What was the 2016 Brussels terror attack, where did the bombings take place and how many people were killed?
Last year the Belgian capital was rocked by a series of suicide attacks that became the deadliest in the country's history
A YEAR ago Brussels was rocked by a series of suicide attacks which became the deadliest act of terror in Belgium's history.
Three jihadi's detonated devices in the airport and on the metro system killing and maiming innocents as they waited for flights or travelled to work.
What was the attack?
The terrorists belonged to an Islamist cell linked to the Paris attacks that occurred in the November before.
A day before the bombings in the Belgian capital a series of police raids had been conducted as part of the investigation into the attacks in France.
In the preceding weeks several attacks had been carried out by Belgian nationals.
The attacks in the country were reportedly linked to Belgium's involvement in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Where did the bombingstake place?
On the morning of the 22nd March 2016 two suicide bombers armed with explosives crammed into suitcases walked into the departures hall of Zaventem Airport.
At 7:58am the first bomb was detonated in check in row 11 with the second exploding nine seconds later by row 2.
Yells in Arabic were heard before the nail bombs were detonated.
A third bomber was prevented from detonating his device by an earlier explosion and fled the scene, leaving his bomb.
Just over an hour later another blast erupted on metro system in the city centre.
In the middle carriage of a three car train at Maalbeek station, near the European Commission headquarters, the bomb went off as it was pulling out of the station.
The driver stopped immediately and 20 minutes later the entire metro system was shut down.
How many people were killed?
The attack murdered 32 innocent people in cold blood and three terrorists also died in their suicide mission bringing the total death toll to 35.
On top of the killings 340 people were injured with 62 of those left in a critical condition in the aftermath.
Nationals of 14 countries lost their lives in the attack, including one Brit.
Fourteen Belgians were killed along with four Americans, two Swedes and a pair from The Netherlands also died.
One person from each of the following countries also died: China, France, India, Italy, Liberia, Morocco, Germany, Peru and Poland.
Including the terrorists 17 peopled died at the airport and 14 at the metro station, another four later died in hospital.
Monuments around the globe were lit up in the colours of the Belgian flag in solidarity with the country.
Who was responsible?
A total of five terrorists were responsible for the attacks with three of them dying in their suicide missions.
Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, blew himself up in the departures hall of the airport.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 for his involvement in an armed robbery but paroled after just four behind bars.
Najim Laachraoui, 24, also committed suicide by detonating a bomb inside Zaventem, he had allegedely travelled to Syria in 2013.
Mohamed Abrini, now 32, assisted the Bakraoui and Laachraoui in their attack but failed to explode his own device.
He was arrested two weeks after the attack and was a childhood friend of two of the Paris attackers.
Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, the younger brother of the airport bomber, died when he murdered innocents at the metro station.
In 2011 he was convicted of a string of offences including carjackings, illegal possession of firearms, bank robbery and kidnapping.
He was released in 2015 when he promptly disregarded his parole conditions and went off the grid. There were three warrants out for his arrest.
Osama Krayem, who was born in 1992, aided the younger Bakraoui in the attack on the metro. At the time of the attack he was one of the most wanted men in Europe.
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