Police launch massive manhunt for suspect in a white coat as chilling airport CCTV shows ‘ISIS bombers’ wearing single black gloves to hide triggers for suicide vests in attacks that left 34 dead
March 22, 2016 in News by RBN Staff
via: The Daily Mail
A major manhunt is underway for an ISIS suspect in a white coat and black hat who fled Brussels Airport after two explosions ripped through the terminal in a suicide bomb attack this morning, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
Police issued a wanted notice for the man who was seen on CCTV calmly pushing a luggage trolley through the check-in area with two other suspects minutes before the blasts at about 8am (7am GMT) today.
His alleged accomplices were wearing black gloves on their left hands, which security sources say would have hidden the triggers for their explosive vests.
The two men blew themselves up while the third suspect is believed to have left a nail bomb before being spotted running from the terminal.
It is not known if the fugitive then sped to Maelbeek station to carry out the other blast that killed 20 people in a subway train just 79 minutes later.
Belgian police launched the manhunt as ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacres, which killed 34 people in total and injured close to 200 others.
As a series of anti-terror police raids were mounted across Belgium today, prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed two suicide bombers died in the attack on Brussels’ main airport while a third was being ‘actively’ sought.
It also emerged this afternoon that police had discovered another nail bomb, a number of ‘chemical products’ and an ISIS flag at a house in the Schaerbeek area during a raid in connection with this morning’s attacks.
Police conducted dozens of raids and swooped on a number of suspects as the Belgian Foreign Ministry said many of those behind the terror plot are ‘still at large’.
At least two people in Brussels were arrested at gunpoint outside the city’s North railway station, a mile from the Maelbeek subway.
A third suspect was also arrested on a train near Amsterdam, while hours later shots were reportedly fired at the Dutch capital’s main train station during an arrest attempt.
A suspect package found at Gard du Nord in Paris also delayed Eurostar services this afternoon.
Another man was also taken into custody by armed police at Brussels South railway station near the suburb of Schaerbeek.
Following the attack in Brussels, ISIS threatened to hit the UK ‘harder and more bitter through the grace of Allah’.
Through the terrorist group’s official Telegram account, a statement read: ‘We promise to the states that are allied against the Islamic State that they will face dark days in return for their aggression against our state.
‘And what will await you will become harder and more bitter through the grace of Allah.
‘In praise of Allah who has made our blows precise and helped us succeed. we demand for him to accept our brothers among the martyrs.’
MailOnline revealed earlier today that security services already had CCTV of one of the Brussels airport bombers including the moment he detonated his suicide belt.
Every space in the city’s airport is covered by four CCTV cameras, including the departures hall where at least 14 were killed.
Maelbeek station’s surveillance network is also being used to pinpoint the moment that 20 people were murdered 79 minutes later.
Police are already looking at hours of CCTV footage before and after the explosions as they hunt for those behind the attacks.
First picture: These three men, pretending to be air passengers, are believed to the terrorists who have carried out the Brussels airport. The two suspected suicide bombers on the left were both wearing black gloves – which the Belgian media says would have hidden the triggers for their explosive vests. The third suspect in the hat is believed to still be on the run after dropping his nail bomb
Panic: A fire caused by one of the explosions in the terminal is tackled by airport staff with extinguishers surrounded by baggage and falling roof tiles
Obliterated: Ceiling tiles and debris are littered across the floor of the terminal building after twins blast rocked the check-in area
A soldier walks through debris after two explosion rocked a terminal building at Brussels Airport – but security sources say Belgian police already have CCTV of at least one bomber and the explosion
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 two explosions killed at least 14 in a suicide attack on the Belgian capital’s main airport.
Brussels’ public transport authority has revealed that the three-carriage train at Maelbeek was ripped apart by a single explosion, with the bomb set off in its middle carriage. It is not known if it was a suicide attack or a planted bomb.
Surrounded: Two men on their knees with hands on their head are held in Brussels as the authorities
Interventions: The arrests came as the authorities start to round up any people deemed a risk to the public, including here at Brussels North station – a mile from the Maelbeek bombing
Across the border: A suspect with his hands up is arrested as he is taken off a train because of suspicious activity at Hoofddorp Station in Amsterdam
Commuters on the Metro at the time described hearing a loud bang before they were evacuated from trains and forced to walk down smoke-filled tunnels and along the track to the closest safe station.
A witness said: ‘We left Maelbeek station towards the centre at around 9.07, 9.10, when we felt an explosion which appeared to come from the front of the train.
‘The lights went off, there was panic given what happened at Brussels airport.
‘The doors of the train were forced open to get off the train. There was a lot of smoke. We left via Maelbeek station. The glass doors were blown out. The explosion must have been enormous.’
