being the >> breaking news this morning. too powerful at ocean ripping through the airport in >> at least 13 people have been killed and another ex-motion reported that a mattress nation near the e.u. headquarters. let's listen in right now to our sister network on the sky news. >> a metro station in the city center. the country has now raised its security alert to floor, maximum level. let's look at what we know has happened so far this morning. brussels airport has been evacuated after to ask ocean

reportedly near the american airlines. footage from inside the building shows glastonbury and roof tiles falling to the ground. breathe towards shay shots were fired and shouting in arabic before the blast. passengers who were inside when the explosion happened at the new data into the tarmac and are now being taken away from the airport. all flights to and from the airport have been canceled. shortly afterwards a third explosion at the metro station which has close the e.u. main building. we just heard from the foreign secretary philip hammond. this is what he has to say.

[inaudible] >> they are saying they're in touch with the authorities in brussels and will do whatever they can to assist. back to you for more on this. ensures team annecyalke ito e foign crety. obouslin orati forhe serityorcein brussels, but no doubt an international element to it. >> security has been heightened. the airports in paris, but sealed the airport was said publicly any airport across europe wasn't hiding security in the wake of what happened in brussels. the belgians have raised their level now to the highest level possible. a minute or had his habitat given what happened in brussels. what we are seeing so far as attacks on an airport in at

least one mattress nation. near the european institution brussels being attacked as well. the european governments and security forces are looking at what is happening in brussels and will be sorting out inaddret levels. if sisters-in-law mixed a related and there's no confirmation yet. no claim from any group. no real confirmation this is a terror attack, but if it is islamic state, it seems to be a new level of soft targeting, to go into an airport and carry out the suicide bombing before you go through security.

airports across europe covert security and driving to the airport. nothing battle for. this has clearly been able to happen to write the covert security and the concern is this could be a new notice, a new mission object to permit the group market and airport which is a whole new security risk for airports across europe and the world. >> thank you let's bring in our correspondent at brussels airport to his bare as the drama exploded. talk us through what you experienced. >> we were at the airport for a 9:30 flight. we've gone through, checked our bags and come and gone through security and just got into the duty-free area when we heard.

my initial thought for a clear time and exactly what it's building. we could smell the explosions as well. i say try to head tourists were the sounds came from, we saw a number of people coming out looking very distressed. one woman was running ahead. regular confucian, people did not know what was going on. i think most people initially couldn't comprehend it, but very quickly arrived to the conclusion that it was a terrorist. what has happened since then is they've moved out of the airport. the building has been evacuated.

initially taken away from the building at south. we are now at the edge of the airport, still inside the airport grounds. i can see the main building itself no. the buildings have been blasted out. we've seen a number coming in the last 20 minutes. i would say five coming in and being closed off. ambulances and medical teams coming in. not many information coming out on the ground in terms of the number of casualties as has been accomplished on the ground that it is a terrorist attack and all the other indicators to suggest

it has been in a terrorist. remember a terrorist attack captured not that far from where russell's. they were still up lurch. during the past week from the security services turned a number of weapons and found explosives and explosive devices as well. you could only assume that there would have been others to carry out terrorist atrocities that they didn't manage to get ahold of. no confirmation of that at this stage. >> just looking at the clouds coming out of the airport, a

certain amount of calm amongst passengers air as they were evacuated from the building. >> called and shocked. people were shocked. a lot of people don't know how to react when something like this happens. this is a very frightening people. there could yet another attack. here's the sirens. quite a number of casualties inside. pretty calm. people very, very shocked here. there isn't much on the ground as what we should do, where they should go. the priority of the airport and the plan which would've had contingency for this type of event to get people outside.

