BRUSSELS — 2016 · Major Tragedy

Brussels Bombings

SolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

On the morning of 22 March 2016, two bombs exploded one after the other at 07:58 in the departure hall of Brussels Zaventem Airport; at 09:11 a third explosion struck a metro carriage at Maelbeek station, in the district housing the European Union institutions. Excluding the three suicide bombers, 32 people died and more than 300 were injured; the official victim count was later raised as further deaths were recognised as caused by the attacks. The cell behind the attacks, claimed by ISIS, turned out to have also planned the November 2015 Paris attacks. A trial of ten defendants began in December 2022; in July 2023 six were convicted of terrorist murder, and sentences handed down in September 2023 ranged from ten years to life.

Date: 2016
Place: Brussels, Belgium, Brussels, BE
Category: Major Tragedy
Case Status: Solved
Coordinates: 50.8435, 4.3780 ↗

Timeline of Events

22 March 2016, 07:58Two bombs exploded at Zaventem Airport.
22 March 2016, 09:11A third blast hit Maelbeek metro station; 32 people died in total.
December 2022The trial of ten defendants opened.

July 2023Six defendants were convicted of terrorist murder.
September 2023Sentences ranging from ten years to life were handed down.

Sources

Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.