welcome back to "gma." you are looking at the brussels airport. two deadly blasts went off hours ago. one by a suicide bomber. another went off at a metro station. at least three explosions in belgium that rocked the european capital. at least 28 people reported dead and we have team coverage of all the latest right now. >> so we want to go straight to abc's alex marquardt on the scene there at the brussels airport. good morning, again, to you, alex. >> reporter: good morning, robin. that's right. three confirmed explosions by the belgian authorities and belgian prime minister said this morning the country was struck in a cowardly way as we understand it right now the current death toll, 28. 13 here during the -- from the double explosion this morning at the airport. and 15 more from a metro station in the center of brussels, the

entire metro system has been shut down along with the rest of the belgian transit system including buses, trams, trains and the airport also shut down, the only way in or out of this country right now is by car, in fact, we are just trying to hire a taxi and we are told they are all booked because people from here, from across belgium are trying to -- across brussels, rather, are trying to get out of the country. so there's a lot of confusion here at the airport. you can see there's a lot of movement. people streaming out by the hundreds, by the thousands from that departure hall where that took place, we've spoken with eyewitnesses who talked about scenes of pandemonium, scenes of carnage, one eyewitness due to fly to the states this morning on american airlines said they saw debris all over the place and saw bodies, roof tiles that had fallen onto the floor, scenes of absolute chaos, i should say this is an attack

that was expected. this was something that intelligence officials here in belgium and across europe go to sleep every night expecting to wake up to. especially in the last few days because after the arrest of salah abdeslam, who is known as eighth paris attacker, only surviving terrorist from those paris attacks that killed 130 people, after he was arrested on friday in a very dramatic raid after a four-month manhunt we were told by the interior ministry that could likely trigger a new terrorist attack and appears that is what has happened. >> it does appear that was the case. the arrest taking place about four days ago and then the attacks this morning. >> okay, thanks to alex for that as well. i spoke withage eyewitness at the airport moments ago and asked him what he saw and heard, tao wongbae. >> in terminal b i was on my way to liberia.

and i just passed the security when we saw where the bombing took place and we were being rushed and pushed away to the exit so we can evacuate. >> what did you see and what did you hear? >> well, i didn't hear -- >> there was a shattered window. some damages to the front. and police officers and other officers with guns. just making sure everyone is okay and pushing people to the exit. >> how extensive was the damage you could see? >> it was extensive but we thought it was construction at the time because they had changed some of the airport. i typically fly to this airport so i know where the security checkpoints should typically but this time around it was somewhere else so we thought it was construction but it was pretty badly damage.

>> thanks to taa wongbae for that. all transportation shut down, airports, trains, metro. >> what about the airports here in the u.s.? we're going to turn to david kerley. he covers aviation for us at abc news and, david, you have news on where the tsome a administrator is right now. >> he is in brussels, in fact, robin, he actually landed in brussels around the time of these explosion, it's unclear before or after, we are told he was with a detail taken to a secure place in brussels and he is fine but great irony in the fact the man that runs security at our airports was actually landing in brussels at about the time. u.s. carriers operate in brussels. and we have heard from american airlines that none of its employees at the ticket counter were injured. we have not heard from united on its employees one way or the other but both airlines had planes land, one from washington, one from newark land in brussels taken to a secure area to take the passengers off. one american flight had to

divert to amsterdam as it stayed away from the brussels airport. >> you're at reagan airport in d.c. right now. what is the situation there and other airports across the country? >> reporter: the washington airports basically said they're continuing their vigilance. the new york area airports, laguardia, jfk and newark stepped up inquiries and another paige airport tells me that they are adding police officers and canine units today. and you will see this across the board at mass transit according to federal officials, additional presence. a canine working at dca but behind me people going to the ticket counters heading down to the gates to head out on their flights knowing what has happened in brussels. >> that's right, thank you. >> robin, more now from dick clarke and matt olsen. we heard alex marquardt say this was expected especially after

the takedown of salah abdeslam. yet it could not be prevented. >> well, george, let's look's chronology, the attack in paris was four months ago and that attack was directly linked to a cell in brussels. then last week, a week ago today belgian police raided what they thought was an empty apartment but they found it filled with people who shot at them, wounded french police and belgian police a week ago today. that raid gave them clues that led last friday to the arrest of the mastermind of the paris attack. when they raided his apartment, when they captured him, they said two things, one, they now knew that there was a much bigger cell network than they had previously known and, two, that further attacks were planned. that was friday. the attacks came today. they were unable during all of that four months to find the leader of the paris attacks and they were unable over the course of the weekend and through monday to stop this new cell

that they knew was out there. >> how do you explain that? >> it's very troubling, whatt suggests is two thing, one, that this isis cell had very good communications capability that probably they were not using phones or internet, probably they were using curriers and all knew and trusted each other, the other thing they were living in this neighborhood outside of brussels, maelbeek which is frankly filled with isis sympathizers, the belgian authorities say they're tracking 800 people in that neighborhood who may be isissympathizers. >> matt olsen, walk us through what would be happening right now sign they'd center to forestall another attack in europe or here at home. >> the main thing, george, that's happen something that the analysts at the national counterterrorism center, cia, fbi, across the u.s. intelligence community are

working with their european colleagues in particular, of course, the belgians but the french, the british, the germans to try to understand what intelligence everyone has about what's going on in europe in particular what's going on in brussels. the real goal right now is are there follow-on attacks has to be the primary concern. is there anything in the works do we expect any more attacks, any more coordinated attacks in brussels or paris? moving forward, of course, there's going to be an investigation that will start with the individuals, the suicide bombers, once those individuals are identified that will provide links to who else may have been involved because certainly these suicide bombers as dick clarke suggests, these guys aren't acting alone, they are part of a cell in brussels and probably part of a broader network linking back to syria. >> okay, matt olsen, dick clark, thanks very much. >> we'll take a short break and back with our live team coverage of these deadly terror attacks in brussels and the threat level here in the u.s.

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