Her husband and 3-year-old girls had just stepped away from the boarding area at Brussels’ international airport when an explosion ripped the family apart, Peruvian state media said.
Ruiz, a Peruvian national living in Brussels, was killed in the blast, the Andina news agency reported. Her husband and daughters escaped serious injury.
The 36-year-old mother was one of at least 30 people killed in attacks at the airport and at a Brussels metro station. Another 230 people are wounded.
“We were fearing terrorist attacks,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. “And that has now happened.”
A day of horror
The first two blasts took place in the airport, killing at least 10 people. Authorities believe at least one explosion was a suicide bombing.
Jef Versele was in the airport’s departure hall when bombs exploded.
“You cannot believe it; you cannot believe it,” he said. “It was so insane. Not in my backyard.”
Witnesses: ‘People were on the floor’
The second blast inside the airport blew out windows, created a lot of smoke and caused parts of the ceiling to fall, he added.
“People were on the floor,” Versele said, estimating he saw 50 to 60 who were thrown to the ground and didn’t seem to be able to walk.
“It’s horrible; Belgium doesn’t deserve this,” said Alphonse Lyoura, a baggage handler at the airport.
Airport security: How can terrorist attacks be prevented?
About an hour later, another explosion took place at the subway station, killing at least 20 people.
The blasts paralyzed the city, shutting down transport and leaving residents terrified of more attacks.
Officials declared three days of national mourning beginning Wednesday. But as the country grieves, the hunt for those responsible is just beginning.
ISIS claims responsibility
ISIS claimed responsibility for the carnage, but authorities said it’s too soon to say for sure whether the terror group was behind the coordinated attacks.
In its message claiming responsibility, ISIS noted that Belgium is one of the nations “participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State.”
The prime minister said Tuesday he had “no information” about who was responsible.
But Michael Weiss, co-author of “ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror,” said he wouldn’t be surprised if ISIS was indeed behind the bloodshed.
“I find it very hard to believe that it would be another group such as al Qaeda,” Weiss said. “Brussels, we have seen, is honeycombed with ISIS networks and sleeper agents.”
Two senior U.S. officials told CNN they believe the Belgium attack is tied to the same network as Salah Abdeslam — the Paris attacks suspect who was arrested in Belgium last Friday after four months on the run. ISIS also claimed responsibility for the November attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people across the city.
Spurred by Abdeslam’s arrest?
Weiss said Abdeslam’s arrest may have hastened an attack by ISIS.
Abdeslam was supposed to carry out a suicide bombing during the Paris attacks, Weiss said, but “by all accounts, he seems to have chickened out.”
After his arrest Friday, “it’s been reported that he is cooperating with Belgian authorities,” Weiss said.
“Now ISIS will have gotten wind of that fact, and if they fear that whatever human intelligence he has about the active networks in Europe will be given to European officials, they might have … accelerated any plans that they had for forthcoming terror attacks.”
How big is the U.S. terror threat?
‘A ticking time bomb’
Belgium has been a top concern for counterterrorism officials for years because of the large number of Belgian foreign fighters who traveled to join ISIS and other terror groups in Syria and Iraq. Many have been returning.
“The Belgians have been sitting on a ticking time bomb,” a U.S. counterterrorism official said.
And a Twitter post widely circulated by prominent ISIS backers Tuesday featured the words, “What will be coming is worse.”
But the prime minister said Belgians refuse to be defeated.
“To those who have chosen to be barbarous enemies of freedom, democracy and fundamental values … we remain united as one,” Michel said. “We are determined to defend our freedoms and to protect our liberties.”
Brussels attacks: National days of mourning begin as country's nightmare comes true #JHedzWorlD
No comments:
Post a Comment