Brussels Islamic attackers used nail bombs, some victims have nails in their bodies. Nail bombs were also used by Islamists in April 2011 in Belarus and in April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings-IB Times, NBC News

3/22/16, "Bombs used in Brussels attacks contained nails," NBC News, Brussels, via WKYC

"Three bombs were used in the deadly attack at Brussels Airport, although one of the explosives did not detonate, the governor of Flemish Brabant province said.

All of the bombs contained nails, according to officials at the Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, east of Brussels. The hospital treated 13 of the victims, and officials said most of them suffered fractures, burns and deep cuts caused by metal objects. Five of them were seriously injured. Twin blasts rocked the check-in zone of Brussels Airport on Tuesday, killing and wounding scores of people, while another explosion shook a metro station in the Belgian capital.

At least 11 people were killed at the airport, and another 20 at the Maelbeek Metro Station, which was also rocked by a blast less than an hour after the airport attack.

Explosions have their own "individual signature" thanks to the materials used, as well as possible DNA left behind by the bomb maker, said NBC News analyst Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler.

Van Zandt said investigators may be looking for any connection between Tuesday morning's attack and the Nov. 13 siege on Paris in order to identify the suspects in Brussels. ISIS has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

"Does (the bomb) match what was found in Paris to then tie those two groups together?" Van Zandt said on TODAY. "They'll be looking with any other forensic evidence they can find.""

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"Some victims have nails in their bodies.”

3/22/16, "What Is A Nail Bomb? Brussels Terror Attack Victims' Bodies Were Pelted With Sharp Shrapnel," IB Times, Alex Garofalo

"The assailants in a devastating terrorist attack in Brussels on Tuesday appear to have used nail bombs in the attack, according to reports. The separate attacks left at least 30 people dead and well over 100 wounded from explosions in the city's international airport and at a busy metro station. The terror suspects who launched the attacks were not immediately identified.

Officials said attackers in Belgium used nail bombs Tuesday to maximize pain and destruction. Marc Decramer, a spokesman for the University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven, told reporters: “The bomb contained nails to create more victims. Some victims have nails in their bodies.”

Explosive devices packed with nails increase the severity of the bombs' ability to wound targets. The nails act as additional shrapnel, leading to greater loss of life and injury in inhabited areas than an explosive alone. The crude weapons are commonly used by terrorists, especially suicide bombers.

Nail bombs were used in the similar April 2011 subway bombing in Minsk, Belarus, as well as the Boston Marathon bombing in April  2013. In the latter instance, nails were used in the pressure cooker bombs fashioned by brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Brussels metro stations were set to reopen Tuesday at 4 p.m. local time with about 500 soldiers guarding the metro system, according to a tweet by Jacqueline Galant, a Belgian transportation minister."...





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