At least 34 people are dead and more than 200 others wounded following a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement to a news agency affiliated with the terror group.
{mosads}“What we feared has happened — we were hit by blind attacks,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said at a news conference, according to multiple reports.
Two blasts rocked Zaventem airport, including one near an American Airlines desk. Another explosion struck a metro station near European Union buildings.
Belgium’s federal prosecutor confirmed that a suicide bomber struck the airport, adding that the country’s terror threat level is now “maximum.”
Brussels is now on lockdown following the terrorist attacks, with bus, metro and tram services suspended in the Belgian capital.
Zaventem is also shuttered, with the facility having been evacuated in the aftermath of the blast there.
President Obama condemned the attacks during comments Tuesday morning in Cuba.
“This is yet another reminder the world must unite. We must be together, regardless of nationality or race or faith, in fighting against the scourge of terrorism,” Obama said.
Obama also spoke by phone with the Belgian prime minister to offer his condolences, the White House said, adding that the president offered any help in investigating the attacks and apprehending those responsible.
Secretary of State John Kerry called the attacks “abhorrent” in a statement, saying they are “an assault against the Belgian people and the very heart of Europe.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, pointed to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as culprits in the attack.
“The terrorist bombings in Brussels this morning — focused on the airport and transit system — bear all the hallmarks of an ISIS-inspired, or ISIS-coordinated, attack,” he said in a statement early Tuesday.
“In the wake of these attacks, we here in the U.S. and our allies across Europe must be on alert for possible copy-cat attackers who activate in the wake of these bombings,” Schiff added.
He warned that encrypted communications may play a role in terrorists coordinating their attacks.
French President François Hollande on Tuesday condemned the massacre, urging a coordinated European response against terrorist groups.
“Terrorists struck Brussels, but it was Europe that was targeted — and all the world that is concerned,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “This war will be long.”
EU Council President Donald Tusk also slammed the attacks, vowing his organization would help orchestrate continent-wide countermeasures.
“These attacks mark another low by the terrorists in service of hatred and violence,” he said, according to the AP.
“[The EU] will fulfill its role to help Brussels, Belgium and Europe as a whole counter the terror threat which we are all facing.”
Tuesday’s bombings follow last Friday’s capture of a suspect in last year’s terror attacks in Paris.
Salah Abdeslam, 26, was injured during a shootout with authorities in the Molenbeek area of Brussels but survived and was subsequently captured.
Abdeslam, a French national who grew up in Brussels, allegedly fled for Belgium after helping coordinate the Paris attacks last November.
Coordinated attacks across the French capital killed 130 people, with ISIS later claiming it inspired the bloodshed.
Jordan Fabian contributed to this report, which was updated at 2:09 p.m.