Update: Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Brussels Attacks
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, saying its extremists opened fire in the airport and “several of them” detonated suicide belts.
The posting in the group’s Amaq news agency said another suicide attacker detonated in the metro.
The posting claimed the attack was in response to Belgium’s support of the international coalition arrayed against it.
The mayor of Brussels, Belgium is raising the toll of dead and injured from a subway bombing. Mayor Yvan Majeur now says at least 20 people have died and 106 people were injured in the attack on the Maelbeek subway station, which is close to the European Union headquarters.
Earlier, another top Belgian official said 11 people were killed and 81 have wounded in twin explosions at the Brussels airport.
So in all, 31 people have been killed and 187 wounded in the three blasts.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which come after a top suspect in the deadly Nov. 13 attacks in Paris was arrested Friday in a massive police raid in Brussels.
More than 200 flights to Brussels have been diverted or canceled. The Brussels airport has been shut down and airport security has been tightened across Europe.
Passenger Cedric Vanderswalm says a late train and a full elevator at Brussels airport probably saved his life.
The 20-year-old from the coastal Belgian town of Knokke was at the Brussels airport on Tuesday planning to fly to London for his job as an animator.
He says was heading to the airport’s departures level but the elevator was full “so I didn’t get in. I waited and I was about to step into the elevator when there was a big explosion.” He says people started running, dropping their luggage.
He says “if I had taken the previous elevator, I would have been right in the explosion. My train also had a 5 minute delay, so I was lucky.”
The explosion coated the left side of his face with soot and dust.
The U.S. Embassy in Brussels is recommending that Americans in Belgium stay where they are and avoid public transportation.
The embassy noted Tuesday that with the threat rating in Brussels at its highest alert, attacks can take place with little or no notice. It urged U.S. citizens to monitor media reports, follow instructions from the authorities, and “take the appropriate steps to bolster your personal security.”
Police in the Netherlands say they have halted an international train from Brussels to Amsterdam at a station just one stop from the Dutch capital’s busy Schiphol Airport as a precaution and are searching the train and its passengers.
Local police said on Twitter that Hoofddorp station had been evacuated and will stay closed until the investigation is completed. Passengers were being put up in nearby hotels.
There was no immediate word of any arrests and police did not say what prompted them to stop the train. The incident came just hours after deadly attacks on the Brussels airport and a city subway station.
Photos spread on social media are showing armed police patrolling the Dutch train station.
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