The bomb atrocities in Brussels are a reminder, if any were needed after last November’s jihadi assault on Paris, of how easy it is for terrorist cells to attack neuralgic targets in European cities and bring them to a standstill.
What appears to have been a double suicide attack in the departure hall at Zaventem airport, and an even deadlier bombing in a metro train at Maalbeek station, next to several EU headquarters in the heart of Brussels, killed at least 30 people and wounded around 180 more, some of them critically. The city went into lockdown.
A claim of responsibility on an Isis website indicates this was the work of local cells inspired by their millenarianism, using the Paris model they adapted from a jihadist attack on Mumbai in 2008. The attacks come after last Friday’s arrest of Salah Abdeslam, in a Brussels suburb known for being a jihadi nest, who was wanted as the surviving perpetrator of the Paris carnage. His local accomplices may have brought forward plans to strike Brussels for fear that his detention would lead to their detection.