Brussels bombmaker Najim Laachraoui – known as the ‘Man in White’ – has been arrested just hours after he was named as the world’s most wanted man. ISIS explosives expert Laachraoui has been taken alive by a Belgian SWAT team in the Anderlecht suburb of the Belgian capital hours after police said he helped carry out the attacks that killed 34 and maimed 250 yesterday.
Belgian brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were also named as two of the ISIS suicide bombers – eight days after they escaped police in a gunfight – but in new twist there is speculation there was mystery fourth bomber.
Laachraoui is suspected of rigging up the suicide vests that helped kill 34 in twin attacks yesterday – and is believed to have done the same for the Paris terrorists who murdered 130 in November.
He went on the run after leaving a suitcase packed with explosives and calmly walking from the terminal moments before the massacre at 8am.
Just 79 minutes later a suicide bomber detonated his vest on a Brussels Metro train at Maelbeek station killing 20 people. It is not known if he raced across the city to blow himself up.
Today it emerged there could have been a fourth airport bomb but the ISIS fanatics couldn’t fit all their explosive-packed suitcases into the taxi and refused to let the driver touch them so left one behind at their safehouse.
Laachraoui was already one of the world’s most wanted men, having built the suicide vests that helped kill 130 in Paris last November and went on the run with Salah Abdeslam, one of the Paris massacre masterminds, before hiding in Brussels for four months.
And one of the brothers, Khalid El Bakraoui, who may have blown up the Metro train, rented the apartment where Paris terror attacker Salah Abdeslam was captured by anti-terror police last Friday, according to respected Belgium news organisation RTL.
Yesterday’s twin terror attacks on the Belgian capital that left at least 34 people dead are believed to have been revenge for Abdeslam’s capture – experts believe the jihadists launched the Brussels attacks because the net was closing in on their terror cell.
All of the men were ‘well known’ to detectives and had been on the run since Tuesday March 15 following a shoot-out in a terrorist hideout in the Belgian capital’s Forest suburb. They opened fire on police and fled.
Yet they still managed to find another address to stay, where they stored the explosives and guns used in Tuesday’s attacks.
Belgium started three days of mourning today after the worst terror attacks in its history claimed the lives of 34 and left more than 250 injured in 79 minutes of rush hour carnage. The dead and injured have 40 different nationalities, and contains two Britons.
Mother-of-two Adelma Tapia Ruiz, 36, is the only named victim of the Brussels terror attacks so far. The Peruvian national had lived in Belgium for nine years, was on her the way to visit relatives in New York with her twin daughters when she died in the double suicide bombing at Zaventem Airport.
Ms Tapia’s three-year-old twins Maureen and Alondra, and her Belgian husband Christopher Delcambe, survived the explosion on Tuesday morning.
The girlfriend of a British father missing after the Brussels attacks is among desperate relatives searching the city’s hospitals in the hope of finding their loved ones.
David Dixon has not been in contact with his partner, Charlotte Sutcliffe, since the bombs went off and may have been on the Brussels Metro at the time of Tuesday’s explosion at the Maalbeck underground station.
The IT programmer, who lives in Brussels but is originally from Hartlepool, County Durham, was travelling to work yesterday morning but did not arrive at his office.
Friends have been appealing for information on his whereabouts on social media and asking anyone with information to contact his Ms Sutcliffe.
American siblings Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were at Brussels Airport at the time of the two explosions inside a terminal and have not been seen or heard from since the incidents.
According to Dutch media reports, the pair were on the phone to their family when the blasts took place and then the line went dead.
The Pinczowskis, both from New York, were at Brussels Airport at the time of the two explosions inside a terminal and have not been seen or heard from since the incidents.
Police have confirmed that those who carried it out have links to the cell who carried out the Paris attacks four months ago.
Today it emerged that the El Bakraoui brothers fled a Brussels police raid last week where snipers shot and killed Paris bombing suspect Mohamed Belkaid, it emerged today.
The raid carried out last Tuesday on a flat in the suburb of Forest saw a sniper kill Belkaid while the El Bakraoui brothers managed to escape police.
Police were acting on a tip-off in connection to the Paris terror attacks, and carried out the raid in Forest, which is close to Molenbeek, where several jihadis behind the Paris attacks lived.
While there was initial speculation that the raid had aimed to capture Paris-terrorist Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested later in the week in a separate operation, this was later denied by a police spokesman.
Belkaid, an Algerian national who was illegally in Belgium, was found with an ISIS flag, AK-47 assault rifle and a book of jihadist literature next to his body.
At the time police said: ‘two persons [the El Bakraoui brothers] who were probably in the flat fled the scene and are being tracked down’.
Less than one week later, Khalid and Brahim El Bakraoui carried out the terrorist attack at Brussels airport and as passengers queued to check in for flights at around 8am local time (7am GMT) the first blast rang out.
People fled towards the entrance of Brussels Zaventem Airport, a second much bigger blast in front of them brought down much of the ceiling and sent razor-sharp shrapnel, body parts and clouds of thick dust and smoke billowing through the building.