initially we were told to leave our hand luggage inside. only a few people giving out constructions. more people taking luggage with them for obvious reasons. there were going to be more attacks for an alternative broadband. in terms of security, we have been at level three for some time, and it was being ramped up to level four. we indicated this morning lots of soldiers with weapons in the case as well. the airport is extremely easy. to terrorist attacks, and they

go through a security process. it is a terrorist attack which we clearly think it is now. they would've just walked into the airports and carry out the attacks. there is no security intelligence tried to get on the plane and then of course we would be familiar with the process. put your back through the x-ray machines and you have to show your boarding pass and go through some scanners. that was kind of the process after that. to get into the initial bit of the airport there is no security at all. you can just walk in.

lauren: belgium is under attack after two blasts at their main airport, the brussels airport at 8:00 a.m. local time. that is the rush hour there in europe. we have word that the master station so shut down. air travel across europe is suspended at this time. more reaction right now to these explosions and reports of other ex-oceans outside the city from fox's terrorism expert while these forests. an adviser to donald trump, we did want to point this out. this is all happening for days after the abreast of salah abdeslam, the mastermind behind the november 13 paris terror attacks. this dude looks like a coordinated terror attack. >> definitely a coordinated attack come a very strategic attack at the international airport, not just belgium as we have mentioned already. but the european union and now we understand there was an

attack with the european parliament. this cd is under threat. the problem is to realize there is a connection between those attacks and the rest of the head of the network. so this is what investigators have been knocking out right now. >> no doubt. we see the terror panic and i tried to keep it under control and evacuating shutting down the master system. on high alert at maximum security number four, which means in this thread. tell us what they are doing now to prepare around the city for this type of event. >> now, law enforcement and national security agency and the ropean capital first of all

are worried about the day. the day is not over. they have explosions at the airport. then there is one reporter. so as long as there is a threat of possible war activities that heidi terrorist, did you see a lot of movement. there's a deployment of special units reported to us. butcher of my attention this information which i'm not sure is yet on national tv here, but at least it is in brussels in europe is the fact that we have to confirm that of course. but detectives have captured three suicide class at the airport. that is very important information. if we can confirm that later because that means the attack may have been prepared to be a much bigger one. nicole: to repeatedly said, deployments said, deployment of special units of the capture or possibly three suicide vests. three suicide vests potentially

found. this could've been a far wider attack. >> let me make a distinction could the deployment of units is happening around the parliament. that's normal. the explosion that took place is the area of the european commission. that's one thing reported already from brussels. but the specific information i've obtained, to be confirmed as authorities there in person at the airport have discovered three suicide vests and they have disconnected them. we are waiting for them to be confirmed. lauren: thank you for bringing that to our attention, transfixed. brussels is the political hub of europe and very much a center of jihadi extremists. we have nato. >> just come and is a combination of washington and new york and europe in a sense we have most of the two shoes are in brussels and also the command of nato.

this is the capital of the west. so it's very symbolic when jihadi activities take place against the city. nicole: tell us how people now should act in the next coming days as they travel around europe. we know several flights up and disrupt dead that were headed into brussels. the next 24 hours. >> i can tell you one thing. the next six to 12 hours or chaos, sheer chaos. you can imagine how many flights have been canceled, how many flights rerouted to other locations. this is paralyzing the skies over europe, over western europe. remember, brussels airport is a connection also to north america flight coming from africa mostly goes through brussels. we are talking about a major coming major problem.

lauren: walid ,-com,-com ma would you make of the reports that the two blasts happened at the american airlines ticket desk, that counter. does that suggest the u.s. could've been additional target as well? >> we need to get information from the multiple agencies. the searches made by pronouncing the name of american airlines, this is the target. this is where it took place. my question would be going further, with the operation aimed at that location because they wanted to gain in some explosions in the airport which i doubt because there's layers of security. if the name of american airlines was likely could have been a target. >> what would you expect to hear from some authorities? this has been going on now for roughly an hour or so. this comes on the heels of the capture of the later in the paris attack from november 13,

