ISIS claimed to strike yet again on
European soil Tuesday, saying its "fighters" launched attacks on the
airport and a subway station in Belgium's capital that killed at least 30
people and wounded about 230 more.
The atmosphere in Belgium has been
tense for months, with the authorities warning of possible threats and pursuing
terrorists. Tuesday's attacks followed on the heels of last week's capture of
Europe's most wanted man, Salah Abdeslam, in a bloody raid in Brussels.
"We were fearing terrorist
attacks," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters Tuesday.
"And that has now happened."
The "working assumption" is
that the attackers came from the network behind November's massacres in Paris,
which left 130 dead, Belgian security sources said, while cautioning it is very
early in the latest investigation.
Belgian police released a notice that
includes a photograph of a suspect "wanted (for) terrorism" and asks
the public, "Who recognizes this man?"
Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw
said the man is one of three shown in surveillance images pushing airport
luggage carts alongside each other. Two of them "probably carried out
suicide attacks," he said, while the third -- the one in light clothing,
glasses and a hat -- "is actively being searched for."
As it has for other terrorist attacks
in Europe, Asia and Africa, ISIS embraced all the assailants. Its claim noted
that Belgium is "participating in the international coalition against the
Islamic State." Belgian warplanes flew 796 sorties and launched 163
airstrikes over Iraq from September 2014 to July 2015, according to the
U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, and were set to resume these operations this
summer.
But just as Belgium plans to continue
its anti-ISIS operations, the extremist group may not be done attacking that
country and others. One Twitter post widely circulated by prominent ISIS
backers featured the words, "What will be coming is worse."
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