Third Brussels airport bomb detonated in controlled explosion
Security services found and destroyed a third bomb after two explosions at Brussels airport on Tuesday killed at least 14 people.
Security services found and destroyed a third bomb after two explosions at Brussels airport on Tuesday killed at least 14 people, the provincial governor of Brabant Flanders said on Wednesday.
A separate blast at a metro station in central Brussels killed a further 20 people, according to a provisional toll from the national crisis response centre.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for attacks on the airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital, a news agency affiliated to the group said.
“Islamic State fighters opened fire inside Zaventem Airport, before several of them detonated their explosive belts, as a martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Maalbeek metro station,” the Amaq agency said.
The agency said suicide bombers from IS strapped into explosive belts and carried out Tuesday’s attacks. Belgian media said police were hunting one attacker who had survived.
More than 200 people were wounded in the bloodshed, which came just four days after the dramatic arrest in Brussels of Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the Paris attacks last November.
(With inputs from agencies)