hearing about obviously the airport with the roadway. went to the authorities stepped up and try and bring a sense of calm? and what would you expect that they shed? >> first of all, they are worried about what they call the continuous support to. the minute they see a serious attack against the airport or another in downtown, the first being they think about this first of all we have to shut down parts of the city. to deter other attacks. they are worried it's not over. and then they will worry how to process all the people you see on the screen here who are traveling to different locations and worry also about the metro station and train station system. imagine that across brussels. that would basically be between paris and amsterdam. brussels is a real help in

western europe had lauren: david cameron will be chairing a cabinet meeting on this event in brussels and i brussels and that will happen later this morning. we'll watch for that to get more clarity about what is unfolding right now in russell's and on your television screen. to talk about the strategic nasa brussels, belgium is between france and germany. the stock markets are down significantly this morning in relation to this blast. obviously, people are scared to fly. we see incident after incident, mostly across europe to travel stocks are getting hit. people are nervous. what does this do to regular people living in the west? >> this is really going to stand a wave of concern here. this is an international air toward. these explosions and if you are an individual opinion of plans

to fly before hearing from the authorities. and then we look at the streets in downtown brussels. this is the busiest week in brussels. we see an explosion there, people taking ambulances. >> we saw pictures from downtown brussels. bourassa looking at pictures from the airport and just to bring our viewers up to date, the dow futures had been down roughly 70. they've come up as well as down about 45 right now. oil is lower, gold is gaining. for though should we be looking at? is there anything we are missing? >> actually cannot authorities in my view with the now very act to this is something on tv.

if they have information from individuals arrested days ago, other information. lauren: is that this is when they go when on the other cells they been watching quietly, this is when they go win and say i'm coming to get you now because we see that there is something developing and these are a series of attacks. >> exactly. at this point in time, the government in brussels, as i said earlier, there is a major now happening in brussels and that status to other potential styles. usually they would observe them and monitor them. but in attacks like these, there could be other areas operations to either monitor further or block the potential cells from the inactivated.

this is a new situation. we haven't seen anything like that in brussels before. lauren: walid phares, fox news terrorism expert. thank you for spending a chunk of the show with us this morning. nicole: if you're just tuning in, two explosions ripping through the airport in brussels this morning. belgian media say at least 13 people have been killed at the airport, dozens of others injured. another explosion at the measures they should need e.u. headquarters and reports say at least 10 people were killed in that blast. all of this comes just days after the key suspect in the paris attack, salah abdeslam, was arrested in that city. let's listen in now to our sister network, sky news. >> this is exactly what they're trying to force us to do and i'm not prepared to go down that route. >> thank you for joining us on sky news this morning.

>> as we've been speaking, britain's committee will meet today to talk about what has happened. also, a message has gone out to people in brussels. people in belgium are being urged to stay where they are, not to go out, not to go to crowded areas and the advice here in the u.k. come advice in all u.k. citizens to avoid crowded areas at the belgian authorities on railway stations, metro stations in brussels has been closed down and no flights going in and out at the airport. in the studio, police officer chris hobbs. chris, this is the authority's worst nightmare. a large event is something that can airport and follow-up events we heard this one blast at the metro station, the latest figures are correct to 15 people could've died. what are the authorities on the ground doing now?

>> at the moment they will put as many resources as they possibly can into the area. they want to secure the area. they want to secure whatever evidence they can. they will be looking eagerly at cctv tapes and gather enough intelligence and evidence. they want to keep you posted as they they can as well as evacuating people out and again after the fact, old, went to been injured. it's a typical situation. something that worked extensively with a jamaican airports in the something that's always concerned us, the fact that airports were so vulnerable, what we call the landslide areas that you have to go through security to go air side, but the lan side securities, collects from bronze to someone wanted to come in here either as an active shooter or with an improvised explosive device, they could do so so

easily. it is something that is worried as for many years. the nightmare has become a reality. the question is, you asked what to do about about it? how do we make the airports more secure? it is something that is worried people throughout the world and now it's happened in the question is how we respond to it. >> the response from the airport is to increase security but much more visible police presence and other airports in the u.k. and across europe, paris and france with an increase in rent for security in his presence. but what can be done to implement security screening and push the problem further out to the next perimeter because people are always accused. >> that's right. it's going to be very difficult to screen the bags are screened people. one thing that worries us is the actual police presence because