Emergency services at the scene were carrying the dead and injured out of the station on stretchers.
Alexandre Brans, 32, who was wiping blood from his face, said: ‘The metro was leaving Maelbeek station when there was a really loud explosion.
‘It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.’
20 people are said to have been killed at the Metro bombing at 9.19am.
Brussels resident Shigeo Sugimoto said he was one stop away from where the metro was hit and heard people shouting.
He wrote on Facebook: ‘I am fine !! But i was in the metro when suddenly some one start shouting ‘explosions!!! Evacuation!!!
‘Ouch!!! I was just one station ahead before when explosion happened !!!!!!!!’
He posted pictures showing cars and people standing in the road and wrote: ‘Maerbeek (sic) now apocalypse!!!’
Mr Sugimoto said he saw a man with blood on his face in the vicinity of Maelbeek station in the EU quarter, near the European Commission’s main building.
He was at Arts-Loi station, one ahead of Maelbeek, and told the Press Association: ‘On the ground, there were already people walking every direction to distance (themselves) from metro and the Belgian army were there trying to make people calm.
‘I saw a guy, blood over his face, dragged by another person. Then police start blocking the street and I could only see ambulances go and come.’
Victim: A bloodied commuter is given oxygen and treated for a head injury on the kerb outside the Metro station where a train was blown up today
Survivors: Commuters on the Metro at the time described hearing a loud bang before they were evacuated from trains (pictured)
Emergency: A victim is treated under a blanket to keep them warm next to a woman with a head injury as rescue workers treat victims outside the Maelbeek underground station
Evan Lamos was among the thousands of commuters on tube trains this morning when the network was attacked.
He was two stops away from Maelbeek and the passengers on his train were evacuated from the carriages into a smoke-filled tunnel and then walked along the tracks to the exit at the nearest station.
He said: ‘There was a dull thud. We felt a blast of air and my ears popped shortly afterwards. The Metro stopped immediately’.
Mr Lamos was told that there was ‘an incident on the line’, suggesting that a train may have been bombed.
Ian McCafferty was on the Metro when the explosion took place in Maelbeek.
He told Sky News: ‘I was getting off at the station before Maelbeek and we heard a very loud thud. The stations are much closer together than in London so we heard it clearly.
‘Panic set in and people rushed off the train. We ran to the stairs and were met by soldiers who quickly evacuated the station’.
The explosions came just a day after the Belgium Interior Minister warned of possible revenge attacks after the arrest of Paris massacre suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
At the airport, shouts in Arabic were reportedly heard before the explosions which sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows, knocking roof tiles off the ceiling and sending terrified passengers running for their lives.
Samir Derrouich, who works at a restaurant in the airport, told MailOnline: ‘The two explosions were almost simultaneous.
‘They were both at check in desk. One was close to the Starbucks. It was awful. There was just blood. It was like the apocalypse.’
Photographs from inside the arrivals hall showed the floor covered in fallen tiles and dust as bloodied people hobbled out of the airport. Others injured were photographed lying on the floor.
Video shows terrified passengers running for their lives out of the terminal.
In the aftermath of the explosions at the airport, thousands of people waiting for flights this morning were penned inside the terminal as police sealed off the shattered arrivals hall.
Passengers shield themselves under bags as smoke and debris fill the terminal in the moments after the twin blast at Brussels Airport
A police officer directs passengers in a smoke filled terminal at Brussels Airport after two explosions ripped through the terminal
Shouts in Arabic were reportedly heard before the explosions which sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows
Firefighters who entered the shattered building are said to have found a third unexploded device. This has since been deactivated at Brussels airport, an official said.
People already checked-in were slowly evacuated through emergency exits following the blasts – but were told to leave all their hand luggage as police checked bags for more explosives.
Evacuated air passengers were ferried onto buses and driven to a ‘crisis centre’ away from the airport. Women and children were moved first.
Pauline Deglume tweeted: ‘My godfather is located at the airport and said he saw dismembered bodies everywhere.’
Dries Valaert, 30, was waiting to get his boarding pass from a check in desk when the blast struck.
He told MailOnline: ‘There was a first blast and then ten seconds later a second explosion. It was a big big blast, the ceiling went down. It was just 30 metres from where I was.
‘I saw people down on the ground and I just went running. I jumped over the security fences towards the departure gates as I thought it would be safer.
My first intuition was to get out in case their were attackers with guns. I saw a woman around 18 years old with a hole in her hand with blood pouring out and a man with an injured ankle and two people down. There was lots of panic. People were running all over the place.’
Mr Valaert, who was flying to a business meeting in Berlin, said he believed the bombs were 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. I don’t think it was someone with a suicide vest.’
Armed police in protective clothing combed the building for more wounded travellers and suspicious bags. All flights are being diverted from the airport as it remains on lockdown.
