Belgian authorities hunt Brussels bombing suspect
BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities searched Wednesday for a man pictured at the Brussels airport with two apparent suicide bombers, amid growing suggestions that the bombings of the Brussels airport and subway were the work of the same Islamic State cell that attacked Paris last year.
The European Union’s capital awoke under guard after 34 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Tuesday’s attacks. The Islamic State group, which was behind the Paris attacks, claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings, which laid bare Europe’s vulnerability to a group trying to spread violence well beyond its bases in the Middle East.
Belgium is in the midst of three days of mourning, and government offices, schools and residents held a moment of silence Wednesday morning to honour the dead, marking the moment in a mood of defiance mixed with anxiety that others involved in the attacks may still be at large.
Police conducted raids overnight and circulated a photo of three men seen at the airport wheeling trollies that presumably contained explosives-filled suitcases.