what you need his eyes and ears on the ground and was sometimes you get is the fact that the police are very thinly spread your dc-10. you know they are there. there is no police presence at all and that is something they're going to have to look at. going to have to look at increasing boots on the ground in terms of police officers. people come into airports looking to do mischief, lists are comfortable in his eyes upon them. at the moment at our airports we don't have that and the cutbacks to policing are only contributing to an increased sense of security. >> what about metro stations you're in the u.k.? what can be done to make them safer? >> again, talking about police presence on the ground, educated staff to look after anything suspicious. as soon as been trained to vote for a suspicious to restrict certain passengers tends to be

when they are passing through from one site to go through security. the certain characteristics of course is the stepping onto the plane. the problem you have is people going into the railway stations are going into the airports. they certainly increase security at rail stations now. you often see detection dogs were sniffing dog sleeping through the railway station. even there, there is concern weeks ago i was being told they are thinking of cutting back on detection dogs, which is absolutely incredible. that was one of the river sweeping through the police because of cup tax, cutting back on detection dogs looking for bombs. probably not those numbers will be increased and that is something else that is provided defense against explosive devices perhaps as we've just seen. lauren: let's bring in dr. sebastian corker, counter terrorism expert and the author

of defeating jihadi. good morning. if you've been listening to sky news he heard them speaking about what regular people could do to spot attacks like this in what authorities could have, should have done to prevent them. your thoughts. >> yes, it is interesting they are showing clips from the british professional. i grew up in the u.k. in the 70s and 80s are the most violent era of the irish republican army. it is absolutely true at the front lines in this lines in these kinds of campaigns is the average citizen. when i was a child of somebody left in unattended bag on a bus or metro car, within seconds somebody would say who is said and if you got no reply, the vehicle would be stopped, evacuated and authorities would be called. that's the level of tactical awareness we have to have today in the face of global jihads.

to restore shoot from the head. they plan to mr. vail, collect intelligence. as a result, we can offer the people who spot is jihadists as they plan an attack. in san bernardino we have reports of the neighbors say they saw suspicious that cavity at the home of farouk and the leak, but didn't say anything. that is the second-largest attack since then the button potentially could have been prevented. nicole: sebastian, that brings us to hold another level of political correctness and political correctness and they didn't want to talk about the fact that the people in their neighborhood were suspicioususpiciou s. as you look at what is going on in the airports and we've now had to blast at the airport and a metro near the e.u. and possibly others. 23 are dead now. doesn't hurt and this could be up to five blast. when they're looking for suspicious that cavity, they are looking for care or mistake and

people entering very, very busy public areas such as an american airlines departing area. >> yes, absolutely. if you look at the trade manuals of jihads and that is al qaeda's magazine inspired, will there be in a more sophisticated as this magazine someday. they tell you how to serve valid target and how to choose the best soft targets, there's targets, though sirius is very high high concentrations of unarmed civilians. thank you, mr. lauren simonetti would this be a soft target? is this considered a soft target? >> it depends in europe. in the u.k. when they go to a higher level of alertness, they

will deploy the police, but also military unit to the entrance ways that airports. they don't create what we call sterile area spread at the beginning, but they put an armored personnel carrier or have police officers automatic weapons patrolling outside. but i think in brussels this is not the case. the cover of the report, you enter the airport facility. you are not checked for weapons. your bags are not screened and the only sterile area is after the passengers are actually cleared through security to go through the gates. as a result, airports remain a very, very lucrative target if you will for a jihadists. lauren: up what about employees at that airport during the airport? >> this is a very important threat. the idea that in the u.s. we have no reports of multiple individuals who are hired a tsa are hired to work at airport and

