Zaventem Airport
The world is uniting in prayer after yet another deadly terrorist attack at an airport and metro station in Brussels, Belgium which has cost the lives of at least 34 people.
The Associated Press (AP) is reporting on the attacks which began around 8:00 a.m. local time when two blasts ripped through the departures area of Brussels’ Zaventem airport during the busy morning rush. The explosion was so powerful it caused the roof to collapse, killed about 20 people, and left dozens injured.
Eyewitnesses say the first explosion took place near the Swissport counters which handle check-in and baggage services while a second blast hit near the Starbucks café. Both bombs are said to have been close to the American Airlines check-in desk.
An hour later, another 15 people were killed and 55 injured when a bomb exploded on a subway train not far from the headquarters of the European Union.
Belgium authorities reacted swiftly to the attack, raising the country’s terror alert to the highest level, diverting planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were. Airports across Europe immediately tightened security.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, the AP reports that European security officials have been warning that the Islamic State group was actively preparing a strike.
Those fears were heightened last Friday when Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the November attacks in Paris, was arrested in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek which has long been known as a terrorist hotbed.
After Abdeslam’s arrest, officials said there were many more people involved in the Paris plot than originally planned – which means more terrorists are still at large.
Even more alarming was the uncovering of a large cache of weapons during the raid, which prompted Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to warn of other imminent attacks.
“He was ready to restart something in Brussels,” Reynders said at the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum. Besides discovering “a lot of weapons, heavy weapons,” Reynders said, “we have found a new network around him in Brussels.”
Counter-terrorism analysts call the neighborhood of Molenbeek “an explosive mix of highly capable foreign fighters trained by ISIS and sympathetic locals who are unknown to authorities but eager to help in attacks,” NBCNews reports.
This is why critics say Belgium authorities should have been better prepared for the attack and that the city of Brussels should have been on its highest alert.
Frank J. Cilluffo, a former senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, told NBC that Molenbeek was “the Ground Zero of European jihadism. . . . And the fact that [Abdeslam] was able to evade authorities for so long demonstrates the high level of support for their network in the community.”
Meanwhile, the country has been left in mourning for the innocent lives lost today.
“What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters. “In this time of tragedy, this black moment for our country, I appeal to everyone to remain calm but also to show solidarity.”
Pope Francis sent his condolences to the leaders of Belgium via a telegram sent by his Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
“Learning of the attacks in Brussels, which have affected many people, His Holiness Pope Francis entrusts to God’s mercy those who died and he prays for those who have lost relatives. He expresses his deepest sympathy to the injured and their families, and all those who contribute to relief efforts, asking the Lord to bring them comfort and consolation in this ordeal,” the Cardinal wrote.
“The Holy Father again condemns the blind violence which causes so much suffering and imploring from God the gift of peace, he entrusts on the bereaved families and the Belgians the benefit of divine blessings.”
Let us join our Holy Father in keeping the victims and their families in our prayers and to use the powerful weapon of the Rosary for protection against the perpetrators of this violence.
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