What we know about the attacks in Brussels and how they connect to Paris

On the morning of March 22, attacks at an airport and metro station in Brussels killed at least 32 and injured more than 270 others.

The attacks took place a little more than an hour apart and were apparently coordinated. The U.S. State Department confirmed that at least two U.S. citizens were killed in the attacks.

[How two Brussels neighborhoods became ‘a breeding ground’ for terror]

What you need to know

• Two explosions hit the Brussels Airport, and there was one explosion at a metro station during the morning commute in the city.
• At least 35 people died in the attacks, including at least four Americans. Read about the victims and those still missing here.
• The attacks came days after the remaining key suspect from last year’s attacks in Paris was arrested in Brussels.
• The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
• Authorities identified two brothers — Khalid and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, both Belgians with criminal records — suspected of being among the three suicide bombers at the airport and metro station. They later named bombmaker Najim Laachraoui as another one of the airport attackers.
• After a weeks-long search, Mohamed Abrini was captured and admitted that he was the “man in the hat” seen alongside the airport bombers in a surveillance video.

There are connections between the attackers in Brussels and Paris.

Surveillance footage shows three suspects in the airport attack. There was one known suspect in the metro attack. Of these four suspects, three died in the blasts. The fourth, Mohamed Abrini, was the last identified suspect at large relating to the Paris attacks before he was captured April 8.

[New video shows alleged Brussels bomber’s escape]

Recent raids have uncovered a web of connections between the suspects in the Brussels attacks and those who helped carry out the November attacks in Paris. This diagram explains what we know about their status and relationships:

[Belgian authorities: Brothers carried out Islamic State suicide attacks]

[This is the man who is suspected of making the Brussels bombs]

The first two explosions were in the departure hall of the Brussels Airport.

The attacks started just before 8 a.m. Brussels time, when a blast ripped through the departure hall, followed shortly by another one near the other end of the terminal, where people had already started to run for cover. A third bomb was deactivated at the airport, an official said, according to the Associated Press.

Both explosions occurred in the bag-drop-off area in the departure hall, before the main security checkpoint. The second explosion detonated near a Starbucks. Shortly after, the coffee chain closed all of its stores in Belgium until further notice.

Airport authorities announced Saturday that they are preparing for a “partial” reopening — but not before Tuesday, exactly a week after the attackers struck. Last month, the airport had an average of more than 56,000 passengers a day; this does not account for friends and family of passengers or airport employees.

Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said that two suspects at the airport are believed to have died during the attack.

About an hour after the airport attacks, there was an explosion at a metro station about six miles away.

A third explosion hit the Maelbeek metro station, tearing open a metal subway car. A senior Belgian official identified Khalid el-Bakraoui as the suicide bomber in the metro station.

There were more than a dozen fatalities and at least 100 injured in the blast.

European Union diplomats, government employees and other international workers routinely pass through the station on their way to work. The station was clogged with smoke as panicked people streamed onto the streets and rescue workers raced toward the mayhem.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the attacks, according to a statement posted on the Amaq Agency, a website believed to be close to the extremist group. It said Belgium was targeted for its participation in the international coalition battling the Islamic State.

The attacks raised fears of further reprisals over the arrest last week of the fugitive suspect whom authorities have linked to a Brussels-based cell accused of masterminding the Paris attacks in November. The suspect, Salah Abdeslam, was caught in the nearby neighborhood of Molenbeek just a few days ago.

Many of the suspects from the Paris shootings were from the Molenbeek neighborhood, just a few miles from the metro explosion site in downtown Brussels. Abdeslam had been residing in an apartment he shared with three family members and a fourth person, all of whom have been arrested.

[The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks]

2015 was the deadliest year for terror attacks in Western Europe.

The attacks in Brussels follow on the heels of the Paris attacks in November. Those marked 2015 as the deadliest year for terrorism in Western Europe since 2004.

The Islamic State is targeting these areas as part of a global-expansion strategy.

The terrorist attacks in Paris prompted Europol, the E.U.’s law enforcement agency, to reassess the changing threats posed by the Islamic State. They found that increasing attacks on France and possibly other E.U. states are part of a global expansion in Islamic State strategy. More attacks are likely planned.

At this time, Islamic State cells in the European Union are largely based locally, but include foreign fighters. Belgium has more foreign fighters per capita than any other E.U. nation.

According to the findings of Europol’s report, these fighters are trained in Europe as well as Syria for special-forces-style operations. The Islamic State has shown its capacity to strike targets at will, especially those with the potential for mass casualties.

[Why is Brussels under attack?]