then links to some kind of extremist organization or with questionable background. this can be the case anywhere. it is imperative for the jihadists to insert themselves into those organizations, into those areas where they can access soft targets and execute. nicole: is that part of their training in particular, saying listen, become one of them. become the employee. become an american. become whatever you are supposed to be said that you are not targeted, not picked out of the group and then you can execute your attack. we see that. and we have seen now for they said in that position for years and years and not very calm and not a moment turned and execute their attacks. >> right. so going back to does jihadi manuals, "daviq," they go into such detail that they talk about

your personal appearance, what you should wear, what you should do, how you should meld into normal infidel society so you don't raise any suspicions and you can work your way deeper into whichever organization or community you have to penetrate. so yes, absolutely. these are not some kind of strange, spontaneous attacks. these are well thought out. these individuals have a plan. if it takes months to regain your sense in the case of 9/11, they will be very, very patient. lauren: sebastian, let's face it, there's hundreds, maybe thousands terrorist across as viewer. they are letting refugees than from questionable areas. do you see any changes in that policy after this attack? >> absolutely. the e.u. has to now wake up and realize what they created with

the treaty in the early 90s is no longer tenable in the age of global jihads appeared the idea that the whole of the continent has no internal security checks. there's no border crossings between the e.u. nations except the u.k. those days are over. what happened after the paris attacks, friends instantly unilaterally reinstated border controls and said we are going to check people's identities. the fact is they may be too late. as you said yourself, isis has at least 6000 westerners that are fighting for it. these are people with british, german, french or american passports. if you are isis and are looking at the refugee influx, what are you going to do? of course you will penetrate your agents come your operatives into the stream so they can go back home or pro tools and other western nation and execute attacks like this one. fortunately i'm sorry to say

paris and brussels will likely not be the last attacks of this type that we see. >> thank you so much for your expertise this morning. if you are just tuning in, two explosions ripping through the airport this morning. elgin media say at least 13 people have been killed at the airport. dozens of others injured. also another explosion at the mattress nation near the e.u. headquarters. report say at least 10 people are were killed in that blast. this comes day after the key suspect in the terror attack, salah abdeslam, was arrested in that city. we will listen now to our sister network, sky news. >> -- correspondent alex rossi. we know there are flights -- metro close to brussels, euro star is now saying no trains are currently running two were from

brussels. passengers are being advised to phone the journey is. they are terminating. brussels customer should not come to the station. at going up faster than the brussels crisis center of the same two people in brussels, stay at home, stay indoors, stay away from crowded areas. professor of international security. how much is the security? >> good morning. we have to keep in mind essentialessential ly that it's very difficult to balance access with security. in many cases, we've already seen in the last 20 years reports have become increasingly locked down and difficult to get through. there's always this balance trying to get people through bitter doing ordinary everyday things and at the same time,

keeping them safe. most definitely the issues around the intelligence and perhaps even the policing around the fallout are catching salah abdeslam is something many people will be asking. >> just four days ago he was arrested at the fact that this attack, we are assuming it is a terrorist attack in a group related to what happened in paris back in november. these are all big assumptions. but if that is the case, the fact that a group is able to orchestrate this within the space of four days, what does that tell us about the group? >> well, it tells us that it is very difficult to identify and try to police areas or groups that are particularly what we would see his lone wolf operators. so whether or not there's an

actual connection, whether or not there is a command connection with those who carried out the paris attacks, for instance, that is where the real speculation says. in many cases we have no further informatiinformati on other than what this does is represent the hallmarks of overseeing another cases of targeting public areas, targeting transportation as we saw in the case of london and madrid and paris itself on occasion. in many ways we see two different types of speculation about who may have carried it out and who it is pointing to. >> who do you think they've carried this out? >> we're looking at something similar in terms of islamic state sympathizers who either have been trained in the middle east or had training elsewhere. then the prospect of trying to engage largely, not poverty

area, but impoverished areas and in many cases bringing non-those that would come from middle-class backgrounds who have decided to join up on this international terrorist groups really challenges the way authorities have traditionally thought about the insurgency and terrorist type duties. >> one of the soft targets as they have been called, people in either departure hall, those people sitting outside cafés, people going to work about their daily business. what does this tell us about the group? >> well, it tells us the issues we saw, if we take our minds back to class go several years now where someone tried to branded to the airport and do something very similar. of course they weren't using explosives in the same way we are seeing here, even though they were trying to blow themselves up. but you saw that there was a distinct worry about those who sat outside the security court if you will.

