shootout in the city’s south that saw a Kalashnikov-wielding man killed and four police officers wounded.
Investigators believe key Paris suspect Abdeslam slipped out of the apartment as the gunbattle broke out. He was arrested three days later in Brussels’ gritty Molenbeek district – just around the corner from his family home.
Foreign Minister Reynders said at the weekend that Abdeslam – believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris carnage – had told investigators he was planning some sort of new attack.