March 22, 2016

What We Know About the Deadly Attacks in Brussels: Blasts Heard During Raids

Firefighters and first responders stand next to blown out windows at Zaventem Airport in Brussels.Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

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Update, March 25, 9:49 a.m. EST: Belgian media outlets are reporting multiple blasts in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels. CNN reports the blasts were heard during a large police operation.

Update, March 23, 4:20 p.m. EST: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that one of the attackers was arrested near the Syrian border last June. After he was deported to the Netherlands, Turkey warned Belgium of his suspected ties to terrorist activities. The Guardian is reporting that he was one of the two suicide bombers who carried out the explosion inside Zaventam airport.

Update, March 23, 7:24 a.m. EST: Belgian news agencies have identified two of the bombers in Tuesday’s attacks as brothers Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 30. Both men had been sought by Belgian authorities since the March 15 raid that captured Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks. The Belgian authorities have reportedly arrested a third suspect.

Update, March 22, 1:30 p.m. EST: Belgian police have issued an arrest warrant for a man believed to have participated in carrying out the Brussels attacks. Authorities also released the following photo of three men suspected to be behind the explosions:

Update, March 22, 11:42 a.m. EST: The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, according to an ISIS-related “news agency,” reports the Associated Press. The claim said the attacks were in response to Belgium’s support in the fight against ISIS.

Update, March 22, 9:34 a.m. EST: Belgian authorities have raised the death toll to at least 31 dead.

The city of Brussels is under lockdown after multiple explosions rocked its main airport and a subway station early on Tuesday morning.

Authorities believe a suicide bomber carried out the attack at the Zaventam international airport. Another bombing targeted a metro station in the Brussels suburb of Maalbeek. All flights and public transportation have been canceled in the wake of the attacks.

Tuesday’s explosions come just days after Salah Abdeslam, the fugitive who is suspected of carrying out the Paris attacks in November, was shot and arrested in a terror raid in the Belgian capital.

“I express my complete solidarity with the Belgian people,” French President Francois Hollande said in a press conference. “Terrorists struck Brussels, but it was the whole of Europe that was targeted.”

This is a breaking news post. We will update as new information becomes available.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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