Brussels mourns, Belgium on alert as police hunt suspect
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgians began three days of mourning today for the victims of the Brussels airport and subway bombings, and the country remained on high alert as authorities hunted for one of the suspected attackers seen on surveillance video with two others who blew themselves up.
Turkish authorities, meanwhile, said they had caught one of the suicide bombers near the Turkish-Syrian border in July and sent him back to the Netherlands, warning both that country and Belgium that he was a "foreign terrorist fighter."
But a Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly said the bomber was allowed to go free because Belgian authorities could not establish any ties to extremism.
Several people who may be linked to the attacks were still on the loose and the country's threat alert remained at its highest level, meaning there was danger of an imminent attack, said Paul Van Tigchelt, head of Belgium's terrorism threat body. The attacks killed 31 people, not including three suicide bombers, and injured 270 others, authorities said.
As government offices, schools and residents held a moment of silence to honor the dead, the mood was defiance mixed with anxiety that others involved in the attacks are still at large.