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[Brussels Bombings] 31~ Dead, 250~ Injured
The Ender
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Good news, everyone: explosions occurred in Brussels Airport today & a metro train, killing at least 21~ people as of this writing and maiming at least 55~ others. Because why try to enjoy life when you can waste it building & planting bombs?
There are early reports of Arabic shouting before the bombs exploded. That may just be imagined, or perhaps people making an improper biased causal link, but it's also pretty reasonable to suspect Wahhabi involvement right now.
This also comes a few days after the capture of Salah Abdeslam, who was involved in the Paris attacks.
Best wishes to the injured, condolences to the families of the fallen, all the world to the first responders.
Terrible way to start the week.
EDIT: And now a further explosion has been reported at a metro station in the capital.
Early reports are that the bomb went off in a train, and there are apparently photographs of people coming out of the metro covered in the blood of the presumably dead. I would request that nobody post those photographs or links to them here, please.
How much worse does Tuesday get? Well, let's find out.
Alex Rossi wrote:I could feel the building move. There was also dust and smoke as well...I went towards where the explosion came from and there were people coming out looking very dazed and shocked.
The thinking here is that it is some kind of terrorist attack - that hasn't been verified by any of the authorities here at the airport.
There are early reports of Arabic shouting before the bombs exploded. That may just be imagined, or perhaps people making an improper biased causal link, but it's also pretty reasonable to suspect Wahhabi involvement right now.
This also comes a few days after the capture of Salah Abdeslam, who was involved in the Paris attacks.
Best wishes to the injured, condolences to the families of the fallen, all the world to the first responders.
Terrible way to start the week.
EDIT: And now a further explosion has been reported at a metro station in the capital.
Early reports are that the bomb went off in a train, and there are apparently photographs of people coming out of the metro covered in the blood of the presumably dead. I would request that nobody post those photographs or links to them here, please.
How much worse does Tuesday get? Well, let's find out.
With Love and Courage
The Ender on
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Steam: adamjnet
From euobserver:
Map courtesy of BBC:
I know a few people living in Brussels who do EU related work, grateful it looks like they are all ok.
TV news report right now is talking about how the Brussels airport and metro station were already on "high alert" because of the Abdeslam arrest, looking out for members who might be passing through to scatter.
But what does high alert mean, security wise? it's hard to imagine what can be meaningfully done to prevent something like this.
This is only going to further inflame nativist and right-wing political parties in Europe.
I feel sick.
NNID: Hakkekage
I imagine the Police and intelligence services are having to ask themselves some serious questions.
Apparently the airport bomb was set-off at a check-in desk.
Swifted?
High alert usually means things like dogs on patrol and a few extra security staff looking for suspicious activity.
I think you're absolutely right; there's limited things one can reasonably do to try and prevent this kind of attack if someone wants to do it.
Yeah, I'm actually kind of surprised it took this long (in the West, anyway, don't forget the Moscow attack several years ago) for someone to just attack the pre-security area of an airport. It's almost like there isn't anything you can really do at the target location to stop a truly determined attacker.
Brussels is a really underrated city, hopefully they rebound quickly.
American airlines, specifically.
Not just Europe. Prepare for the "serious foreign policy" people to start falling in behind Trump.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Good.
That is very good.
BRB I'm going to go drink some bleach.
The anchors are really latching on the official statement that Brussels was "hit by blind attacks", being critical that the attacks should have been anticipated because of the Abdeslam arrests
How though?? How do you prevent an attack at crowded transport hubs without shutting down the city and raiding everyone who looks kind of brown?
NNID: Hakkekage
EDIT: TV news now saying at least 30 dead.
NNID: Hakkekage
Some of it is just Monday Night Quarterbacking bullshit. People who want to pretend that perfect security is a realistic goal / expectation.
Some of it is people who think that racial / religious profiling is an acceptable price to pay (well, for other people to pay) for whatever marginal increase in security it would provide.
Apologies. arrested.
Strong network of intelligence, and all the work that goes around that, same that most other countries do. They should have been on high alert, and actioning everything that they had. Especially with something like a suicide bombing. A knife attack, or car, yes, there's only so much you can do to avoid someones who's self radicalized then done that. A suicide bombing though? There's more to that, and there is prevention work that you can do.
But I guess we've got to look at this in the context of Belgium being a serious hot bed of extremism, who generates the highest per capita number of IS fighters, whilst not really being in a position of having the police or security services with the experience or knowledge to deal with that (IIRC the NYPD and Met Police Force have more officers than their entire country).
the answer is you don't
we have never found an effective response to guerilla tactics in any era of history
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Numbers are fluctuating pretty wildly right now; I think I'll wait an hour or so to update the tally.
From the BBC:
Can we please not?
NNID: Hakkekage
Yup. There's little doubt in my mind that they walked into the airport and then specifically chose to target the American Airlines desk to maximize the antagonism of the act.
*drinks bleach*
Please no. Just no.
No more Goddamn bombs.
But an exact number will be hard to get until all the wounded get out of surgery. There are probably a few there that where reported as dying.
At least that's the hope.
That seems to be what CBS was reporting were probably controlled explosions by the bomb squad
NNID: Hakkekage
"There was lots of blood wasn't there." "Tell us about all the glass and smoke." Eugh.
Stay safe anyone in the area.
But the BBC says the opposite? That AA wasn't the nearest check-in desk.
Not a lot of comfort, but some.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
My understanding of the article, and I could be wrong, is that the AA wasn't the nearest check-in desk but it was still the one the bomber targeted? I.E., he could've chosen a closer target, but instead chose to walk further into the airport to explode in front of an AA desk?
EDIT: No, I'm wrong. AA has been pretty adamant that it didn't occur at their check-in.
Yeah, it seems pretty likely that a cell accelerated their plans in light of the capture of Abdeslam - especially since the media reported that he was willing to talk.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
(Phone in interview)
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-35869266?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central
NY Times: What we know (warning, some photography that may be distressing, no gore though): http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/world/europe/brussels-attacks-what-we-know-and-dont-know.html?_r=0
NNID: Hakkekage
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
NNID: Hakkekage
Many fall in the face of chaos, but not this one. Not today.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+