Let us first remember that there are other forms of divisiveness besides religion that impel terrorism: today is the 10th day after the suicide car bombing that killed 38 in Ankara, Turkey: most likely the work of a Kurdish separatist organization. The death toll was nearly the same for yesterday’s bombings at the Brussels airport and a downtown metro station: 34 so far, with about 100 injured.
There’s now little doubt that the Brussels bombings were the work of Muslim terrorists: ISIS has claimed credit for them (and warned that more such attacks are in the offing), and the Belgian police have released photos of three men who were probably responsible for the airport bombing. The Belgian police have now identified two of the suspects:
The brothers were identified as Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 30, whom the police had been searching for since the March 15 raid on an apartment in the Forest district of Brussels, the radio station RTBF reported, citing police sources. A third attacker has not been publicly identified, and is still at large.
Note the gloves on only one hand of both men to the left: a curious thing that might have been noticed. But even if it had, the bombings would have proceeded, since detonation requires only the press of a button. As the New York Times reports:
Belgian officials have identified the three men in the photo as central suspects in the bombings at the airport: Two of them, in black and wearing single black gloves on their left hands, were thought to have been killed. The third, wearing white, is still being sought in the attack, which along with another bombing at a train station was quickly claimed by the Islamic State militant group.
The image offers potential clues to the techniques and mindset of the suspects, though it cannot alone provide answers.
First, the gloves on two suspects prompted speculation that they were hiding detonation devices. In the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, hostages held by the Islamic State attackers inside the Bataclan concert hall reported seeing the gunmen pacing the hall with detonators in their hands. And next to the bodies of those who set off their explosive vests, officials found electrical wire, nine-volt batteries and melted plastic believed to have been part of the detonation mechanisms.
It also seems likely that the explosion was caused by triacetone triperoxide (TATP), probably hidden in the suitcases of at least two of them men. TATP is the explosive of choice for ISIS attacks in Europe.
Among the ways a TATP bomb can be ignited is through an electrical charge, using a simple battery and wiring that can be held in the palm of one’s hand, explained Jimmie C. Oxley, a professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island, considered a leading expert on TATP.
I’m not sure if the wires have to be connected to the explosives in the suitcase, or if any such wires can be seen in the blurry photo .
Finally, there’s one more clue:
A third hint to the Islamic State’s protocols for terrorist attacks may be evident in the faces of the suspects.
Their beards seem to be trimmed close to their faces, in contradiction of the strict Islamic codes practiced by the Islamic State in the territories they control in Syria, Iraq and Libya, where men are not allowed to trim their facial hair. But the Islamic State has instructed its operatives to shave their beards while in Western countries so they blend in better, according to court documents.
And of course there’s ISIS’s own statement:
Islamic State issued a statement saying its attackers chose the sites “carefully” and were “wrapped in explosive belts and carrying explosive canisters and machine guns.”
“Thanks be to God for his accuracy and success, and we ask God to accept our brothers among the martyrs,” the terrorist group said.
We will hear, if this proves to be ISIS’s work, that this is not an act of “true Islam,” but a perversion of the faith. That’s bogus. There is no one “true Islam”, any more than there’s one “true” Christianity; and, to greater or lesser degrees, all faiths are perversions of rationality.
I have no solutions to offer to this kind of terrorism, or to the ISIS problem. All we can do is be appalled at the brutality of those who thank God for killing so many innocent people, and to mourn them, their friends, and their loved ones. The same goes for the deaths in Ankara, motivated not by religion but by ideology. It’s hard to deal with enemies who place little value on their own lives.
