At least 34 people were killed on Tuesday as two deadly explosions rocked the Zaventem airport in the Belgian capital and a more powerful blast ripped through a train coach at a metro station in the heart of Brussels in the worst terror attack in Europe in four months.
Fourteen people were killed as two quick explosions took place in the country's biggest airport just before 8 a.m. in a departure area, breaking windows, furniture and machinery, leaving it looking like a war zone.
Over 80 people were injured in the huge blasts, which triggered a panic run by hundreds of stunned passengers and staff from the airport building. Authorities said a suicide bomber was to blame for one explosion and that someone was heard shouting in Arabic and open fire moments earlier.
A Kalashnikov was later found near the body of a dead man.
An hour later, another explosion shattered the middle of a three-coach train car at the Maalbeek Metro station, leaving the carriage in a heap of mangled wreck with 20 dead and 55 injured, 16 of them critically.
As the global community, India included, rallied in solidarity with Belgium, Prime Minister Charles Michel called it a "moment of tragedy" and blamed it on "blind, violent and cowards".
He declined to link the bloodbath with the March 18 arrest in Brussels of Salah Abdeslam, the suspect in the Paris terrorist attack which killed 130 people in November last year.
The injured included two employees of the privately-owned Indian airline Jet Airways. A Slovenian diplomat, said to be a man, was also injured, although the authorities did not release his name.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the terror attacks were "disturbing" and "condemnable".
Jet Airways said it quickly moved guests and staff on the landside at Brussels airport away from the terminal and transit guests in the terminal building to hangers in coaches.
Prime Minister Michel said: "We were already fearing attacks. That has happened now." He said Belgium was determined to deal with the situation, and that a suicide bomber was involved in the airport attack.
The airport and all public transport were shut down after the bloodbath. So was the European Union headquarters, near the Maalbeek station where 20 people died. Belgium's nuclear plant in Huy town was evacuated.
"The Metro was leaving Maelbeek station for Schuman when there was a really loud explosion," Alexandre Brans, 32, told the media, wiping blood from his face. "It was panic everywhere."
An intern working at the airport told Al Jazeera: "When I heard the first explosion, lots of people started screaming and running. When I heard the second explosion, which was about 30 seconds after the first, everything got chaotic. I could see panic on everyone's face, blood on their bodies."
Hundreds of people fled the airport building, some with blood on their faces. First reports said the blasts were centred at the American Airlines check-in desk. The false ceiling in the building came crashing down.
TV footages showed a number of Indian passengers being evacuated from the airport. Two Jet Airways planes had arrived earlier in the day from Mumbai and Delhi.
Pictures showed the terminal windows blown out from the force of the explosion and plumes of smoke rising high into the sky. Video also showed terrified passengers running for their lives out of the terminal.
Sky News Middle East correspondent Alex Rossi, who was at the airport, told the channel: "I could feel the building move."
CNN quoted a tourist, Anthony Barrett, as saying that he heard the explosions from his hotel across the terminal building. "When I opened the curtains and looked out, I could see people fleeing," he said.
Barrett said he saw luggage trolleys being used to transport the wounded.
French President Francois Hollande said: "Terrorists struck Brussels but it was Europe that was targeted and all the world that is concerned. Today it is Belgium, yesterday it was France."
France is seeking Abdeslam's extradition so that he stands trial for his alleged role in the November rampage of gunfire and suicide bombings which killed 130 people in Paris.
TRUDEAU CONDEMNS 'DEPLORABLE' BRUSSELS ATTACKS; SECURITY INCREASED
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Tuesday's attacks in Brussels, as his cabinet said they see no imminent threats to Canadians on their soil.
I strongly condemn today's deplorable terrorist attacks in Brussels. My thoughts are with the victims as we stand with Belgium & the EU.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 22, 2016
"I am outraged and deeply saddened by the news that so many have been killed and injured in terrorist attacks targeting the people of Brussels, Belgium," Trudeau said in a statement.
Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Foreign Minister Stephane Dion also pledged solidarity with Belgium and the European Union and the victims of the attack.
Dion called it a "black Tuesday" for Belgium, as support reverberated across Canada with the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan pledging their support and resolve.
"Hearing the screams of children in the smoke of the Brussels metro only strengthens our resolve to combat terrorism in all its forms, and increases our solidarity with the people of Belgium and the whole of Europe," Dion said.
Goodale said the threat level will not be changed in wake of the attacks, which remains at medium, where its been since October 2014, when two Canadian soldiers were killed in separate attacks at the National War Memorial in Ottawa and in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
"There is no information available to RCMP or CSIS that would lead us to any change in threat levels," he said.
A visiting European politician called for a moment of silence on Parliament Hill at the start of a press conference at the main press theatre.
"Today is not really a happy day for the European Union and I think for many people worldwide," said German Social Democrat Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament's trade committee.
Lange was leading a delegation to Ottawa to study the effects of the massive Canada-EU free trade deal, which is expected to be ratified early next year.
Artis Pabriks, the EU's rapporteur on the deal, said while good intelligence and co-operation between allies is essential for preventing terrorist attacks, Europe, Canada and the United States need to do more on that front.
"Violence and naked power should not be, and will not be the thing which will determine how we will live," added Pabriks, also Latvia's former defence minister.
"So we have to stand up to this — and we have to stand up together."
Goodale also reminded Canadians to be vigilant.
