First picture of Brussels terror suspect out, IS claims responsibility for attacks

Brussels: Belgian Police issued a wanted notice for a suspect in the bomb attack on Brussels airport on Tuesday in which at least 14 people were killed.

A CCTV picture of the suspect shows a bespectacled man with a goatee beard, wearing a white jacket and black hat, and pushing a trolley with a large black bag.

Authorities earlier released a grainy picture of the same man alongside two men with dark hair who were also pushing trollies with similar bags.

Both of those men wore black gloves on their left hands.

Belgian officials said there were two bomb blasts in the main airport hall on Tuesday morning, at least one of which was a suicide bombing.

A third bomb that failed to explode was found later, a regional governor said.

"Three bombs were brought into the building, of which one failed to explode," Lodewijk De Witte, the governor of Flemish Brabant province, told a press conference at the airport.

He said it was later destroyed in a controlled explosion.

IS claims responsibility for attacks:

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Brussels, a news agency affiliated with the group said. A series of apparently coordinated explosions ripped through Brussels airport and a city metro station Tuesday, killing at least 34 people in the latest attacks to target Europe.

"Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the center of the Belgian capital Brussels," AMAQ agency said.

Two blasts targeted the main hall of Zaventem Airport at around 8:00 AM (0700 GMT) while the third hit Maalbeek metro station near the European Union's main buildings, just as commuters were making their way to work in rush hour.

Police later discovered an unexploded belt bomb at Brussels and safely neutralised it through a controlled explosion.

The deadly attack comes days after the dramatic arrest in Brussels on Friday of Salah Abdeslam -- the prime suspect in the Paris terror attacks claimed by the Islamic State group -- after four months on the run.

Security was tightened across the jittery continent and transport links paralysed after the bombings that Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel branded "blind, violent and cowardly".

"This is a day of tragedy, a black day," Michel said on national television.

Witnesses said victims lay in pools of blood at the airport, their limbs blown off. There were chaotic scenes as passengers fled in panic, with a thick plume of smoke rising from the main terminal building.

"A man shouted a few words in Arabic and then I heard a huge blast," airport baggage security officer Alphonse Lyoura told AFP, his hands bloodied.

"A lot of people lost limbs. One man had lost both legs and there was a policeman with a totally mangled leg."

The explosions triggered a transport shutdown in the city that is home to the headquarters of both the EU and NATO. Flights were halted with metro, tram and bus services all suspended.