ISIS admits responsibility for Brussels attacks

The blown out facade of the terminal is seen at Zaventem airport, one of the sites of two deadly attacks in Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Authorities in Europe have tightened security at airports, on subways, at the borders and on city streets after the attacks Tuesday on the Brussels airport and its subway system.

While no one has taken responsibility for the attacks in Belgium on Tuesday, two men linked to the attacks in Paris last year are likely suspects for Brussels law enforcement authorities, according to some security experts.

Najim Laachraoui and Mohamed Abrini were on the run from Brussels police after last week’s capture of Salah Abdeslam, the man French authorities believe is the surviving member of the group who conducted the attack in Paris last November.

Government officials in Belgium have not released any information about whom they may be looking for, but on Monday, according to Time magazine, they named the two accomplices of Abdeslam as potential threats to the safety of Brussels and other European capitals.
While some are asking if the arrest of Abdeslam would have sparked the attacks, others say it’s unlikely that is the case.

Michael Horowitz, a security analyst with the Levantine Group, cautioned against blaming the attack on Abdeslam’s arrest in the Molenbeek area of the city on Friday.
"Very unlikely that such a large scale attack was a ‘retaliation’ to Salah Abdeslam's arrest as some are claiming," Michael Horowitz, a security analyst with the Levantine Group wrote on Twitter.
"Attack was likely planned months ago, possibility that Abdeslam was going to talk and give intel about the cell likely triggered the attack."

Laachraoui, police believe, was the man who made the bombs used in the attack on Paris. According to The Independent, his DNA was found on several suicide vests recovered at the Stade de France and the Bataclan Theatre in Paris.

Abrini is a childhood friend of Abdeslam, and was spotted in Paris during the attacks there.
The fact the three were likely together in Brussels isn't a surprise to terror analysts. According to a New York Times story, Belgium has, increasingly, become a hub for terrorism in Europe.
The Islamic State has not officially claimed responsibility for the attacks, though some supporters of the group have hinted that it was the terror organization who was behind the Belgium bombings.
Official claims of responsibility for terror activities generally come from the Amaq Agency – an ISIS information outlet.

The Twitter hashtag #Brusselsonfire – in Arabic – has been used to praise the slaughter, according to the BBC. A similar hashtag, #Parisonfire, was used by ISIS supporters during the attacks in Paris.
According to the Belgian foreign minister, Didier Reynders, an unknown number of attackers or accomplices are still at large after the bombings.