Current and former U.S. and European counter-terrorism officials told NBC News that the location and timing of the attacks — just days after the capture of the suspected leader of the Bataclan massacre in Paris — suggested a level of unpreparedness by Belgian authorities that one ex-official called “shocking.”
Another said that Tuesday’s attacks would be “a watershed” if they are linked to the same network responsible for Bataclan. “In the past,” said Norwegian terror expert Thomas Hegghammer, “nobody got to strike twice.”
The officials described Brussels, especially the Molenbeek neighborhood a few miles from the site of the subway strike, as an explosive mix of highly capable foreign fighters trained by ISIS and sympathetic locals who are unknown to authorities but eager to help in attacks.
They noted that when Bataclan terror suspect Salah Abdeslam was arrested last week, authorities found a huge cache of weapons, prompting Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to warn of other imminent attacks.
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