TERROR IN EUROPE
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
EUROPE: ‘Five years ago you
didn’t think about it so much’
Continued from 1A
Minister David Cameron told
the BBC on Tuesday. He said
Britain’s threat level remains
“severe,” meaning an attack
is considered highly likely.
The Islamic State group
claimed responsibility for the
attacks at the Brussels airport
and in the city’s subway that
left dozens dead and scores
more wounded.
French President Francois
Hollande said the attacks
targeted all of Europe and
he warned of a long “war”
ahead.
Though people in Western
Europe have dealt with
the threat of violence from
Muslim extremists as well as
homegrown nationalist and
revolutionary movements for
decades, the idea that a “war”
is playing out in their streets
is hard to imagine. But the
recent frequency and scale
of attacks have made some
Europeans feel that it’s just
something they have to get
used to.
“Five years ago you didn’t
think about it so much,”
said Francesca Cervellini, a
20-year-old Italian tourist as
she passed by the Swedish
Parliament in Stockholm.
“It didn’t happen so often
before. Now it’s everyday
life. It’s normal.”
In Moscow, security has
been tightened notably at
everyday locations in the
wake of a series of attacks
in the past 15 years. There
are metal detectors at the
entrances to all subway
stations, all passenger rail
stations do luggage scans,
most indoor shopping centers
have metal detectors and
glowering guards. Airports
do luggage scans at the
entrance.
In Western Europe people
are more reluctant to trade
civil liberties and an open
society for more security. But
after each attack that equation
changes, at least temporarily,
said Catherine Muller, of the
Institute of Development
Studies in Brighton, England.
“Terrorism is one of the
risks people normally overes-
timate because it is very scary
and has a strong emotional
effect,” said Muller.
While those fears are
perfectly
understandable,
she said, it’s important to
remember that “no matter
what policies or laws are in
place, there’s not going to be
100 percent security.”
In Germany the fear of
terrorism is less acute than
in France or Belgium, but
the risk of such attacks is
something far-right and
nationalist groups focus on a
lot, especially in connection
with the inÀ ux of migrants
from the Middle East.
AP Photo/Thibault Camus
People walk towards the illuminated Eiffel Tower illu-
minated with the Belgium national colors black, yellow
and red in honor of the victims of Tuesday’s attacks at
the airport and the metro station in Brussels, in Paris.
Explosions rock Brussels
Bombs exploded Tuesday at the Brussels airport and in the
city's subway, killing at least 31 people and wounding more
than 180 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsi-
bility for the attacks.
Brussels airport just after 8 a.m.
11 people were killed and
81 were injured after two
explosions ripped through
the airports departure area.
B E L G I U M
BRUSSELS
Maelbeek metro
station just after 9 a.m.
20 people were
killed and more
than 100 injured
in an explosion
3 mi
on a train.
3 km
BELGIUM
Brussels
detail
FRANCE
All times local
SOURCE: Maps4News/HERE
There haven’t been any
attacks by Islamic extremists
in Germany since Arid Uka
shot dead two American
servicemen at Frankfurt
airport in 2011. However
there have been several
attempted attacks that failed
or were foiled.
German mainstream poli-
ticians have also been at pains
to point out that Germany is a
target for Islamic extremists
and it’s probably a matter of
when, not if, such an attack
happens.
Even in small countries on
Europe’s periphery the same
fears are palpable.
Denmark witnessed an
attack in February last year,
when a gunman, apparently
inspired by the Charlie
Hebdo shooting massacre
in Paris a few weeks earlier,
opened ¿ re against a free-
speech seminar and outside a
synagogue.
Sweden hasn’t seen
an attack since a suicide
bomber blew himself up
in Stockholm in December
2010, but failed to kill
anyone else. But reports of
hundreds of extremists from
Sweden joining Islamic State
¿ ghters in Syria and last
AP
year’s unprecedented inÀ ux
of migrants from the Middle
East and Africa have sparked
concerns that an attack will
happen sooner or later.
“It
could
happen
tomorrow or in a year or
in ¿ ve years,” said Dani
Amouri,
a
23-year-old
Stockholm resident who left
/ebanon ¿ ve years ago. “In
Sweden, Denmark, Germany,
everywhere. There is no
peace in the world anymore.
Not even in Europe.”
Duncan, who represents
the Scottish Conservatives
in the European Parliament,
was supposed to give visitors
from Scotland a tour of the
European Parliament on
Tuesday. Instead they had to
stay in their hotels.
He said the violence
made him think about what,
if anything, one can do to be
more vigilant when moving
in public places without
overreacting.
“It’s not like a ¿ lm where
you can see the villain
approaching,” Duncan said.
