Bombs in the Zaventem airport and the Maalbeek Metro station in Brussels detonated and sent the country into a panic March 22.

An American couple makes up a portion of the 35 dead; it is estimated that 200 were injured in the attacks.

This death count does not include the three suicide bombers. There are two unknown accomplices, one from each attack, who were not killed. The bomber in the subway was Khalid el-Bakraoui. The two bombers who died in the airport attack were Brahim el-Bakraoui, brother to Khalid, and Najim Laachraoui.

Laachraoui, the bomb maker, was an accomplice of Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect of the Paris attack investigation.

A suspected third member of the group that attacked the airport was released March 28, as there was not evidence to place him at the crime scene or at the safe house.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “authorities have arrested 18 people, six of whom were charged with participation in a terrorist group;” the others were released.

Brussels was viewed as a target because it is both the seat of European Union government and the capital of Belgium.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took responsibility for the attacks, stating Belgium is “a country participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State,” according to a statement translated by jihadwatch.org.

According to an in depth examination on longwarjournal.org, the group threatened “dark days in response to [the] aggression against the Islamic State, and what is coming is worse and more bitter” in its statement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded stating, ”We will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred. We will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs … from the face of this Earth.”

There are significant connections between the Brussels attackers and the Paris attackers. According to “Brussels explosions: What we know about airport and metro attacks” by bbc.com, the DNA of three of the Paris attackers was found in a safe house in Schaerbeek, a suburb of Brussels, along with the DNA of Laachraoui.

The el-Bakraoui brothers also met with Abdeslam, arrested for the Paris attacks March 18, in another safe house in Forest, a suburb of Brussels. The different attacks must have been completed by the same strain of members of ISIS.

Further examination of evidence found in the safe houses reveals that TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, was the explosive used by both the suicide bombers in Paris and those in Brussels.

Public transportation in Brussels was greatly affected, with the Zaventem airport closed until April 1 and the Brussels subway system temporarily shut down. According to the BBC, Eurostar told passengers to allow an extra hour due to advanced security checks.

The attacks have also affected other western European countries; the BBC reports French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve deployed 1,600 extra police officers to train stations, airports and border crossings.

Security in France has been heightened due to the fresh wound that is the Paris attack in November. It should be noted that Presdient Fraçois Hollande of France has declared a state of war with the Islamic State.

The New York Times reports that the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the World Trade Center in New York and other monuments were lit up with the colors of Belgium’s flag.

The BBC also reports “the UK’s official terrorist threat level remains unchanged at ‘severe,’ the second-highest level on a five-point scale.”

Following the attacks, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon declared three days of national mourning. U.S. President Barack Obama also ordered the flags be flown at half-staff for three days.

In a statement on thewhitehouse.gov, Vice President Joe Biden said, “Remember the incredible courage of the Belgian people during World War II – the incredible stamina. Nothing’s changed. On behalf of the President, I can say that we are prepared to provide any and all information, capability, technology – anything we have that can be value-added to their fight. And they will prevail. They have backbones like ramrods. They’re not letting terrorism win.”