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Explosions tore through the departure hall of Brussels airport on Tuesday morning killing 10 persons and injuring over 30 several others, the Belgian news agency Belga said.

The agency said shots were fired and there were shouts in Arabic shortly before the explosions.

The blasts occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of a suspected participant in November militant attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Belgian police had been on alert for any reprisal action.

Social media showed pictures of smoke rising from the departure hall where windows had been shattered by the blasts. Passengers were seen running away down a slipway.

Sky News television's Alex Rossi, at the scene, said he heard two "very, very loud explosions".

"I could feel the building move. There was also dust and smoke as well... I went towards where the explosion came from and there were people coming out looking very dazed and shocked."

The Belgian broadcaster RTBF quoted a witness as saying there were people injured or unconscious in the departure area, opposite the Sheraton hotel.

Niels Caignau, a Swissport employee, told Flemish broadcaster VRT: "I was on a break and heard and felt a big explosion - we have from here a view over the departure hall and saw a plume of smoke come out.

"The windows are completely shattered. People went outside in shock. It doesn't look good."

(BBC)

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Elangwe Pauline

22.Mar.2016

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Several people have been injured and one dead  after two explosions rocked Brussels Airport.

Witnesses said they 'felt the shockwaves' of the blasts which are believed to have centred on the American Airlines check-in desk at 8am (7am GMT). Pictures show the terminal windows blown out from the force of the explosion and smoke rising high into the sky. 

Video also shows terrified passengers running for their lives out of the terminal. 

Sky News Middle East correspondent Alex Rossi, who was at the airport en route for Tel Aviv, told the channel: 'I could feel the buildings move.' 

The incident came as the Belgian capital was on a state of high alert following the arrest of Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city last week. 

Belgium's Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, said the country was on high alert for a possible revenge attack following the capture of 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam in a flat in Brussels on Friday.

'We know that stopping one cell can ... push others into action. We are aware of it in this case,' he told public radio. 

France is seeking his extradition so he can stand trial for his alleged role in the November 13 rampage of gunfire and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in Paris.

Belgium is under great tension, with its federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw saying yesterday that last year the country worked on 315 new anti-terror cases and nearly 60 so far this year. 

(Daily Mail)

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22.Mar.2016

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Cameroon security forces have foiled an attack by heavily armed men on the home of a wealthy Nigerian in the nation’s capital Yaounde. Cameroon Concord learnt that seven members of a gang tried to rob a spectacular scientific complex close to the presidential palace on the 18th of March 2016. Our Intelligence Unit hinted that there was sporadic gunfire between the men in uniform and the off-the-law who blatantly refused to surrender. Three of the gang members are now in police drag net. 

According to information received from security sources, the owner of the villa is Atiku Abubakar, politician and former vice president of Nigeria under the reign of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. Atiku Abubakar we are told is also a successful businessman in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Cameroon Concord’s chief political editor who contributed in this report expressed concerns why such an action was successfully staged at a time when the Cameroonian capital is under high surveillance following terrorist threats including the presence of the Italian Head of State, President Sergio Mattarella.

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Rita Akana and Sama Ernest in Yaounde

21.Mar.2016

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Benin Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou on Monday conceded defeat to businessman Patrice Talon in presidential elections. "I called Patrice Talon tonight to congratulate him on his victory and wish him luck," Zinsou said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Zinsou and Talon were competing in a second-round run-off vote after neither won an outright majority in the first round of voting on March 6. Zinsou conceded after early results overnight gave Talon 64.8 percent of the vote, against 35.2 for Zinsou.

Zinsou, a former economist and investment banker, backed by outgoing President Thomas Boni Yayi and the main opposition Democratic Renewal Party, was an early front-runner in the election after winning the first round of voting.

However, he struggled to overcome the perception that having spent the bulk of his career abroad he is an outsider in his own country. Talon was not immediately available to comment. He was a staunch supporter of Yayi before falling out of favor. Yayi later accused him of involvement in a plot to poison him.

Mediation efforts led to a presidential pardon, however, and Talon returned from exile in France in October.

 

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20.Mar.2016

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