Brussels: At least 23 people have been killed and dozens injured in Brussels after a series of terror attacks struck the city's airport and a metro station near the EU headquarters.
Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes with blood and 'dismembered bodies everywhere' after two blasts rocked the American Airlines check-in desk at Brussels Airport at 8am (7am GMT) in a suspected suicide bombing. At least 13 people have died and 35 were injured. Around 90 minutes later, ten people are believed to have been killed when an explosion hit a Metro station just 400 metres from the EU headquarters in the city centre in another suspected terror attack.
The explosions come just a day after the Belgium Interior Minister warned of possible revenge attacks after the arrest of Paris massacre suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
At the airport, shouts in Arabic were reportedly heard before the explosions which sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows, knocking roof tiles off the ceiling and sending terrified passengers running for their lives.
Samir Derrouich, who works at a restaurant in the airport, told : 'The two explosions were almost simultaneous. 'They were both at check-in desk. One was close to the Starbucks. It was awful. There was just blood. It was like the apocalypse.'
Flights due to land at Brussels-Zaventem, which handles 21million passengers a year, were sent to Antwerp, Liege, and Brussels Charleroi airports.
Europe's biggest airports are all increasing their security today. Heathrow confirmed it had stepped up its own 'visible' security in the wake of the attacks – with large units of armed police patrolling the airport this morning.
The Belgian Interior Minister has raised the country's security level to 'maximum' this morning as it prepares itself for more terror attacks in the wake of the airport bombings.
British Prime Minister David Cameron offered his support to victims and called a COBRA emergency committee meeting to address the events in Brussels.
He tweeted: 'I am shocked and concerned by the events in Brussels. We will do everything we can to help.
'I will be chairing a COBRA meeting on the events in Brussels later this morning.' The incident came as the Belgian capital was on a state of high alert following the arrest of Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week.
Belgium's Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, said the country was on high alert for a possible revenge attack following the capture of 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam in a flat in Brussels on Friday.
'We know that stopping one cell can... push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,' he told public radio.
Home > News > < Around the World > > Serial blasts rock Brussels; at least 23 Killed, several injured
22/03/2016 17:53 
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