what we've heard in the case of the brussels airport is not only was there an explosion outside, but there seem to be an explosion near the runway. that to me as a form of worrying issue about how perhaps end again there's no firm reports here except that we understand there was a second explosion about how that happened. if that is beyond the curity court, that would raise major issues. i think we're in a difficult position of once we step back and look at this, making a distinction between allowing people on their daily lives and travel in a normal way and i think the freedom versus fear issue is what can be calm her about what is happening about how we go forward and had to police these issues.

those are the issues we have to balance. >> you are just tuning in right now. the situation happening now for two hours 8:00 local time and other belgian. there were two blasts. the american airline ticketing desk at the brussels airport in that country. reports said 23 people are dead to five different attacks in the city gave the e.u. headquarters in brussels. we're watching the market reaction. dow futures have been lower much of the morning. they sell more. gold prices popping up. european stocks in some cases down about 1%. the german dax down the most of you look at the european board at the moment. we now prevent terrorism analyst matthew ground. >> matthew, we've been talking about 23 reported dead now.

brussels is her number for maximum security threat. now preparations continue because there may be a 25 lasts. what are you hearing? >> i am hearing exactly what you guys are hearing. pharmacy this morning is a series of books to be and what is understandably coordinated attack that brussels airport. what is happening there is the result of terrorists that are independently working in order to blow themselves up and attacked travelers. it is difficult to talk specifically about what is going on because it is ongoing from the standpoint of multiple attackers and simultaneous attacks. it is difficult to know, but it

looks as though it's ended. >> the rest of europe seems to be under heightened scrutiny right now. london's airport has increased security right now. this is a very broad disruption. >> absolutely. it goes to the point that we don't know when these attacks are going to happen. these attacks are initiated and because of that will show just how little the security has. >> i wanted to ask you something specifically. a vast terrorism acts are, just like you he knows all about these things. he's talking about the fact that they're tracking cells and the quietly do so. now is the time to start to move in and pressure does so they can get information or be stopped

than from performing attacks today. bring us a sense of the urgency and what happens in this type of environment. >> what you have is exactly that, a tremendous sense of urgency. you don't know -- we don't choose them is they're to happen. from an interrupted standpoint, you try to disrupt them as quickly as possible. so once this starts to develop, but you did is the idea of follow-on attacks. we don't know what triggered these initially. and not being able to pinpoint back, we don't know how far the spread. depending if it's multiple individuals are single individuals with multiple devices. we don't know what that's going to go through. lauren: matthew, but you make of

this happening for days after the paris mastermind be kind terror attacks. >> there is a direct nexus to that, whether that is from the initial members of that. these are just economists groups. the terrorists have the passing make or then they have the timeline which is when it's convenient for you. whether this was four days ago and they needed to act prior to be taken down or whether it is sympathetic response to that arrest and they are just team in the best way that they know how. the largest target with the most amount of people. >> in the meantime, crude oil has turned into the green, lower throughout the day. gold has commoditized. obviously a safe haven.

stocks have come up close. we watched travel stocks under pressure. we'll watch airlines and hotels in the black. matthew, when we talk about soft targets and now we've been here they may be cutting back on the dog, the bomb dogs, these are the types of things when you walk into an airport you haven't gone through security yet. these are the types of soft target that jihads looks for her. >> absolutely. there are really no hard and party getting hit. they are all soft targets. even the presence of security doesn't work the idea of what is going to happen here. you do the best you can for the security for rent and now have access to individuals, you have a place that allows access to terrorism. the individual's choice to act. lauren: we are just get in a

statement from american airlines. they are taken care of employees in brussels after the events at after the events at this time no reported injuries to our employees. american airlines flight 751 has been canceled for today when operations at the airport resumes will be accommodate everyone. american airlines now speaking in. we asked several experts joining us this morning. the explosion happened at the brussels airport on the american airlines. is this symbolism there? >> there could be. i don't think so much on the name of americans. i think it is just one of those. the flight schedule is where people congregate is what you would be looking for. in an attack of this type, the terrorists individual is given latitude, if you will, to pace the best target.

