The Globe in Brussels
Read: Brussels authorities in massive manhunt for surviving suspect, by the Globe's Eric Reguly who is the Belgian capital. Also, follow him on Twitter for the latest updates.
The perpetrators
According to Belgian prosecutors, two brothers carried out suicide attacks on Tuesday in Brussels. Both were known to authorities:
- Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, blew himself up at the Maelbeek subway station. In 2011, he was sentenced to prison for car-jacking.
- Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, blew himself up at the airport. In 2010, he was jailed for firing a Kalashnikov assault rifle at police during a robbery. He is pictured in the middle of the photo below from an airport security camera.
A photograph from a security camera shows three men that Belgian police suspect of carrying out the attacks in Brussels at the airport. Two are dead; police are looking for the third.
Reuters
The two other men pictured in the photo are the subjects of an investigation.
Federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw told reporters Wednesday that the identity of a second suicide bomber at the airport is still unknown. He is believed to be the man in the left of the photo.
A third attacker, pictured wearing a light-coloured jacket, also came to the airport with an explosive bag. But it exploded later and no one was hurt, the prosecutor said.
The group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The manhunt
Authorities are trying to track down the surviving suspect. There have been conflicting reports about his identity in Belgian media.
Belgian newspaper DH reported that he could be Najim Laachraoui, a suspected accomplice of Salah Abdeslam, who is accused of being one of the Paris attackers and was arrested Friday in Brussels after months on the run. Belgian police have been searching for Mr. Laachraoui since last week.
He is believed to have made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks, a French police official told The Associated Press, adding that Mr. Laachraoui's DNA was found on all of the vests, as well as in the Brussels apartment where they were made. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Belgian media reported that Mr. Laachraoui was arrested earlier Wednesday, the day after the Belgian airport and subway attacks. But the arrest turned out to be untrue. So far, authorities have not identified Mr. Laachraoui as the surviving suspect from the airport bombings.
The Paris link
Belgian media are reporting that Khalid El Bakraoui, who blew himself up at the Maelbeek subway station in Brussels, is linked to the Paris attacks last November.
He reportedly rented a safe house in the city of Charleroi, in Belgium's south, that was used as a base for the attacks in the French capital. He also rented under a false name an apartment in Brussels where police conducted a raid that killed a man last week.
His brother, Ibrahim, left behind a will that was found on a computer dumped in a garbage bin near the militants' hideout in Brussels. It outlined a life on the run and fears of ending up in a prison cell.
The victims
According to the Belgian government, those killed in the Tuesday bombings collectively represented at least 40 nationalities. Among those killed:
Adelma Tapia Ruiz, 36: The Peruvian woman was travelling with her twin three-year-old daughters, Maureen and Alondra, to visit family in New York. The Belgian national was killed, while one of her daughters was injured by shrapnel, according to The New York Times. Her husband, who was there to drop them off at the airport, was also hurt.
Mason Wells, 19: The missionary from Utah was injured at the airport while he was helping fellow missionaries check in for their flight. It is the teen's second brush with an attack. He was a block from the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, according to AP.
Flowers, candles and tributes, to the victims and injured, continue to adorn the Place de la Bourse in Brussels following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/Getty Images
Harrowing scenes
Mobile phone video captured the minutes following the attacks at the airport and subway on Tuesday, as victims scrambled to safety.
People traverse darkened subway tunnels after Brussels terror attack
0:54
Screams and debris in Brussels airport after blast
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Security
Belgium is at its highest terrorism threat level, according to the country's Justice Minister. With that threat designation there is the danger of an "imminent" attack.
There was a noticeable increase in security forces in the neighbourhoods around key European Union buildings.
Police control the access to Brussels central train station following Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium.
VINCENT KESSLER/REUTERS
Remembering
Belgium held a minute of silence at noon on Wednesday to remember the victims. The government has declared three days of mourning.
Belgians mourn victims of terror attacks
Emotions were raw in central Brussels during a minute of silence in memory of the 31 victims and more than 270 injured in yesterday's bombings.
Travel
The Brussels airport will stay closed for another day, ahead of what is normally the busy Easter weekend. An estimated 1,200 flights will be cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday.
Some subways stations were also closed on the day after the attacks.
A blood-soaked towel lies in the basket of a luggage trolley at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, day after triple bomb attacks in the Belgian capital.
YORICK JANSENS/AFP/Getty Images
Sport
Due to "security concerns," the Belgian football federation has cancelled an international friendly match against Portugal next week.
The cancellation brings into the spotlight an even bigger sporting event scheduled for June. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday that Euro 2016, a month-long European soccer tournament being held in France this year, should go ahead as planned and that big sporting or entertainment events should not be put on hold because of fear of attacks.
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