Brussels Attacks: What Happened, In Photos And Maps

"What we feared has happened," said Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, followingTuesday's back-to-back attacks in Brussels, his country's capital. The Paris terrorist attacks of last November were rooted in this city. A manhunt for Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam had finally ended in his arrest Friday by Brussels police. But on Tuesday, Belgium took a direct hit.

The attacks began just northeast of the city, at the international airport in Zaventem. About 8 a.m., two blasts detonated in the departures terminal, filled with travelers from around the world on the move during a busy Easter week. Within seconds, at least a dozen of them lay dead; hundreds of others bled from injuries. Windows shattered and blew out; sections of the ceiling collapsed. Smoke filled the air.

Police tried to impose order and directed survivors to safety. Hundreds of passengers emerged, terrified and bewildered, bundled in jackets and coats. Many were loaded onto buses; others dragged wheelie bags along the streets and comforted one another as they contemplated where to go next. The day was just beginning.

People are taken by foot and by bus from the Brussels airport in Zaventem, following dual blasts.

Dirk Waem/AFP; Sylvain Lefevre; John Thys/AFP; Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

People stand near the airport after being evacuated following explosions that rocked the facility in Brussels. Belgium raised its terror alert to its highest level, diverting arriving planes and trains and ordering people to stay where they were.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

It didn't take long — about an hour — for the next attacker or attackers to strike, this time at the city's heart. Shortly after 9 a.m., a blast took place on a train approaching the Maelbeek metro station, smack in the middle of the subway network, the stop nearest the city's halls of highest power. Brussels isn't just Belgium's capital, it's also the capital of Europe, home to the European Parliament, the European Union and all its associated offices. Maelbeek is the stop used by those who work at or visit these institutions and offices. "Terrorists struck Brussels," French President Francois Hollande said, "but it was Europe that was targeted."

Some of the passengers who survived fled the darkened subway car onto the tracks. Above ground, emergency workers converged, blockaded the area, carried out the dead and wounded and helped the rest to safety. Forensics experts took over. At least 20 people had died.

(Left) A security perimeter has been set near the entrance to the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels. (Right) A private security guard helps a wounded woman outside the Maelbeek metro station.

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP; Michael Villa/AFP/Getty Images

(Top) Passengers clamber from a metro carriage after explosions. (Left) A victim receives first aid from responders near the Maelbeek metro station. (Right) Rescue teams evacuate wounded people outside the station.

Evan Lamos via AP; Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images

Three possible suspects in the attacks — which were claimed later in the day by ISIS, praising its "fighters" – appeared in a Brussels airport surveillance image from Tuesday morning. Police asked for the public's help in identifying them. The man in the hat is of particular interest, believed to be the lone survivor of the three.

Investigators in Belgium are asking the public's help in identifying the man on the far right, who was seen at the Brussels airport before Tuesday morning's terrorist attack. This image, provided by the Belgian Federal Police in Brussels, shows three men suspected of taking part in the attack.

Belgian Federal Police via AP

By late morning and through late afternoon, the city was strangely quiet. The Maelbeek stop was shuttered. The metro system was closed, along with the city's airports and train stations. Soldiers patrolled the streets. When the Gare du Nord railway station reopened at 4 p.m., the trains ran smoothly, but full-body searches were underway for passengers. Children, finally allowed to leave school, returned home. In the early evening, Belgium's King Philippe made a rare address to his country's 11 million people, calling the attacks "cowardly and odious."

(Above, left) Belgium's King Philippe delivers a speech. (Right) Forensic police enter the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels. (Bottom) Soldiers patrol the scene at the metro station.

Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP; Philippe Huguen/AFP;Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

Police forces conduct searches inside the North station (Gare du Nord or Noordstation) on Tuesday in Brussels, as stations are opened again with high security measures in place.

Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP/Getty Images

The city's central square, the Grand Place, two stops from Maelbeek and usually thronged with people, was largely deserted.

Tourists visit the nearly empty Grand Place in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon, after a string of explosions rocked Brussels airport and a city metro station.

Thierry Monasse/AFP/Getty Images

By nightfall, people had gathered in various parts of the city with candles, flowers, national flags — all the elements necessary for impromptu tributes to victims and survivors of tragedy, a tradition in Europe that's become all too familiar.

But it will never be normal.

People gather to leave tributes at the Place de la Bourse following Tuesday's attacks in Brussels, Belgium.