How can we stop this?
Experts doubt airports or subways can be made safer against attacks:
ISIS TERRORISTS unleashed a series of attacks on Brussels, killing at least 34 people in the city’s main airport and a subway station Tuesday, just four days after authorities there captured the last chief suspect in November’s Paris attacks.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the three explosions, saying “several” followers had blown themselves up.
More than 200 people were injured.
A manhunt was underway for at least one attacker still at large.
A raid in the Brussels neighborhood of Schaerbeek, 20 minutes from the airport, led to the discovery of a nail bomb, chemical products and an ISIS flag, authorities said.
The first attack came at 8 a.m. in the departure hall of the bustling airport. A witness, Alphonse Youla, said he heard what sounded like gunshots and shouts in Arabic before two blasts that killed at least 14 people.
Smoke billowed through shattered glass as travelers covered in dust scrambled outside, many abandoning their luggage.
“The glass ceiling of the airport collapsed,” said Youla, 40. “I helped carry out five people dead, their legs destroyed.” Hishands were covered in blood. Another witness said the blasts went off near a check-in desk.
A surveillance image from the airport released by authorities showed three suspected terrorists pushing carts loaded with baggage — two of them were wearing black gloves on their left hands, possibly to hide detonators. One man, sporting a bucket cap and gray jacket, was still on the run.
A Belgian federal prosecutor said the suspect was spotted running away from the airport.
Th e other two men likely blew themselves up, authori- ties said.
An AK-47AK 47 was found next to thee body of an attacker in the airport,t, public broadcaster VRT reported.
A third bomb was also planted at t the airport, but failed to go off, offi- cials said.
At least nine Americans were in- jured in the airport explosions.
“The entrance area of the mainn departure area is partly destroyed,” said Daniela Schwarzer, a traveler who witnessed the chaos.
Local media reported the airport t bombs were packed with nails and d shards of glass. An X-ray of a survi- vor of the explosions showed a bolt t lodged in the victim’s chest.
New York siblings Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were feared missing after the attacks, their worried loved ones said Tuesday. The sister and brother were at the Brussels airport and checked in with a relative by phone shortly before the attack.
During the call, a family member heard an explosion and glass shattering, and the line went dead, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported.
The third detonation came an hour later at the Maelbeek subway station about 6 miles away, near the headquarters of the European Union.
Authorities said at least 20 more people died in the subterranean blast. Survivors evacuated the subway through darkened tunnels.
The explosion left a train car completely wrecked — its doors and windows blown out and its interior a charred, mangled mess.
“There was a really loud explosion,” Alexandre Brans, 32, said, wiping blood from his face. “It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.”
The city was paralyzed, with about 600 flights diverted or canceled and train service shut down. Authorities ordered people in Brussels to remain indoors for most of the day. Belgium’s border with France was sealed.
Police in the Belgian capital called on people who may have filmed images from the attacks to help assist with their investigation — calling on “anyone who has amateur film where the attackers may be in view and could help move their investigation forward.”
Belgian authorities had been on high alert since the Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November. Belgian police and soldiers had been on the streets, but the attacks came in crowded areas where bags are not searched.
“What we feared has happened. We were hit by blind attacks,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. “There are many dead, many injured.”
Last Friday, Belgian authorities arrested Salah Abdelslam, 26. The Belgian-born French national thought to have helped coordinate the Paris attacks was captured in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said after the arrest that Abdelslam was “ready to restart something from Brussels.”
ISIS issued a second statement promising “dark days” for countries allied against the Islamic State, threatening that “what is coming is worse and more bitter.”
Police in Paris, London and New York ramped up security in the wake of the blasts. Gov. Cuomo ordered 1 World Trade Center be lit in black, yellow and red, the colors of the Belgian flag.
Mayor de Blasio offered his condolences and noted there was no credible threat against the city.
From Cuba, President Obama ordered additional security measures at U.S. airports and issued a statement saying “the American people stand with the people of Brussels. We will do whatever it takes, working with nations and peoples around the world, to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, and to go after terrorists who threaten our people.”
Yves Jadot, 48, owner of the Belgian restaurant Petite Abeille near Gramercy Park, said the attacks gave him the same feeling of numbness he felt on 9/11.
His brother Bernard and other family had planned to depart from Brussels on Wednesday for New York.
“(On Wednesday), they wouldbe at the same airport at the same time,” Jadot said. “He got lucky, that part was a blessing.”