"Be aware of your circumstances and your surroundings. If you notice anything that you consider to be unusual or out of the ordinary then you should report that circumstance immediately to your local police," he said.
Dion said he has "no reports of any Canadian citizens being affected by the incidents."
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said the attack "reinforces our resolve as Canadians to stand up to this scourge."
Belgian officials said the casualty toll from three explosions in the capital was 31 dead and 187 injured.
Belgian Health Minister Maggie de Block said 11 people were dead and 81 injured in twin explosions at the Brussels airport. The Brussels mayor said at least 20 people died and 106 were injured in the attack on the Maelbeek subway station, which is close to the European Union headquarters.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, saying its extremists opened fire in the airport and "several of them" detonated suicide belts.
In an advisory posted on its website early Tuesday, Global Affairs said while there was no nationwide advisory in effect for Belgium, Canadians should exercise a "high degree of caution due to the current elevated threat of terrorism."
Air Canada also warned that flights to the Belgian city may be cancelled and security was beefed up at one of Toronto's main transportation hubs. At least one Twitter post indicated the cancellation of a Canadian school trip to the European capital.
More than 200 flights to Brussels were diverted or cancelled, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the airline's staff and crew in Brussels were safe and sound and that one flight had been diverted to Paris.
In Toronto, security and police presence was beefed up at Union Station, according to Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.
"We do take special precautions with Union Station because it is our largest transportation hub in the country," she said.
"When things like this happen around the world, we take extra vigilant precautions."
The Paris airport authority said security was tightened at all local airports soon after the Brussels explosions on Tuesday morning. Airports in London, Prague, Amsterdam, Vienna, and many others, also saw increased security.
The explosions came just days after the main suspect in the deadly Nov. 13 Paris attacks was arrested Friday in the city.
After his arrest, 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam told authorities he had created a new network and was planning new attacks.
Belgium has raised its terror alert to its highest level, diverting arriving planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were.
Airports across Europe immediately tightened security as a fleet of emergency vehicles roared in to handle the carnage at the Brussels airport.
MAYOR OF QUEBEC TOWN IN HOTEL MINUTES AWAY FROM BLAST AT BRUSSELS METRO
BRUSSELS — The mayor of the Quebec town of Drummondville says he heard the sirens of emergency vehicles for hours in Brussels today as the Belgian city responded to deadly terrorist attacks.
Alexandre Cusson tells The Canadian Press he was staying at a hotel located less than a five-minute walk from the subway station that was attacked.
Cusson says he and a colleague were headed to the Belgian federal parliament for meetings when they learned of the attacks at the city's airport and subway, which together killed at least 31 people and wounded many others.
Officials from Quebec's government office in Brussels contacted them and strongly suggested they remain in the hotel for the rest of the day.
Cusson described a paralyzed city as the public transportation system ground to a halt and people waited hours for taxis.
He is scheduled to stay in Brussels until the weekend but doesn't know what will happen to his meetings.
INDIAN TRADE BODY DEPLORES 'HORRIBLE' BRUSSELS TERROR
An Indian trade body based here on Tuesday expressed deep shock over the "heinous and horrible" terror attacks in the Belgian capital that left at least 28 people dead.
Europe India Chamber of Commerce secretary general Sunil Prasad said the "barbarity" was against humanity. "We condemn these attacks and the terrorists who carried out this heinous and horrible barbarity."
Such a terrorist attack would have far-reaching geopolitical consequences for the entire Europe, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Brussels to attend the EU-India Summit on March 30.
"We hope the security situation in Brussels will significantly improve and the Belgian authorities will take all necessary security measures for a successful visit of Modi," Prasad added.
Social media users share crying Tintin in Brussels aftermath
A tearful, beloved cartoon adventurer, Tintin, quickly emerged as a symbol of solidarity in the chaotic aftermath of the Brussels terror attacks as social media users worldwide took to Facebook and other Web streams for check ins by loved ones potentially in harm's way.
On Twitter, on Instagram and elsewhere around the internet, the red-haired reporter in his signature trench coat and his white dog Snowy — the creations of Belgian cartoonist Herge — were shared as shocked and saddened versions of their usually indomitable and irrepressible selves.
Some cartoonists drew "too soon" criticism for depicting the stars of the comic series "The Adventures of Tintin" — made into a movie in 2011 by Steven Spielberg — as bloodied and battered versions of themselves.
Others on social media borrowed from the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, using the hashtag "JeSuisBruxelles," or "I am Brussels," just as those after the Paris attacks did when spreading the sentiment "JeSuisCharlie."
Facebook, meanwhile, activated its "safety check" system yet again to help Tuesday within hours of the three deadly explosions at the Brussels airport and a metro station.
The system can provide an easy way for people to mark themselves as "safe" after a major disaster or crisis so that people searching for them will know they are unharmed. It has been used recently to help people communicate after major floods and earthquakes as well as terrorist attacks.
The Tintin cartoon books have been translated into 70-plus languages, from Chinese to Armenian, English to Spanish, just as social media users are lending their languages and voices of outrage, fear, defiance and concern to the cacophony following the Brussels attacks.
The books have sold in the tens of millions of copies, but only in Belgium has the fearless reporter and his dog been ingrained in the DNA of most youngsters since the 1950s. Creator Herge died in 1983 and is considered a national treasure in his native Belgium.
