Abortive Brussels attack could have been much worse the headline at Reuters reports. Copy that (literally). “A suitcase bomb packed with nails and gas bottles could have caused heavy casualties, Belgium’s prime minister said on Wednesday, a day after a soldier shot dead a Moroccan national attempting an attack on Brussels’ Central Station.” In his own words . . .
“We have avoided an attack that could have been a great deal worse,” Charles Michel told reporters after a national security council meeting following Tuesday evening’s incident, in which no one else was hurt . . .
He then ran back up to the concourse where commuters had been milling around and rushed toward a soldier shouting “Allahu akbar” – God is greatest, in Arabic. The soldier, part of a routine patrol, shot him several times. Bomb disposal experts checked the body and found he was not carrying more explosives.
It should be pointed out that identifying and “neutralizing” a bomber before he detonates explosives is an extremely difficult not-to-say-entirely-likely task. But — it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. As the Belgian police proved.
Carry on. Oh, and I don’t know if I’d queue-up at an underground station in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack. But that’s just me.