Tag Archives: Brussels Attacks

U.S. airports on edge after deadly Belgium bombings

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major U.S. transportation hubs were placed on alert on Tuesday and Denver International Airport briefly evacuated part of its main terminal in a false alarm there hours after suicide bombings in Brussels killed at least 30 people.

Despite public safety concerns unleashed by the violence in Belgium’s capital, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the agency had no intelligence that would point to a similar attack being plotted against the United States.

But the State Department issued a travel alert warning U.S. citizens in Europe to avoid crowded places, to be vigilant when in public or using mass transit and to exercise extra caution during religious holidays and at large festivals and events.

“Terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants, and transportation,” it said in a statement.

The Brussels bombings reverberated on the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign trail, with Democratic contender Hillary Clinton declaring that more needed to be done to confront the Islamic State militants who claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Republican front-runner in the White House race, Donald Trump, called again for tighter border security and suggested U.S. intelligence services could use torture to head off future attacks.

Some of the country’s busiest airports and other transportation facilities were placed on heightened security status, as illustrated by a greater law enforcement presence.

Large numbers of uniformed police officers and National Guard troops dressed in battle fatigues and carrying rifles patrolled New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Several U.S. carriers – Delta Air Lines Inc, United Continental Holdings Inc and American Airlines Group Inc  – said they canceled or rerouted flights as a result of the Brussels attacks.

At midafternoon, authorities at the Denver airport evacuated two levels on the west side of the main terminal after several packages that appeared suspicious were spotted near ticket counters, airport spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.

Denver police, FBI and U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers converged on the airport, but the packages were ultimately deemed to pose no threat, and the terminal was fully reopened within two hours.

Several airlines were affected by the scare, including American Airlines, Aeroméxico, Air Canada, Lufthansa and British Airways, the airport said.

‘WORLD MUST UNITE’

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered flags flown at half-staff in memory of the victims in the Belgium attacks.

The State Department said an undetermined number of U.S. citizens had been injured in Brussels but none were killed. Three Mormon missionaries and a U.S. Air Force member and his family were among those hurt.

The Obama administration also was expected to impose tighter security measures at U.S. airports following the Brussels Airport bombings, which occurred in a public hall outside of the security check area.

U.S. Representative William Keating of Massachusetts, senior Democrat on a House subcommittee on terrorism, said the suicide bombings illustrated the difficulty of protecting “soft targets” outside tightly controlled security cordons.

“The targets aren’t going to be just getting on the plane itself, but the airport in general,” he said in a phone interview.

Obama addressed the attacks briefly in a speech in Havana on his historic visit to Cuba, vowing to support Belgium as it hunts for those responsible.

“This is yet another reminder that the world must unite. We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism,” Obama said.

Candidates seeking their party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election immediately weighed in, with Clinton, a former secretary of state, vowing to strengthen her drive to “defeat terrorism and radical jihadism.”

Trump, a billionaire businessman, told NBC’s “Today” program: “If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding. You have to get the information from these people.”

His Republican rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, strengthened his call for Obama to clip the flow of refugees from “countries with significant al Qaida or ISIS presence,” and called for heightened police scrutiny of neighborhoods with large Muslim populations.

The attack raised worries among some U.S. Muslims that they could face more hostility, although mainstream Muslims have repeatedly denounced violence.

“The media hype and political manipulation heightens our concerns,” said Sheikh Shaker Elsayed, imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia.

Some travelers expressed concern that new security measures at airports, which had already imposed extensive restrictions since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, would increase inconvenience without improving safety.

“It already takes all day,” said Hans Vermulst, 66, who was at New York’s Kennedy airport trying to get home to the Netherlands after his connecting flight to Brussels was canceled. “We have to take it as it comes, but I’m not happy with it.”

(Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Idrees Ali, Julia Edwards, Mark Hosenball, Ian Simpson, Alana Wise and Susan Heavey in Washington and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)

U.S. airlines cancel Brussels flights after blasts

(Reuters) – U.S. airlines including Delta, United and American canceled flights on Tuesday after two deadly blasts in a packed departure area of the Brussels Airport at Zaventem.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in one of the Tuesday morning airport explosions, which public broadcaster VRT said killed 14 people. Another 20 were killed when a blast tore through a rush-hour metro train in the European capital shortly afterward, VRT said.

Video at the airport, which was shut down, showed devastation, with ceiling tiles and glass scattered across the floor. Some passengers emerged from the terminal with blood spattered over their clothes.

While there were no credible threats to U.S. airports or transportation hubs, police presence was beefed up as a precaution in the nation’s major cities, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.

Delta Air Lines Inc said its flight DL42 from New York to Brussels was diverted to Amsterdam. Another flight, DL80 from Atlanta, had landed safely at the Zaventem airport and was parked remotely while the airline’s local staff helped passengers exit safely.

News of the multiple blasts, which have Brussels on lockdown and have snarled some cross-border traffic, sent shares of U.S. airlines and travel-related companies lower. Delta was down 2.1 percent at $49.04 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading, while United Continental Holdings Inc fell 1.4 percent to $69.34.

United Airlines, which had two flights due in Brussels on Tuesday morning, said both landed there safely.

The company said it was suspending all remaining flights to and from Brussels.

American Airlines Group Inc said it had canceled flight 751 from Brussels to Philadelphia and would accommodate its passengers when the airport reopens.

The explosions did not occur where American’s check-in operates, the company said, so all of its airport employees are safe and accounted for.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc said all of its hotels in Brussels were on lockdown, along with the rest of the city.

Facebook Inc said it had activated its “safety check” feature, which allows its users to check on friends who were in the area of the blasts.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr and Lisa Von Ahn)

‘Sad day for Europe’, tearful EU foreign policy chief says after Brussels attacks

AMMAN (Reuters) – The attacks which killed 34 people in Brussels and shut down the Belgian capital on Tuesday brought the same suffering to Europe which the Middle East endures on a daily basis, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said.

In a news conference in Jordan which Federica Mogherini cut short after tears welled in her eyes, she said Europe and the Middle East should tackle together the radicalization and violence which brought grief to both parts of the world.

“It’s a very sad day for Europe as Europe and its capital are suffering the same pain that this region has known every single day – plagued in Syria, plagued elsewhere,” she said in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Jordan is hosting more than 600,000 U.N.-registered refugees from the five-year-old conflict in Syria, across its northern border, which has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced more than 10 million.

“It is quite clear that the roots of the pain we are suffering around our region are very much the same and that we are united in not only suffering our victims, but also reacting to this acts and preventing radicalization and violence together,” Mogherini said.

One of Tuesday’s explosions struck a train close to European Union institutions in Brussels.

“You will understand today is a difficult day,” Mogherini said at the end of her statement.

As Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh began to speak, Mogherini appeared to fight back tears before shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, putting her head briefly on his shoulders and walking off the platform with him.