Today's Brussels bombings... the complete story!

 

At 8 am Brussels time... and 9 am Cairo time... people woke up to the alarming sound of two consecutive explosions at the (Brussels) capital's airport... one of them at the airport's lobby and the other on the runway.

It's said that before the explosions, several masked individuals entered the airport carrying automatic weapons and fired shots into the air... anyone who approached them was killed... and they were speaking Arabic... according to the testimony of surviving passengers.

After the explosions and the escape of the assailants, and with the arrival of police and civil defense forces, three explosive devices were found that were also about to detonate... and they haven't finished inspecting the rest of the airport yet... only to have a third, larger explosion occur at a metro station named (Maelbeek) in the European Institutions neighborhood in the capital, which is essentially the headquarters of the European Union!

The number of casualties has been estimated by firefighting forces... and the number keeps increasing as more information comes in, reaching 23 dead, including 11 at (Zaventem) airport, and a very large number of injured with varying degrees of severity.

All fingers are pointing to (ISIS) for the arrest of its leader (Salah Abdeslam) who was accused of the (Paris) bombings a few months ago... and who was apprehended in the (Molenbeek) area last Friday... after a police raid reminiscent of Hollywood movies conducted by the Belgian police after an exchange of gunfire between them and the suspect and his protectors in a house belonging to (Mounir Ahmed El Hadj)... the result of the raid was that (Salah Abdeslam) was shot in the leg and arrested... and the others who were with him were also arrested, three people in total... and they found in their residence several weapons (Kalashnikovs), ammunition, an ISIS flag, and an electric shock device... and all of this was recorded on video (not fabricated).

France demanded Belgium to hand over this suspect and those with him... to account for the 130 victims who died in the events of Paris last time... but Belgium hasn't responded yet... and France said they'll respond after 3 months.

After the three explosions occurred... the office of the Belgian Prime Minister in Brussels was evacuated after suspicion arose that a booby-trapped car was parked in front of his office... and until now, no official statement has been issued whether it was booby-trapped or not... so that the security breach does not escalate and cause general panic among citizens.

Although the number of dead and injured is much lower than the (Paris) bombings... the impact and reaction in the last few hours were much greater... and I'll list them from smallest to largest... and they are as follows:

• Declaring a state of emergency and prohibiting movement in Brussels and suspending airport flights and metro movement (which is the least to do).
• Declaring a state of emergency at airports in European capitals like (Charles de Gaulle) in Paris... (Heathrow) in London... (Frankfurt) in Germany... and other European countries have reinforced security measures like the Netherlands.
• (The European Commission) directly ordered its employees to stay at home or in their offices until further notice... and don't forget again that Belgium (hosts the headquarters of the European Union) which affects all EU member states.
• (David Cameron), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced an emergency meeting for the British government's emergency committee (COBRA) right now and at this moment.
• (European stock exchanges) plummeted in trading immediately after the bombings to cancel flight reservations and tourist and hotel trips and investors' fear... for example, the German index fell by 1.1%... and the Belgian by 0.8%... and the French by 0.7% and the British by 0.5%... and they are all declining.
• The Euro fell by 0.37% against the US dollar... and by 0.79% against the Japanese yen... and it's still falling.

And one of the lighter things is that most countries in the world have canceled their flights to the whole of Belgium, including (EgyptAir)... and there was also a football match between the (Belgium) and (Portugal) national teams that was canceled, where Barcelona's defense star (Thomas Vermaelen) and the great striker from Real Madrid (Cristiano Ronaldo) were supposed to play.