The blown out windows of Zaventem airport are seen after a deadly attack in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, March 22, 2016.
By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
March 22, 2016
More than 25 people are reported dead after explosions, at least one likely caused by a suicide bomber, rocked the Brussels airport and subway system Tuesday, prompting a lockdown of the Belgian capital and heightened security across Europe.
European security officials have been bracing for a major attack for weeks, and warned that the Islamic State group was actively preparing to strike.
The arrest Friday of a key suspect in the November attacks in Paris heightened those fears, as investigators said many more people were involved than originally thought, and that some are still on the loose.
Here is how the attacks have been linked:
Nov. 13, 2015:About 130 people are killed and hundreds more injured as a series of explosions rock Paris in the worst terrorist assault on Europe in a decade. A number of restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France are targeted.
Nov. 18, 2015: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, suspected of masterminding the deadly attacks in Paris, dies along with his female cousin in a police raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. A third body is later found and eight people are detained.
Nov. 21, 2015: A day after Belgian autorities filed charges against a suspect in French attacks, Brussels is placed in lockdown, remaining at maximum alert over an ”imminent threat,” of possible coordinated attacks.
Nov. 22, 2015:Sixteen people are arrested as more than a dozen raids are carried out in Molenbeek, home to many of the Paris attackers. A fourth suspect — one of the 16 arrested — is charged in the plot; the other 15 are released.
Dec. 3, 2015:Two more suspects are arrested. A French national, identified only as Samir Z, is detained at Brussels national airport as he bids to fly to Morocco. A second man, identified as Pierre N, is arrested during a raid only hours after the detention at the airport.
Dec. 24, 2015: Belgian authorities arrest a ninth suspect linked to the Paris attacks, a Belgian citizen suspected of having had contact with the suspected ringleader’s cousin.
Dec. 31, 2015: A 10th suspect linked to the Paris terror attacks is arrested.
March 15, 2016: Police kill an Algerian man illegally living in Belgium during a raid on an apartment building in the Brussels suburb of Forest, where authorities also find a stock of ammunition and an Islamic State flag.
March 18, 2016: Suspect Salah Abdeslam is wounded in the leg and captured by Belgian police in a raid in the Molenbeek district of Brussels after four months on the run. Two other men are also arrested.
March 22, 2016: Just days after Abdeslam is captured, Brussels is hit by attacks on Zaventem airport and the city's subway system, near a station close to European Union buildings.
