Belgium honors the 32 dead in the 2016 terrorist attacks

It was March 22, 2016. The Belgium, a country of 11.5 million people, was hit like France a few months earlier by terrorists. This date March 22, 2016 remains engraved as the date of the worst attacks in the country since World War II.

“Aline, Patricia, Leopold, Jill, Joanna, Lubna…”. Belgium today paid tribute to the 32 victims of the jihadist attacks of 22 March 2016 in Brussels, with a small ceremony organized at the site of the attacks, at Zaventem Airport and a metro station in the European Quarter.

Shortly after 09:00 (10:00 Greek time), King Philip and Queen Mathilde, wearing black coats, stood in front of a mural dedicated to the memory of the victims at Malbec station, where 16 people had died, after attending the recitation of the their names.

Accompanied by Prime Minister Alexandre de Croix and his wife, they spoke to relatives of the victims, according to images that were broadcast live. A minute’s silence was observed, as at the airport during a similar ceremony an hour earlier for the other 16 victims, the exact time of the explosions five years ago, according to the APE, citing AFP.

The attacks, the responsibility for which the Islamic state, fired three suicide bombers that also injured 340 people.

Four days earlier, Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the jihadist group that struck Paris on November 13, 2015 (130 dead), had been arrested in Brussels. According to investigators, his arrest accelerated the action of other members of this terrorist cell in Belgium.

The memory events will take place in two phases. At 12:15 local time, speeches and testimonies of the families of the victims are expected in the European Quarter, where a monument to the victims of the terrorist attacks was erected.