2016 Brussels bombings

== Background ==

Belgium was a participant in the [[War against the Islamic State|military intervention against the Islamic State]] during the [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|War in Iraq]]. In September 2014, the Belgian [[Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)|Chamber of Representatives]] voted to send six [[General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon|F-16s]] for one month to support the US-led coalition.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/iraq-danes-send-attack-planes-30619237.html|title=Iraq: Danes send attack planes|author=Nigel Morris|date=27 September 2014|newspaper=Belfasttelegraph.co.uk|access-date=22 March 2016|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404185045/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/iraq-danes-send-attack-planes-30619237.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Belgium had more nationals fighting for [[Jihadism|jihadist]] forces as a proportion of its population than any other [[Western Europe]]an country, with an estimated 440 Belgians having left for [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] as of January 2015.<ref name="cnn hotbed">{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/21/europe/belgium-terror-fight-molenbeek/|title=Belgium: Europe's front line in the war on terror|author=Nina Elbagir|author2=Bharati Nailk|author3=Laila Ben Allal|date=22 March 2016|website=CNN|access-date=22 March 2016|archive-date=3 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403213845/http://www.edition.cnn.com/2016/03/21/europe/belgium-terror-fight-molenbeek/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Neumann">{{cite web|last1=Neumann|first1=Peter|title=Foreign fighter total in Syria/Iraq now exceeds 20,000; surpasses Afghanistan conflict in the 1980s|url=http://icsr.info/2015/01/foreign-fighter-total-syriairaq-now-exceeds-20000-surpasses-afghanistan-conflict-1980s/|publisher=ICSR|access-date=23 March 2016|date=26 January 2015|archive-date=29 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329074323/http://icsr.info/2015/01/foreign-fighter-total-syriairaq-now-exceeds-20000-surpasses-afghanistan-conflict-1980s/|url-status=live}}</ref> Estimates suggested that Belgium had supplied the highest per capita number of fighters to Syria of any European nation, with 350 to 550 fighters, out of a total population of 11 million that includes fewer than 500,000 Muslims.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/how-belgium-became-breeding-ground-international-terrorists|title=How Belgium became a breeding ground for international terrorists|last=Burke|first=Jason|date=16 November 2015|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 July 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=1 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801034106/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/how-belgium-became-breeding-ground-international-terrorists|url-status=live}}</ref> Some reports have claimed Belgium's weak security apparatus and competing intelligence agencies made it a hub of jihadist-recruiting and terrorist activity,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-belgium-became-a-jihadist-recruiting-hub-1411958283|title=How Belgium Became a Jihadist-Recruiting Hub|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=22 March 2016|date=29 September 2014|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620234832/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-belgium-became-a-jihadist-recruiting-hub-1411958283|url-status=live}}</ref> while others assert that Belgium faces the same problems as many European countries in this regard.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lasoen |first1=Kenneth |title=Plan B(ruxelles): Belgian Intelligence and the Terror Attacks of 2015–16 |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |pages=1–19 |date=2018 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2018.1464445 |s2cid=149729772 }}</ref> According to Kenneth Lasoen, security expert at Ghent University, the attacks happened more as a result of policy failure rather than intelligence failure.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lasoen|first1=Kenneth|title=Indications and warning in Belgium. Brussels is not Delphi|journal=Journal of Strategic Studies|date=2017|volume=40|issue=7|pages=927–962 |doi=10.1080/01402390.2017.1288111|s2cid=157685300}}</ref>