Maelbeek is the station that most EU workers use daily.
The European Commission’s vice-president Kristalina Georgieva said meetings were cancelled and urged people to ‘stay home or inside buildings’.
The metro station is close to the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, the European Parliament and the European Council’s Justus Lipsius building in the Belgian capital.
Ms Georgieva said on Twitter: ‘Following situation in Brussels. EU institutions working together to ensure security of staff& premises.Please stay home or inside buildings.
‘All EU institutions are at alert level ORANGE – all meetings on premises and outside cancelled, access only for staff with badges.’
Police and special forces are looking for known members of any terror cell who may be planning more attacks.
They will also round up anyone who may pose a threat to the public, or acting suspiciously, in an attempt to foil any more attacks.
Special forces are also patrolling the streets in case of more bombings or marauding gunmen used to kill 131 people in at least five Paris attacks in November 13 last year.
Britain and United States will already be playing a key role in trying to help the Belgian authorities work out who was behind the attacks.
Both MI5 and the CIA have stations in Brussels and its teams have ‘unique expertise’ that will help trace those behind the bombings.
The National Crime Agency, Britain’s FBI, will also be in the city already because of the heightened terror threat.
Tech specialists will be scanning the phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, GPS records and forums known to be used by terrorists – and tracing links to Britain and America.
WAS FUGITIVE PARIS ‘BOMB MAKER’ BEHIND THE BRUSSELS BLASTS? TERROR EXPERT CLAIMS USE OF ‘MULTIPLE EXPLOSIVE DEVICES’ BEARS ALL THE HALLMARKS OF THE ISIS CELL THAT TARGETED THE FRENCH CAPITAL
The suspected bombmaker responsible for the Paris massacre was very likely behind today’s Brussels blasts, a top terror expert has claimed.
Rafaello Pantucci, the Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said the use of ‘multiple, viable explosive devices’ bore all the hallmarks of the co-ordinated bomb attacks that killed 130 in the French capital.
It also indicated that possibly more than one experienced bombmaker was involved, he added.
Najim Laachraoui, who is believed to have gone on the run after Paris logistics chief Salah Abdeslam’s capture.
Police issued this photograph of Najim Laachraoui, one of the suspects of the Paris terror attacks who has gone on the run
He said: ‘We don’t know much about him at this point. This individual is being identified as a bomb maker but we have concerns whether that is 100 per cent true or if he’s one of a number of bomb makers.
‘This terrorist group in Brussels had multiple, viable explosive devices. It suggests they were dealing with someone with substantial experience.
‘That could be the same person responsible for the bomb devices in the Paris attacks but it could be someone else, part of a larger cell.
‘Given the location and the nature and the use of explosives and guns the thought process goes down the page of assuming it’s linked to the organised network around Abdeslam.
‘We can’t be sure but it would be surprising if it wasn’t the same group.’
A friend of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who masterminded the November 2015 Paris attacks, told police that the jihadi claimed he was among 90 ‘kamikaze’ terrorists who smuggled themselves across the Mediterranean with migrants and refugees.
Since the Paris attacks, Scotland Yard has had officers in the French capital as well as in Brussels when it emerged the attackers were based in the Belgian capital.
These British officers, and diplomats, will be helping with the investigation.
Armed police have been deployed to airports, train stations, ports and border crossings around the world in the immediate aftermath of today’s suspected suicide attacks in Brussels.
From New York to Moscow, security measures were stepped up at transport hubs across the globe with police and military personnel carrying out extra high-visibility patrols and additional checks.
The border between France and Belgium was closed, Eurostar services in and out of Brussels were suspended and airlines to and from other destinations were warning passengers of potential disruption as the effects of this morning’s terror attacks were felt around the world.
Train and bus stations, ports and road checkpoints were also put on high alert, with armed police on the streets in major global cities including London and New York, sniffer dogs deployed and extensive border checks put in place.
London mayor Boris Johnson said there would be an increased security presence at transport hubs in the city, while the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said police forces across the UK had increased their presence at key locations as a precaution in the wake of the Brussels attacks.
And in the US, the NYPD said it would be increasing security measures at mass transit points, bridges and tunnels, and other landmarks following today’s attacks.
Police and soldiers carrying guns were also seen at airports in the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, while in France – still shaken from the November attacks in Paris – officers remained on high alert.
Troops have also been deployed other key locations across Brussels as Belgium raised its security level to ‘maximum’ in the wake of the attacks.
The entire border between Belgium and France was placed on lock-down, and the Thalys train service – which travels between France, Belgium and the Netherlands – was halted in the wake of the explosions, the operator said.
Armed officers make their way through the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras station in London. There was an increased security presence at transport hubs across the city