it is not difficult to go to an airport and look at where those areas are, see how far you can get into the location to do the most damage. i don't know that it's symbolic and namesake but in the placement of just western influence there. nicole: the break-in is also as you keep prime minister david cameron says he is shocked and concerned and actually will be holding a special meeting later. he will. he was cherry coke or maybe which is britain's government, emerging response committee to set up the response. now they have number four and minute ride, but the surrounding areas as well. what ensues in the next 612 hours? >> we have seen throughout the decade what is going on. he is a lot done in cities that

are very similar to that. the freedom of movement allows people in airports very symbolic and physically representative of that. you can get on an airplane to travel anywhere in the world. similar to belgian that we've seen here in this state where we will see publicly significantly security alerts going on. they go to show that we don't have a good hold on mondays are going to have been. >> what does this do to the mentality of regular people who hope to hop on a flight and had somewhere. this is another step back for the airlines as well. we are scared. >> i live in flyover week. the issue with that is we also

have to recognize this is normal. be aware this is happening. not just cap in the past couple of years and have been for a thousand years. this year, normal msn but we should be prepared for this. there's no reason why you shouldn't in your traveling have basic first aid to sustain yourself. >> in britain the authorities telling the british to avoid crowded areas. so now there is obviously around the area they are telling people to avoid crowded areas. we told you david cameron will be holding some sort of meeting later today. that being said, when we talk about is his overall creating

6000 westerners, we heard the earlier honor fox sister station as well. recruiting doesn't stop. tell us how it's growing. >> we think it should be coming the other way. the pulley systems you and i have that we believe in wholeheartedly is no different. just because it has a different result doesn't mean that we can discount the level to which they believed that. there are millions and millions of people and are obviously willing to back that way. it makes it difficult to enforce it because again it comes down to the individual response. the individual choice to go when an exploit the target. nicole: we thank you for your insight into office this morning. developing news, breaking news in brussels that we are covering over the last hour or so.

two blasts in the airport in brussels reportedly read by the departing the area. we have 23 dead, many hurt as well, possibly 35 wounded. in addition to that, metro area where there was a third explosion and there could've been up to five. we also had transfixed on the fox terrorist enough expert who talked about at these three suicide. again, this is a developing story. travel has been disrupted. brussels and surrounding areas on high alert. lauren: let's bring in benjamin hall right now for us and one in. how was the attack in brussels playing out where you are in london? >> london on heightened alert. that technically means there is a likely chance of an attack,

but we think it's a precaution at the moment. the police are on standby. heightened security. the train to brussels has been canceled. david cameron tweedy now to support and sympathy for those people who died. so far 23 s.b. here in brussels. london has always prepared for an attack like this. they prepared for multiple attacks, multiple gunman attacks. we are seeing three today possibly in brussels. london preparing for things like this. it was always a vulnerable threat. people radicalized online. we see a much wider network coordinated attacks. both of these in belgium in brussels taking place around the same time, 8:00, this is where many people targeting the american airlines desk. they change the way these networks are working.

nicole: benjamin, wanted to ask you, you've covered previous attacks in brussels and he talked about this and be more coordinated. two attacks at the airport at the subway station, maybe 80 minutes apart and many others. what is different to what is similar about prior attacks and what are you expecting them to stay ahead? >> if we look at a terror attack, there were multiple gunman. that may be connected to the discovery of weapons in the buildings salah abdeslam was in last tuesday. and that apartment they found that their cachet of weapons including heavy weapons and a lot of ammunition. we don't yet know if the weapons will be part of the attack if there is other attacks, but the explosives, we don't know where they came from. we are sure this is different to them.

