Suicide bombers identified as Brussels death toll passes 30 (Updated Wed)

Two brothers, both known to police, are reported to be responsible for two of the explosions in Brussels. Meanwhile the death toll in the airport and subway station blasts has reached 31.

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Wednesday afternoon update

Brussels, AFP – Two suicide bombers who struck Brussels were identified Wednesday as brothers linked to the prime suspect in the November 13 Paris attacks, as a manhunt for a third assailant in Belgium's bloodiest terror assault gained pace.

A day after the triple blasts that killed some 30 people and left around 250 injured, in an operation claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, RTBF television said police had identified two suicide attackers as Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui. (The Guardian now quotes the same source as saying Ibrahim el-Bakraoui is suspected of carrying out a suicide attack at the airport, but his brother Khalid carried out the metro attack.)

Police had already been hunting the pair over their links to Salah Abdeslam, the key suspect in November's Paris terror attacks, who was arrested in Brussels on Friday after four months on the run.

CNN also reports that the a taxi driver who took suspects to the airport has given authorities the address where he picked the men up, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.

Wednesday morning update

The casualty numbers have been revised again. The latest numbers say at least 31 are dead and 250 injured. The death toll at the airport has been revised downward to 11. The numbers have changed often over the past day, so they will probably be revised again.

Here is an early morning (our time) story from AFP

Huge manhunt after Brussels attacks horror

Brussels, AFP – Belgium launched a huge manhunt Tuesday after a series of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train, killing around 30 people in the latest attack to bring carnage to the heart of Europe.

Two massive suicide blasts by attackers with bombs in their bags hit the check-in hall at Zaventem Airport, strewing the scene with blood and mangled bodies and sending hundreds of terrified travellers fleeing in terror.

Belgian authorities released pictures of two of the suspected attackers pushing trolleys with their bombs through the terminal and said they were "actively searching" for a third whose bomb failed to go off.

Police helicopters hovered over the city late into the night and raids were under way across Belgium, prosecutors said, adding that a bomb, an Islamic State flag and chemicals had been found in one apartment.

The fact that extremists were able to hit high-profile targets in Brussels, Europe's symbolic capital, just months after IS militants killed 130 people in Paris, will raise fresh questions about the continent's ability to cope with the terror threat.

It also underscores doubts about how Belgium has allowed extremism to develop unchecked, coming just four days after the arrest in Brussels of key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam after four months on the run.

"This is a day of tragedy, a black day," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, announcing three days of national mourning after the "deadliest attacks we have ever seen in Belgium".

Belgian King Philippe condemned the "cowardly and odious" assault.

The Islamic State claimed the bombings, saying "soldiers of the caliphate" had carried out the attacks against "the crusader state" of Belgium.

Hundreds of flights and trains were cancelled Tuesday as security across Europe was tightened after the bombings, which Michel branded "blind, violent and cowardly".

But as Belgium raised its terror alert to the maximum level four, he insisted that Belgium would not be cowed.

"People were just going to work, to school and they have been cut down by the most extreme barbarity," Michel told a news conference. "We will continue to protect liberty, our way of life."

About an hour after the airport blasts at around 8:00 am (0700 GMT), a third explosion rocked Maalbeek metro station, in the heart of the city's EU quarter, just as commuters were making their way to work.

The city is the headquarters of both NATO and the European Union.

Belgian authorities published surveillance camera images showing the three male suspects of the airport attack-- two have dark hair and were both wearing a glove on only one hand, and a third, being hunted by Belgian police, is wearing a hat and a white coat.

"They came in a taxi with their suitcases, their bombs were in their bags," Zaventem mayor Francis Vermeiren said. "They put their suitcases on trolleys, the first two bombs exploded. The third also put his on a trolley but he must have panicked, it didn't explode."

Belgian authorities had been on alert after Abdeslam, Europe's most wanted man, told investigators he had been planning an attack on Brussels.

Pierre Meys, spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade, told AFP at least 14 people had been killed at the airport, while Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said "around 20" died in the metro.

Witnesses described horrific scenes at the airport, with victims lying in pools of blood, their limbs blown off.

There were chaotic scenes as passengers fled in panic, and plumes of dark smoke could be seen rising from holes punched through the roof of the building by the blasts.

"A man shouted a few words in Arabic and then I heard a huge blast," airport baggage security officer Alphonse Lyoura told AFP, his hands bloodied.

"A lot of people lost limbs. One man had lost both legs and there was a policeman with a totally mangled leg."

At Maalbeek station, paramedics tended to commuters with bloodied faces as the city's normally peaceful streets filled with the wailing of sirens.

Tuesday's story

Brussels under attack: gunfire, explosions at the airport

Update: The official death toll is now 34, 14  at the airport and 20 in a subway  station. The injury toll has now reached 136, 81 at the airport and 55 in the subway station. Ten of those at the subway station are in critical condition.

Gunfire and at least explosions rocked Brussel's Airport in Belgium this morning. The blasts, apparently carried out by suicide bombers, were reportedly set off near the American Airlines area of the terminal. The airport has been closed, passengers and staff have been evacuated and all rail services to the airport have been halted. 14 have been confirmed killed and 81 injured. Government leaders have placed the whole country under its highest alert.

There has also been an explosion at a the Maelbeek metro station near (500 metres) the European Union's institution buildings in the Belgian capital. At least 20 have been confirmed dead there and 55 injured. The entire metro transport system has been closed.

AFP describes the scene at Maelbeek:

"The metro blast occurred shortly after 0800 GMT, in the morning rush hour, at Maalbeek station.

"Black smoke and clouds of dust billowed from the station entrance, about a hundred metres (yards) from the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

"More than a dozen people were lying on the pavement outside with bloodied faces and were being treated by emergency services."

Just how serious the incident was can be seen in this video taken outside the airport terminal.

If you are going to Europe any time soon, be prepared for tight security checks. There is one report after another on airports on high alert: Charles De Gaulle, Paris, Schipol, Rotterdam and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Gatwick in London and Frankfort in Germany are the latest. International train service to Brussels has also been halted. Thai Airways has cancelled its scheduled flight TG935 to Brussels as the airport there will be closed until at least 6am local time tomorrow.

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