Photo shows Brussels terror suspects

UPDATE: Belgian federal police have released a surveillance photo of suspected attackers at the Brussels airport today. The picture shows three men pushing luggage carts through the airport. Two of them were probably suicide bombers, authorities said. Police are looking for the third man, shown wearing glasses, a hat, and a light-colored jacket. A post on the Twitter account @police_temoin showed his picture and asked, “Who recognizes this man?”

Anti-terror raids are taking place around the country, and Prime Minister Charles Michel said the country would tighten security at its borders. He declared three days of national mourning after what he says were probably the most tragic attacks the country has seen in peacetime.

Authorities found and neutralized a third bomb at the airport once the chaos after the two initial blasts had eased, said Florence Muls, a spokeswoman for the airport. Bomb squads also detonated suspicious objects found in at least two locations elsewhere in the capital, but neither contained explosives, authorities said. Countries in Europe and around the globe boosted airport security after the attacks today, and the British government urged Britons to cancel all non-essential travel to Brussels.

Three Mormon missionaries from Utah were injured in the bombings at the airport, and a U.S. service member and his family may have been harmed, too.

UPDATE (12:01 p.m.): Islamic State claimed responsibility for today’s terror attack in Brussels, saying “several” of its extremists detonated suicide bombs at the city’s international airport and a subway train station. The terror group said in a post on its Amaq news agency website that the attack was in retaliation for Belgium’s participation in the global coalition against it.

Although Belgian officials said “the threat is still real and serious,” they lifted the shelter in place order that kept Brussels residents inside for most of the day. The airport remains closed, but some train stations have reopened.

According to an Iraqi intelligence official, sources in Raqqa, Syria—Islamic State’s so-called capital—warned the terror group was planning attacks in Europe that targeted airports and train stations. But Brussels was not among the targets until police there captured Salah Abdeslam, one of the men suspected of taking part in the Paris attacks in November. Abdeslam, arrested Friday, has reportedly started giving officials information on the terror cell he belonged to.

Another Iraqi official claimed sources say three other militants in Europe are planning another attack.

UPDATE (9:45 a.m.): Speaking from Havana, Cuba, President Barack Obama said this morning the United States would do “whatever is necessary” to bring to justice those responsible for the terror attacks in Brussels.

“We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people,” Obama said. The White House said the United States was in contact with Belgian officials about the explosions at the Brussels airport and subway system. Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke by telephone from Cuba with the Belgian foreign minister, said in a statement the United States was working “to determine the status of all American citizens in Brussels.” The State Department was looking into reports that at least three Americans may have been wounded in the attacks, but it cautioned those reports were preliminary and unconfirmed.

Belgian officials said the death toll from the bombings had risen to 31, with 187 people wounded.

UPDATE (9:18 a.m.): Police in the Netherlands say they have halted a train from Brussels to Amsterdam at a station just one stop from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. They have evacuated the station and are searching the train and its passengers as a precaution.

Police did not say what prompted them to stop the train, but hours earlier, terrorists set off deadly explosions at the Brussels airport and a city subway station. Photos on social media are showing armed police patrolling the Dutch train station.

The Brussels airport was shut down Tuesday after it was hit by two explosions. Another explosion hit a city subway station. In all, 26 people have been killed and more than 130 have been wounded in the attacks.

Hundreds of stranded passengers, some wheeling luggage carts from the Brussels airport, have gathered at a municipal sports hall in the nearby town of Zaventem. Local volunteers in fluorescent yellow vests are compiling lists of the passengers’ names and nationalities. Travelers have the option of being taken to a hotel in Leuven by train or waiting in Zaventem.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (7:52 a.m.): Two explosions at the Brussels airport and one at a city subway train station Tuesday morning killed at least 28 people and injured many more. A suicide bomber likely caused at least one of the blasts. The attacks led to a lockdown of the Belgian capital and heightened security across Europe.

“What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said at a news conference, adding that authorities were concerned more attacks could come.

Belgian media reported 13 people were killed at the airport and a Brussels transit spokesman said 15 died at the subway station.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, and Michel said there was no immediate evidence that linked key Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last week, to today’s attacks. European security officials have been bracing for a major attack for weeks, warning that the Islamic State group was actively preparing to strike.

The two explosions at the airport occurred during the busy morning rush.

Anthony Deloos, an airport worker for Swissport, which handles check-in and baggage services, said the first explosion took place near the Swissport counters where customers pay for overweight baggage. He and a colleague said the second blast hit near the airport’s Starbucks cafe.

“We heard a big explosion. It’s like when you’re in a party and suddenly your hearing goes out, from like a big noise,” Deloos said, adding that shredded paper floated through the air as a colleague told him to run. “I jumped into a luggage chute to be safe.”

Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM television that the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mixing water with victims’ blood.

“It was atrocious. The ceilings collapsed,” he said. “There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere.”

“We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene,” he said.

The subway blast occurred at Brussels’ Maelbeek subway station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union. Rescue workers set up a makeshift medical treatment center in a nearby pub, and dazed morning commuters streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon.

“The Metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion,” said Alexandre Brans, 32, wiping blood from his face. “It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the Metro.”

Francoise Ledune, a spokeswoman for the Brussels Metro, said on BFM television there appeared to have been just one explosion on the subway in a car that was stopped at Maelbeek.

Authorities told people in Brussels to stay where they were, bringing the city to a standstill. Officials in Paris, London, and other European cities also tightened security at their airports.

“We are at war,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a crisis meeting called by French President François Hollande. “We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.