“Is it someone carrying a
backpack? Is it someone who
doesn’t look like me? I can’t
tell you what I should try to
avoid.”
large events.
The attacks in the Belgian
capital underscored the
growing threat posed by the
Islamic State group on both
sides of the Atlantic. The
bombs in Brussels’ airport
and subway locked down the
European Union’s capital just
a few months after attacks
shocked Paris and San
Bernardino, California.
“We will do whatever
is necessary to support our
friend and ally Belgium in
bringing to justice those who
are responsible,” Obama
declared in Havana, where
he was closing his historic,
three-day visit. The attack
immediately overshadowed
events on the island, with
Obama
addressing
the
tragedy at the top of a keynote
speech to the Cuban people
and again at an exhibition
baseball game.
“The world must unite,”
Obama said after offering his
condolences in a telephone
call with Belgian Prime
Minister Charles Michel.
“We can and we will defeat
those who threaten the safety
and security of people all
around the world.”
Several Americans were
injured, including an Air
Force of¿ cer and his wife and
four children who were at the
airport. The service member
is stationed at Joint Force
Command Brunssum, in the
Netherlands, but the military
wouldn’t identify him by
name. Of¿ cials said he was a
lieutenant colonel.
Following the attacks,
U.S. European Command
announced new prohibi-
tions on unof¿ cial military
and Defense Department
employee travel to Brussels
“until further notice.” Of¿ cial
travel to the NATO hub in the
city now requires approval.
Secretary of State John
Kerry, accompanying Obama
in Cuba, said in a statement
the U.S. was working to
determine the status of all
Americans in Brussels.
The embassy there issued a
statement telling U.S. citizens
to stay where they are and
“take the appropriate steps
to bolster your personal
security.”
In the United States, the
Homeland Security Depart-
ment said it could further
enhance security measures
“as appropriate, to protect
the American people.” It
urged Americans to report
any suspicious activity to law
enforcement authorities.
Johnson said last week
that of¿ cials were monitoring
world events while evalu-
ating whether to raise the
nation’s security posture or
issue another bulletin via the
government’s National Terror
Advisory System. A bulletin
was issued in December after
American-born Syed Rizwan
Farook and his Pakistani
wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed
14 people in San Bernardino.
Page 7A
IsOaPic 6tate cOaiPs
EoPEings in %rXsseOs
By RAF CASERT
and RAPHAEL SATTER
Associated Press
Fearing copycat attacks,
U6 oI¿ ciaOs step Xp secXrity
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Obama administration
stepped up security at major
transit hubs across the country
after Tuesday’s airport and
subway bombings in Brus-
sels, as top U.S. intelligence
of¿ cials warned of the risk
for copycat attacks at home.
President Barack Obama
vowed to help Belgium track
down those responsible for
the deadly explosions.
Homeland Security Secre-
tary Jeh Johnson stressed
there is no “speci¿ c, credible
intelligence” pointing to a
similar plot in America, but
he said the Transportation
Security
Administration
would deploy additional
security at major airports
and rail stations in different
cities. Of¿ cials also reviewed
additional security measures
for travelers from Belgium,
among more than three dozen
countries whose citizens
generally don’t need a visa to
enter the U.S.
The State Department
warned Americans about
potential risks to travel in
Europe. “Terrorist groups
continue to plan near-term
attacks throughout Europe,
targeting sporting events,
tourist sites, restaurants and
transportation,” it said in a
statement. Of¿ cials advised
U.S. citizens to “exercise
vigilance” in public places or
on mass transportation and
to take “particular caution”
during religious events or
East Oregonian
BRUSSELS — Islamic extremists struck
Tuesday in the heart of Europe, killing at least
34 people and wounding scores of others
in back-to-back bombings of the Brussels
airport and subway that again laid bare the
continent’s vulnerability to suicide squads.
Bloodied and dazed travelers staggered
from the airport after two explosions — at
least one blamed on a suicide attacker and
another apparently on a suitcase bomb —
tore through crowds checking in for morning
À ights. About 40 minutes later, another
rush-hour blast ripped through a subway car
in central Brussels as it left the Maelbeek
station, in the heart of the European Union’s
capital city.
Authorities released a photo taken
from closed-circuit TV footage of three
men pushing luggage carts in the airport,
saying two of them apparently were suicide
bombers and that the third — dressed in a
light-colored coat, black hat and glasses —
was at large. They urged the public to reach
out to police if they recognized him. The
two men believed to be the suicide attackers
apparently were wearing dark gloves on their
left hands, possibly to hide detonators.
In police raids Tuesday across Belgium,
authorities later found a nail-¿ lled bomb,
chemical products and an Islamic State À ag
in a house in the Schaerbeek neighborhood,
the state prosecutors’ of¿ ce said in a state-
ment.
