Increasing Vigilance, Increased Terror

"I've never seen this before in my twenty years at the centre for burns. Injuries linked to the blowback from the blast, [similar to injuries during his service in southern Afghanistan from improvised explosive devices] which can mutilate."
Dr. Serge Jennes, Brussels

"We understand fully the emotions [in the wake of the Brussels bombings]."
"We understand that everyone wants to express these feelings [through a shared public demonstration of sorrow]."
"[However], we invite the citizens not to have this demonstration."
Belgium Interior Minister Jan Jambon

Belgian police stand guard as a bomb disposal expert arrives at the scene of an operation in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels, 25 March 2016 (EPA)

The simple fact is police and the military are too stretched at the present time, their attention fully given to investigations, searches, apprehending suspects, ensuring that no imminent attacks are on the radar. And that a mass public demonstration would require the presence of police to ensure that those in the crowds of mourning Belgians are themselves safe from any potential attacks, or that within the demonstration, opposing views do not lead to confrontation and violence.

Ine Van Wymersch, a Brussels prosecutor, has verified that 24 of the 31 victims of the Brussels Airport and subway station attacks on Tuesday have now been identified. While officially 31 people are listed as dead from the blasts, speculation is that the death toll may yet rise as unidentified body parts may point to more than the 31 accounted for, a number that does not include the 'martyred' jihadist bombers. Among those who were seriously injured in the blasts, some may yet die.

As for the 270 people who had been wounded in the blasts, 93 are being treated at a Brussels military hospital where fifteen people are being treated in a serious burns unit, five of whom are in intensive care. The wounded, according to Dr. Jennes, suffered burst eardrums. And he fears as well that his medical colleagues treating these patients may themselves require psychological counselling to help them cope with the trauma they have been subjected to, treating such seriously impacted patients.

At the Brussels Airport the damage assessment continues at the Zaventem airport departure terminal. Engineers were brought in to assess the structural safety of the building and its information technology systems, and to determine whether any of the significant damage is capable of being expeditiously repaired to enable the airport to resume its busy schedule.

At the present time 600 flights daily are cancelled or are being diverted elsewhere. Europe is engaged in introspection of a variety they feel helpless to do anything about. Hoping that wherever they happen to be will not coincide with jihadist plans to treat Europe to additional episodes of carnage. The question looms uppermost in peoples' minds; who among them represent these violence-prone psychopaths? Where will the next strike appear?

Belgian intelligence which seemed acutely unaware, is now activated in identifying and locating people with suspicious backgrounds, like a man whose full name has been withheld, arrested and charged with "involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder". That should cover all the bases for Faycal C. Otherwise known as Faycal Cheffou, the man seen with the two suicide bombers wearing a light vest and hat captured in security video at the airport.

Belgian media reported that the suspect who fled the scene is Fayçal Cheffou

This is a man who agitated at detention centres for refugees and asylum seekers in Brussels where a video caught him criticizing the government for its offensive anti-Islamic behaviour, serving Muslim refugees meals before the end of the daily fast, during the month of Ramadan. An additional two suspects have been charged with "involvement in the activities of a terrorist group".