Two explosions that rocked the American Airlines check-in desk at Brussels Airport has left at least 11 people dead and several others injured in a suspected terror attack this morning.
Witnesses described seeing 'dismembered bodies everywhere' after the blasts which are believed to have centred on the American Airlines check-in desk at around 8am (7am GMT).
There were reports that shouts in Arabic were heard in the building before the two explosion and shots were fired in the aftermath.
Around 90 minutes later, there were reports of another explosion at a Metro station near the EU headquarters in central Brussels.
Photographs from inside the arrivals hall showed the floor was covered in fallen roof tiles and dust as bloodied people hobbled out of the airport. Others injured were photographed lying on the floor.
In the aftermath of the explosions thousands of people waiting for flights this morning were penned inside the terminal as police sealed off the shattered arrivals hall.
The explosions come just a day after the Belgium Interior Minister warned of possible revenge attacks after the arrest of Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
'We know that stopping one cell can ... push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,' he told public radio.
Brussels is on high alert following the capture last Friday of Salah Abdeslam, the most-wanted man in Europe, in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of the city after a four-month search.
Just yesterday Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the country was braced for a possible revenge attack following the capture of 26-year-old Abdeslam.
France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition so he can stand trial for his alleged role in the November 13 rampage of gunfire and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in Paris.
Mr Jambon said: ‘After 18 months of dealing with this terrorist issue, I have learned that when the terrorists and weapons are in the same place, and that's what we saw in [the suburb of] Forest, we are close to an attack. I'm not saying it is evidence. But yes, there are indications.’
Belgium is under great tension, with its federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw saying yesterday that last year the country worked on 315 new anti-terror cases and nearly 60 so far this year.
Indeed, many witnesses at Brussels Airport today immediately jumped to the conclusion that there had been a terrorist attack, which reflects the nature of the country.
Sky News reporter Alex Rossi, who is at the airport, said tension levels in the city ‘seem to have dropped somewhat’ since the Paris attacks in November.
He added: ‘I don't know whether that is because the threat wasn't as great - clearly if this is a terrorist attack, that isn't the case - or if that's because people become… used to terror.
‘Terror of course works by people being shocking, being surprising. And when you become more used to that level of threat I suppose you can't remain at such an anxious, intense level.
‘But having said that, people were still worried. People you would talk to would talk about the level of military on the streets, the level of security, and these are anxious times indeed.'
Source: Dailymail
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