In its claim of responsibility, the Islamic
State group said its members detonated
suicide vests both at the airport and in the
subway, where many passengers À ed to
safety down dark tunnels ¿ lled with hazy
smoke from the explosion. A small child
wailed, and commuters used cell phones to
light their way out.
European security of¿ cials have been
bracing for a major attack for weeks and
warned that IS was actively preparing to
strike. The arrest Friday of Salah Abdeslam,
a key suspect in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris,
heightened those fears, as investigators
said many more people were involved than
originally thought and that some are still on
the loose.
“In this time of tragedy, this black
moment for our country, I appeal to everyone
to remain calm but also to show solidarity,”
said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel,
who announced three days of mourning in
his country’s deadliest terror strike.
“Last year it was Paris. Today it is
Brussels. It’s the same attacks,” said French
President Francois Hollande.
Shockwaves from the attacks crossed
Europe and the Atlantic, prompting height-
ened security at airports and other sites.
Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest
level, shut the airport through Wednesday
and ordered a city-wide lockdown, deploying
about 500 soldiers onto Brussels’ largely
empty streets to bolster police checkpoints.
France and Belgium both reinforced border
security.
Justice ministers and interior ministers
from across the 28-nation EU planned an
emergency meeting, possibly Thursday
morning, to assess the fallout. The subway
blast hit beneath buildings that normally
host EU meetings and house the union’s top
leadership.
Attack is nG PaMor EoPEing Ior UtaK teen
SALT LAKE CITY
(AP) — Surviving a major
bombing is the extraordi-
nary — and repeated —
situation that one Utah teen
can live to tell about.
Mason
Wells,
a
19-year-old from Sandy,
Utah, is expected to make
a full recovery from the
bombing attack at the Brus-
sels airport Tuesday, which
left him with a surgery scar,
severed Achilles tendon,
head gash, shrapnel injuries
and severe burns.
Wells had once again
found himself at the
center of a major attack —
standing within feet of a
bomb that exploded at the
Belgian airport. The blasts
in the Belgian capital killed
31 people and wounded
dozens at the airport and a
subway station.
Three years ago, Wells
and his father felt the
ground shake and narrowly
escaped death from an April
2013 attack in the U.S.,
when a pressure-cooker
bomb exploded a block
away from where they were
watching his mother run the
Boston Marathon.
“Hopefully he’s run his
lifelong odds and we’re
done,” said Chad Wells
about the oldest of their
¿ ve children. “I think it
will make him a stronger
person...Maybe the Boston
Wells
experience was there to
help him get through this
experience.”
The former high school
football and lacrosse player
had four months left on his
two-year Mormon mission,
and was planning to major
in engineering at the
University of Utah next fall.
He also wanted to reapply
to the Naval Academy after
barely missing the cut after
high school, his father said.
His father said he woke
up to the latest news on the
TV before calling his son’s
mission president in France
and found out his son was
injured but alive. More than
eight hours later, they ¿ nally
spoke to their son, who was
groggy and exhausted after
surgery. The teen is in good
spirits but his family is still
¿ guring out when they’ll
get to see him, and if he’ll
¿ nish his mission.
Jacob Tyler Jones
A RLINGTON H IGH S CHOOL
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“I’m
completely
shocked by the news. It’s
the kind of thing as a parent
you never, ever want to
wake up to,” Chad Wells
said. “We’re just grateful
that’s he lived through this
experience.”
Other Mormon mission-
aries at the Brussels airport
were also hospitalized.
Richard Norby, 66, of Lehi,
and Joseph Empey, 20,
of Santa Clara, were with
Wells and also hospitalized
with serious injuries from
the blast.
Empey is doing well
after being treated for
second-degree burns to his
hands, face and head, his
parents, Court and Amber
Empey said in a statement.
He also had surgery for
shrapnel injuries to his legs.
“We have been in touch
with him and he is grateful
and in good spirits,” the
family said.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert
praised the Utah natives as
“people of faith who have
forsaken everything —
family, friends, school and
careers — in order to share
a message of hope and love
with the world.” Thou-
sands of Utah Mormons
have served proselytizing
missions around the world.
Church members account
for as many as two-thirds
of the state’s population.
Tell your favorite graduate
how proud you are in our
Graduation 2016
special section in the
East Oregonian and
Hermiston Herald
& share their
"Then" & "Now" Photos!
Publishes: May 28 th in the EO &
June 1 st in the HH
Send in your text and photos to
cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com or bring to
Chris at the East Oregonian office by May 18 th .
Mailing address: Attn: Chris McClellan
211 SE Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801