The Islamic State jihadist group took credit for coordinated bomb attacks that killed at least 34 people and injured some 200 in Brussels on Tuesday, according to the Amaq news agency affiliated with the group.
"Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station," IS said in a statement published on Amaq's website.
The statement described Belgium as "a country participating in the international coalition against IS".
The twin blasts at Brussels international airport and the bombing of a packed metro train an hour later came days after the capture in the Belgian capital of Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in last November's deadly Paris attacks.
"Islamic State fighters opened fire inside Zaventem Airport, before several of them detonated their explosive belts, as a martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Maalbeek metro station," Amaq said.
Authorities tightened security across Europe on news of the attacks.
Belgium's interior minister Jan Jambon had said on Monday that the country was on the highest level of alert for possible revenge attacks after Abdeslam's capture.