=== Terrorist cells in Brussels ===
Before the bombings, several [[Islamic terrorism|Islamist terrorist]] attacks had originated from Belgium, and a number of [[Counter-terrorism|counter-terrorist]] operations had been carried out there.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lasoen |first1=Kenneth |title=Plan B(ruxelles): Belgian Intelligence and the Terror Attacks of 2015–16 |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |pages=1–19 |date=2018 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2018.1464445 |s2cid=149729772 }}</ref> Between 2014 and 2015, the number of wiretapping and surveillance operations directed at suspected terrorists by Belgian intelligence almost doubled.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Belgian Intelligence SIGINT Operations|journal=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence|volume=32|pages=1–29|author=Kenneth Lasoen|publisher=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 32 (2019), p. 8|doi=10.1080/08850607.2018.1488501|year=2019|s2cid=158963928}}</ref> In May 2014, a French gunman who had spent over a year in Syria, attacked the [[Jewish Museum of Belgium]] in Brussels, [[Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting|killing four people]].<ref name="BBC suspect">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27654505|title=Brussels Jewish Museum killings: Man held in Marseille|date=1 June 2014|work=BBC News|access-date=1 June 2014|archive-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104195857/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27654505|url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2015, [[January 2015 anti-terrorism operations in Belgium|anti-terrorist operations]] against a group thought to be planning an imminent attack had left two suspects dead in the town of [[Verviers]], with raids in Brussels and Zaventem also being carried out.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30840160|title=Belgian anti-terror raid in Verviers 'leaves two dead'|work=BBC News|date=15 January 2015|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=28 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828014359/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30840160|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2015, a terrorist [[2015 Thalys train attack|shot and injured a passenger]] aboard a high-speed train on its way from [[Amsterdam]] to [[Paris]] via Brussels, before he was subdued by other passengers.<ref name="BBC34023361">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34023361|title=France train shooting: Three hurt and man arrested|work=BBC News|date=22 August 2015|access-date=21 August 2015|archive-date=21 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821201516/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34023361|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[November 2015 Paris attacks]] were co-ordinated from Belgium and Brussels was [[Brussels lockdown|locked down for five days]] to allow the police to search for suspects with the aid of the military.<ref>{{cite journal|title=War of Nerves. The Domestic Terror Threat and the Belgian Army|journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism|volume=42|issue=11|pages=953–971|author=Kenneth Lasoen|publisher=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2018)|doi=10.1080/1057610X.2018.1431270|year=2019|s2cid=116180694}}</ref> On 18 March 2016, four days before the Brussels bombings, [[Salah Abdeslam]] and another suspect in the Paris attacks were captured after [[2016 Brussels police raids|two anti-terrorist raids in Brussels]]. A third suspect was killed during one of the raids.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35860157|title=Paris attacks: Salah Abdeslam 'worth his weight in gold'|work=BBC News|date=21 March 2016|access-date=21 March 2016|archive-date=25 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825024739/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35860157|url-status=live}}</ref> During questioning the day after his arrest, Abdeslam claimed not to know the El Bakroui brothers or to recognize them from photographs.<ref name=Trail>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/world/europe/in-brussels-bombing-plot-a-trail-of-dots-not-connected.html|title=In Brussels Bombing Plot, a Trail of Dots Not Connected|date=27 March 2016|website=The New York Times|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-date=27 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327233935/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/world/europe/in-brussels-bombing-plot-a-trail-of-dots-not-connected.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Belgian investigators believed that Abdeslam's arrest may have hastened the Brussels bombings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20170817-belgium-orders-trial-terror-suspect-abdeslam-over-shootout-0|title=Belgium orders trial for terror suspect Abdeslam over shootout|date=17 August 2017|work=France 24|access-date=10 March 2023|archive-date=10 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310223629/https://www.france24.com/en/20170817-belgium-orders-trial-terror-suspect-abdeslam-over-shootout-0|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[Minister of the Interior (Belgium)|Belgian Interior Minister]], [[Jan Jambon]], who spoke after the bombings, authorities knew of preparations for an extremist act in Europe, but they underestimated the scale of the attack.<ref name="LawlerBoyle">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12201611/Brussels-bombings-terrorist-attack-on-Belgium-airport-and-Metro-live.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12201611/Brussels-bombings-terrorist-attack-on-Belgium-airport-and-Metro-live.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Brussels attacks: suicide bomber was known militant deported from Turkey to Europe, president says – live|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=22 March 2016|access-date=22 March 2016|author=David Lawler|author2=Danny Boyle|author3=James Rothwell}}{{cbignore}}</ref>