According to Belgian news website 7sur7, Ibrahim was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2010 for firing at police with an AK-47 assault rifle during a robbery.
Khalid was also given a five-year jail term in early 2011 for possessing AK-47s and committing a series of car-jackings, it was reported. It is not clear when they were released from prison.
Their use of Kalashnikovs, a signature weapon for ISIS and other extremist groups, will raise questions about why they were not monitored more closely by security services.
Belgian terror expert Pieter Van Ostaeyen says French prosecutor indicating that Abdeslam had started talking to police may have triggered the attack.s
‘The three terrorists thought their network would be exposed and carried out their terror plan before this happened as a pre-emptive move,’ he told Aftonbladet.
‘It happened today [Tuesday], maybe weeks or months before the planned date.
‘The French prosecutor should not have talked so much. He sent out the wrong signals to the ISIS network still intact in Europe, so it was high time for them to act and that’s exactly what happened.
‘The Belgian police investigation was leaking, and that’s why it happened now,’ he adds.
Belgian intelligence services are already under intense pressure to explain a number of failures that have allowed members of the ISIS cell to operate under their noses in the capital.
The taxi driver who drove the bombers to the airport led police to their hideout after the men refused to let him touch their luggage. After the explosions he contacted the authorities.
Armed police in vans and helicopters then flooded in the district of Shaerbeek, north-east Brussels and a nail bomb, chemicals and an Islamic State flag in a flat.
The disturbing discoveries were made as officers searched properties in the district of Shaerbeek, north-east Brussels, where two Paris suspects are believed to have lived in the wake of the attacks.
Photographs taken overnight show teams of armed officers preparing to enter a building in the area as helicopters flew over the scene, providing light and firearm cover for those on the ground.
Forensic teams later used laser lights to search for clues and left the heavily guarded premises with evidence bags.
Najim Laachraoui, a newly-identified ISIS suspect whose DNA was found on bombs used in the Paris terror attacks, had rented a suspected hideout in Schaarbeek.
And Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam is believed to have been holed up in an apartment in Schaerbeek for three weeks after the massacre in France.
‘The searches that took place in the Schaerbeek (district) found an explosive device containing among other things nails,’ the federal prosecutor said in a statement.
‘Investigators also discovered chemicals and a flag of the Islamic State,’ the statement added.
Incredibly, Abdeslam – arrested on Friday, may have been hiding in nearby Molenbeek for four months since the deadly Paris terror attacks.
And there another suspect – named as Amine Choukri – was arrested by Belgian anti-terror police when he was found living with Abdeslam having entered Europe via Greece.
The blasts, which detonated near a Starbucks branch and several check-in desks, sent shockwaves through the terminal, shattering windows and knocking roof tiles off the ceiling as terrified passengers ran for their lives.
Initial reports suggested at least one of the explosions was the result of a suicide bombing. The other device may have been in a suitcase packed with nails and bolts placed at a check-in desk.
At least 14 people were killed and dozens more injured as Islamic State killers struck in Belgium four months after the Paris terror attacks that cost 130 lives. Eyewitnesses spoke of chaos as injured passengers staggered around or cowered under check-in desks as scattered suitcases and choking smoke filled the terminal.
Others ran for their lives, their clothes torn and bloodied, dodging numerous nails flying through the air, small fires and stepping over dismembered bodies, fallen ceiling tiles and shards of glass.
Later police reportedly found two Kalashnikov assault rifles next to the body of an attacker. An unused explosive belt was also discovered in the ruins of the airport, public broadcaster VRT said.
Dries Valaert, 30, who had been waiting to get his boarding pass for a business trip to Berlin, said: ‘There was a first blast and then ten seconds later a second explosion. It was a big big blast.
‘The ceiling tiles came down. It was just 30 metres from where I was. I saw people down on the ground and I just ran. I saw two people dead. I looked around as I ran away and saw them lying there. I jumped over the security barriers towards the departure gates as I thought it would be safer. My first intuition was to get out in case there were attackers with guns.
‘I saw a woman aged around 18 with a hole in her hand and blood pouring out. There was a man with an injured ankle. There was lots of panic. People were running all over the place.’
Mr Valaert said he believed one of the bombs may have been hidden in suitcases that had just been checked in. He said: ‘The explosions were just behind the service desks, they were blown towards us. To me it is the most realistic possibility.’
Samir Derrouich, who works at a cafe in the airport, said: ‘The two explosions were almost simultaneous. They were both at the check-in desk. One was close to the Starbucks cafe just inside the airport entrance. It was awful, there was just blood. It was like the apocalypse.’
Alphonse Youla, 40, who had been working on a stand in the check-in hall wrapping people’s bags in plastic for security since 4am, said: ‘I heard a man shout some words in Arabic before an explosion, then a second explosion – a massive explosion, much bigger.
‘I did not see the man who shouted in Arabic as he was behind me. I just heard the words.’
