Three bombings have taken place in Belgium today with two explosions occurring at the airport and another one at Maalbeek metro station. There are 26 people confirmed dead, and reports are still coming in of exactly what happened. Attacks of this kind once again demonstrate the difficulties in securing “soft targets”, particularly where they relate to the transportation system (bearing in mind that transport networks have previously been targeted in Madrid, in 2003, and London, in 2005).
There will be a rush to suggest these attacks have come as retaliation for the arrest of Salah Abdesalam, one of the central figures in the Paris attacks from last November, just four days ago. Yet, it is unlikely a cell would have been able to mobilise so quickly and build several viable devices within this time. Much more worrying is that today’s attack suggests the existence of a broad terrorist network in Belgium – one that was already primed and ready to attack, long before police caught up with Abdesalam.
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