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Muslim teacher among dead in Brussels attack

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Students and teachers mourn the loss of Loubna Lafquiri, a young mother of three, after she was killed on the metro.

Loubna Lafquiri

by Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera

A popular teacher who worked at an Islamic school in Brussels was among those killed in the Brussels attacks.

Teachers and students have been mourning the loss of Loubna Lafquiri, a young mother of three, after the confirmation of her death.

They had been fearing the news since Tuesday, the day of the attacks, when she did not show up to work. She had been travelling via the metro.

Coordinated attacks on the Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station in the Belgian capital left 31 people dead, and were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

“We can’t be anything but angry and reject the beliefs of these people who claim to be Muslims,” said Mohamed Allaf, secretary-general of the Muslim Schools Association. “There is no religion in the world that advocates killing human beings.”

The gym teacher’s students have been encouraged to express themselves in drawings, poems and messages. Other teachers said they hoped this would help the children to come to terms with their loss.

In mosques across Brussels, talk of the attacks has dominated Friday prayers. Muslims have been thinking about their place in Belgian society and they are worried about the future.

Khadija Zamouri, a Muslim parliamentarian in Brussels, said her children are beginning to ask questions about their faith.

“I hear … from my own children. It’s like, ‘Can we still say that we are Muslim? Shouldn’t we be secret about it? Can we say Allahu Akhbar?’ It’s like everything to do with religion has become contaminated,” she told Al Jazeera.

The victims of the attacks came from several countries, including the US, UK, India, Morocco, Peru and China.

Explosions heard as Belgian police carry new major raid

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State broadcaster says at least one man “neutralised” during the new raid in Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels.

Brussels

by Al Jazeera

Armed police have launched a major new raid in Brussels in the wake of the suicide attacks in the capital, Belgian media reported, a day after six suspects were arrestedover the carnage.

Two explosions were heard at the start of the operation in the neighbourhood of Schaerbeek on Friday, and a man had been “neutralised”, according to the RTBF state broadcaster, but there was no immediate confirmation by officials.

Suicide bombers hit the Brussels airport and a metro train on Tuesday, killing 31 people and wounding at least 270 in the worst such attack in Belgian history.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, which claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings, also took credit for coordinated attacks in Paris in November which killed 130 people.

Brussels attack suspects named as manhunt intensifies

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Police comb Belgian capital for third suspect as prosecutor says two bombers were brothers involved in organised crime.

Belgian troops search people entering a subway station following Tuesday''s bomb attacks [Francois Lenoir/Reuters]

Belgian troops search people entering a subway station following Tuesday”s bomb attacks [Francois Lenoir/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A massive manhunt is under way for a suspect seen with two supposed suicide bombers shortly before they struck Brussels’ Zaventem Airport in the first of two attacks that also hit the city’s metro, killing 31 people and wounding 261.

Belgian Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed on Wednesday that two brothers, Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui, blew themselves up in Tuesday’s attacks.

Brahim had been identified using finger print records, Van Leeuw said, adding a third suspect remained on the run.

The prosecutor also confirmed police had raided an address associated with the attackers after a tip-off by a taxi driver who drove the attackers to the airport.

“There was five kilograms of explosives, oxidising liquid, and other materials for making explosives,” he said.

Van Leeuw spoke shortly after crowds of mourners gathered outside Maelbeek station, one of the targets of the attacks, to observe a minute of silence.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for Tuesday morning’s attacks.

“This is a day of tragedy, a black day,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said, describing the bombings as the “deadliest attacks we have ever seen in Belgium”.

But as Belgium began three days of national mourning on Wednesday, he insisted the country would not be cowed by the “blind, violent and cowardly” attacks.

Belgian authorities released pictures of two of the suspects pushing trolleys with their bombs through the terminal and said they were “actively searching” for a third man whose explosives did not go off.

Police helicopters hovered over the city late into the night on Tuesday and raids were carried out across Belgium, prosecutors said, adding that a bomb, an ISIL flag and chemicals had been found in one apartment.

Police were going door-to-door throughout Brussels searching for suspects or others planning attacks. The interior minister said 600 additional police were deployed.