Speaking with his hands and clothes covered in blood from helping to carry five bodies out of the terminal, and struggling to hold back tears, he added: ‘It was a horror. I saw at least seven people dead.
‘There was blood. People had lost legs. You could see their bodies but no legs. I saw two men face down with blood pouring out of their heads. The injuries were so awful, you cannot imagine.’
Just 79 minutes later a bomb blew up an underground train killing 20.
Shocking images from Maelbeek station show the mangled remains of the train, smoke pouring out of the building and casualties littered on the pavement outside – just 400metres from the EU’s headquarters.
The bomb went off at 9.19am – just over an hour after the two explosions killed at least 14 in a suicide attack on the Belgian capital’s main airport.
Many of those on board were aware the Belgian capital was under attack. Some would have been running late for work when a fanatic detonated his explosives at 9.19am local time as the three-carriage train left Maelbeek station – the Metro stop nearest to the EU headquarters buildings.
Possibly packed with nails and bolts, they produced catastrophic damage, as the crowded middle carriage was filled with deadly shards of flying metal and glass. Along with the dead, up to 130 were wounded, according to official estimates.
As the whole Brussels Metro system was evacuated, shell-shocked passengers in a following train were then forced to stumble through a smoke-filled tunnel to safety as the passageway echoed with the screams of terrified children.
It was unclear last night if the blast was the work of a suicide bomber or an explosives-filled suitcase planted on the train. At street level, shattered glass caused further casualties as the blast wave turned windows into deadly shrapnel. Smoke billowed out of the station as casualties littered the pavement waiting for help to arrive.
Summing up the surreal blend of terror and relief, one image showed a blood-stained man lying outside the station as a pair of stunned survivors embraced before turning their attention to the injured man.
The death toll was expected to rise after a spokesman for the Brussels Metro said ten of the injured were ‘very seriously’ wounded. Survivors described hearing a loud bang before they were evacuated from trains and forced to walk along darkened tracks to the closest safe station. Wiping blood from his face, Alexandre Brans, 32, said: ‘It was panic everywhere.’
Brussels resident Shigeo Sugimoto, who was one Metro stop from the explosion, described the scene as an ‘apocalypse’.
Another passenger, Evan Lamos, who was two stops away from Maelbeek, said: ‘There was a dull thud. We felt a blast of air and my ears popped shortly afterwards.’
Briton Ian McCafferty, another passenger, told Sky News: ‘Panic set in and people rushed off the train. We ran to the stairs and were met by soldiers who quickly evacuated the station.’ Svetlin Lukarov, 26, said he would have been on the fateful train had he not stopped ‘to have a cigarette and a coffee’. The banker, from Bulgaria, said: ‘That cigarette saved my life.’
Passengers last night also described their trek to safety after their train came to a sudden halt between the Maelbeek and Arts-Loi stations.
After 30 minutes trapped underground behind the train targeted by terrorists, a stream of people including mothers with children in pushchairs had no choice but to clamber on to the tracks and brave the 650-yard walk through the darkness to the next station.
A passenger tweeted a video of the traumatised passengers making their way out. Thomas Bignal, a Briton living in Brussels, said it took 15 minutes to evacuate the train. ‘After a minute or two, there was lots of smoke and a plasticy smell and it became increasingly warm and difficult to breathe,’ he told The Guardian.
Passenger Evan Lamos tweeted a picture of a child in a pushchair with his mother outside the station, adding: ‘Was able to carry this brave little guy out from the Metro line to Arts-Loi.’
Five European Commission officials were also unaccounted for last night. Maelbeek is the station that most EU workers use daily and they were yesterday urged to ‘stay home or inside buildings’.
The station is close to the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, the European Parliament and the European Council’s Justus Lipsius building.
Experts believe the bombs were loaded with metal shrapnel to inflict maximum casualties.
An X-ray image of a bolt inside the chest on one patient at a military hospital showed how they came with inches of death. Doctors at the Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, east of Brussels, which treated 13 victims, said all the bombs contained metal objects.
Patients taken there suffered fractures, burns and deep cuts thought to have been caused by bolts or nails. Five of them were seriously injured.
At the nearby KU Leuven hospital, Dr Marc Decremer said 11 casualties were treated for serious injuries including three or four children. ‘We have seen deep flesh wounds,’ he said. ‘That can be caused by flying glass thrown by the explosion, or by the bomb, or by particles in the bomb.’
The British Foreign Office confirmed two Britons were injured in the explosions, while three American missionaries from Utah were also seriously hurt.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘Embassy staff are providing consular assistance to two injured Britons and are ready to support any further British nationals that have been affected. British nationals should follow the advice of local security authorities and check our travel advice for updates.’
Mormon church officials said the three missionaries from Utah were Richard Norby, 66, Joseph Empey, 20, and Mason Wells, 19. Mr Empey is said to be recovering well after being treated for second-degree burns to his hands, face and head as well as shrapnel injuries.
