Brussels terrorists probably used explosive nicknamed ‘the Mother of Satan’

By Thomas Gibbons-Neff March 23, WashPost

More than a dozen people were killed, and several others were injured, after explosions at an airport and metro station in the Belgian capital.

The two nail-laced blasts that tore through the Brussels airport Tuesday morning shredded people in the departure area as the shock wave shattered windows and ripped tiles from the ceiling. A little more than an hour later, another explosion peeled open the side of a metro car in the middle of the city, killing and maiming dozens more.

Belgian investigators are starting to piece together how a cell of Islamic State operatives managed to build at least three bombs and kill at least 31 people in a city that has been on high alert since the Paris attacks last fall.

Police have found a peroxide-based explosive known as triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, in the apartment of one of the suspected bombers, although investigators have yet to say conclusively what type of devices were used Tuesday. But if TATP was the primary ingredient in the bombs, the attack in Brussels would become the latest example of the chemical’s use in terrorist strikes across Europe.

(More here.)