salah abdeslam did admit to police that he was the one who picked up the hydrogen peroxide to build terrorist bombs. again, the explosives say that it is from eastern europe. and make cdc to bring a don. a lot of similarities with terrorists. nicole: quickly come you mentioned about shot, there were reports unconfirmed there may have been shots fired in chad in the arabic prior to the explosion and the airport. >> we can't confirm yet to that was. the shouting in arabic followed by an explosion. we are being cautious saying they were on the list at the moment. suicide vests. >> now we have u.k. prime minister david cameron chaired an emergency meeting.

friends president holding an emergency meeting as well. what is your deal? what is the response to the coordinated it out? >> asked yourself what they were supposed to do four months ago. especially looking at district like mozambique and belgium were many attackers come from paid 500 yards from where their parents live. how are these networks allow to grow? whereby districts exist within the hearts of brussels and are not their own freedoms and they feel this date is again been. really having to look and allow these people to live in spout such hatred within the heart of europe. nicole: what trends have you been seeing on either side, on the terrorist side, authorities said, what trends have been most

prevalent? >> i would say on the part of the terrorists, the trends have been towards the larger networks. they have been towards coordinated attacks. the question is are these being run from isis central in the middle east or the still homegrown? are these thoughts determine within brussels? some of them had fought in syria and that is the growing trend, the number of people who come back from syria. they trained out there. came back in 2014. two radically planned by people out in syria. on the police side, the trend is more rehearsals. we have seen a number of rehearsals and i can't tell you yet if brussels has planned any of those. >> how many supporters in your opinion are in europe right now i'm working on potential

threats? >> we got a lot of reports about potential terrorists hiding among refugees. let's not forget the number has gone over a million last year. we do know some of the paris attackers were hiding among refugees. the numbers hard to qualify. the number of people within belgium who went to fight in syria as i believe around 500 are. we don't know how many of those come back. the highest per capita number out there. nicole: 500 people in belgium went to fight in syria. >> yes, the highest per capita country for people who've gone to fight in joint isis out there. nicole: when you talk about tactics they are using and would talk about soft targets, what are the tax? >> well, soft targets absolutely, aimed at creating

the biggest body count, the most carnage possible. you will see often in paris we always have to come back. innocent people enjoying a night out, which is drinking, muslims enjoying themselves do not put together. it is a big target. it makes a lot of noise and people seated around the world. it's as high-profile as possible and that's always been there in. lauren: how do you think this plays out through the rest of the day? we have these emergency meetings and hear from officials than europe's. but it's not? >> of this in brussels the real shutdown telling people to stay in doors. precautions for another attack and then you start to piece together what is happening, how is this allowed to happen, where these people came from. the alert was put out a couple days ago. we were hearing from the police

that they did get reports of an imminent attack. they did have reports this last weekend. first, precautions. are there any other attacks out there? but shut it down and that is shut down right now. secondly, what happened, who are these people are what we we do to prevent attacks? >> you did right a book on this. so what you say, we are certainly listening to. >> that's right. i wrote that the year and a half ago. what we've seen since then is a real move towards europe and many people coming back from isis in europe. nicole: thank you very much. we appreciate your insight into this breaking news and obviously terror in brussels this morning. we have maria bartiromo joining us at this time continuing coverage of the attack in brussels continues on "mornings with maria." he might thank you, nicole. we are covering the breaking

news. if brussels under attack. here are the facts. of these two explosions at the airport, reports of another three additional explosions around the city including a metro station. at least 23 people are dead, dozens more injured according to sky news. flights have been suspended and the public transportation system is shut down. reports say this is like a terrorist attack. [inaudible] maria: belgian prime minister calling on people to stay where they are. the terrorist alert raised maximum. in the meantime, french president is holding a meeting on the attack. we'll bring you developments through the morning. we are covering the breaking news which is happening this