(Brussels Times) Nine years ago today, on 22 March 2016, Brussels experienced its deadliest terrorist attacks in history.
Early in the morning on 22 March 2016, suicide bombers detonated explosives at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and later at Maelbeek metro station, near the heart of the European Union institutions. The coordinated attacks claimed 32 lives and injured over 340 people, sending shockwaves through Belgium and across Europe.
Investigators revealed that the attacks were meticulously planned and executed by the same terror cell responsible for the November 2015 Paris attacks, which claimed the lives of 130 people.
Authorities identified the group as linked to the so-called Islamic State. In total, Belgium managed to capture and convict eight suspects, who are all serving jail sentences. One suspect fled to Syria, where he is believed to have died in 2017.