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Brussels, said many in the country were asking whether the attacks represented a continuing threat.

“Belgians feel this is something they’ll now have to get used to…the editor of a prominent Belgian news outlet yesterday was writing that she believed this was something that was becoming part of the system.

“[She said] this was something people have to get used to and have to explain to their children that there is a threat and life has changed.”

Kane said there was also a sense that the blasts were a calculated attack on European insitutions and the “fabric of Europe”.

On social media thousands of people shared images of beloved Belgian cartoon character Tintin in tears.

The explosions struck the heart of European officialdom where NATO headquarters is based, along with the European Union, and European Commission.

Witnesses at the airport and metro station described scenes of horror immediately after the bombings.

“When I heard the first explosion, lots of people started screaming and running,” Tom, an intern working at the airport, told Al Jazeera.

“When I heard the second explosion, which was about 30 seconds after the first one, everything got chaotic. I could see panic on everyone’s face, blood on their bodies.”

The interior ministry raised the country’s terrorism alert to the highest level after the blasts.

Belgium has been on high alert since the arrest in Brussels last week of Salah Abdeslam , a key suspect in last November’s Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.

Governments in Europe and beyond quickly responded to the Brussels attacks, calling emergency national security meetings and stepping up controls at airports and other sensitive sites.

Brussels attacks: Airport and metro hit by explosions

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Health ministry says 11 people killed at Zaventem airport, shortly before another blast kills 15 at Maelbeek station.

The explosion shattered windows at Zaventem airport [Francois Lenoir/Reuters]

The explosion shattered windows at Zaventem airport [Francois Lenoir/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Two explosions have hit Brussels’ Zaventem airport, killing 11 people and injuring 81 others, the health ministry says.

Shortly after the airport blasts on Tuesday morning, an explosion also struck the Maelbeek metro station in the centre of the Belgian capital, killing 15 people, the city transport authority said. The station is close to European Union institutions.

The Belgian federal prosecutor told state media that one of the explosions at the airport was “probably” a suicide attack.

Footage from the airport – the country’s largest – showed people running from the terminal building as plumes of smoke rose to the sky.

The powerful blasts caused parts of the ceiling to fall down and windows were shattered.

All metro lines were shut down after the attacks. Witnesses at the Maelbeek station said people with blood on their faces were seen at the scene.

Ian McCafferty, a witness at the station, said the blast happened during busy rush hour traffic.

“People started running when they saw smoke coming,” he said. “The point of these attacks is to make you live in fear, but I refuse to.”

The interior ministry raised the country’s terror alert to the highest level after the blasts and Brussels’ crisis centre told people: “Stay where you are”.

House searches were carried out in the region around Brussels after the attacks, public broadcaster RTBF said on Twitter.

The interior minister said 600 additional police had been deployed.

Reuters news agency said shots were fired before the explosions at the airport.

“When I heard the first explosion, lots of people started screaming and running,” Tom, an intern working at the airport, told Al Jazeera.

“When I heard the second explosion, which was about 30 seconds after the first one, everything got chaotic. I could see panic on everyone’s face, blood on their bodies.”

After clearing the area of passengers, police brought in sniffer dogs to search the area. Unconfirmed media reports said weapons were found inside the airport.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called for unity as details were still emerging about the attacks.

“We are facing a difficult, challenging time and we should face up to this challenge by being united,” he said.

“What we feared has happened, we were hit by blind attacks.”

Abdeslam arrest

The country had been on high alert since the arrest in Brussels last week of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last November’s Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.

Belgium’s Interior Minister Jan Jambon said on Monday the country was aware of the risk of a possible revenge attack following the capture of the 26-year-old.

“We know that stopping one cell can … push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,” he told public radio.

Governments in Europe and beyond quickly responded to the Brussels attacks, calling emergency national security meetings and stepping up controls at airports and other sensitive sites.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country would increase border patrols at the Dutch-Belgian borders and boost security.

France also announced increased security measures. President Francois Hollande said: “We are faced with a global threat … The war against terrorism must be conducted across Europe.”

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