LIVE BLOG: Bomb attacks in Brussels

An eye witness travelling through Zaventem Airport as two bombs exploded describes seeing shattered glass, flying doors and smoke as Belgium raises its terror threat to the maximum level.

The Tihange nuclear power plant in the Belgian province of Liege has been evacuated. Local police told local channel VTM that all employees are in the process of being evacuated. The cause was not immediately known. 

The unexploded vest was thought to belong to a third terrorist at Brussels Airport. A bomb squad succeeded in blowing up the vest in a controlled environment.

A British-Arab independent diplomat based in Brussels told Middle East Eye that the city appeared to be on lockdown.

"They've closed off most of the roads here, they've closed off access to Maalbeek, all the cars are kind of being diverted away, there's four or five police vans here which are kind of just sitting. There's two or three soldiers in full gear just sitting outside the [EU] commission building."

He said that he had heard the reported controlled explosion at Maalbeek, but added that, despite the tense atmosphere, he didn't fear for his own safety.

"To be brutally honest, I live in an Arab area so I'm not too worried myself."

He said that there had been frustration at the police response to the attacks.

"People are saying to me that Belgian police just aren't equipped to deal with this kind of thing and they've known about this threat for a long time now but they've either been unable to do anything or they've been a bit too scared to do anything, precisely for fear of provoking this kind of attack."

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has warned that suspects in the Brussels attacks could "still be at large" in the city.

Police raids were being carried out in Brussels on Tuesday at houses in the city:

Sunni Islam's leading seat of learning, Al-Azhar, said Tuesday's attacks in Brussels "violate the tolerant teachings of Islam," and urged the international community to confront the "epidemic" of terrorism.

"Al-Azhar strongly condemns these terrorist attacks. These heinous crimes violate the tolerant teachings of Islam," the Cairo-based Al-Azhar said in a statement.

"If the international community does not unite to confront this epidemic, the corrupt will not stop from committing heinous crimes against the innocent."

The Egyptian foreign ministry also condemned the attacks that left at least 26 people dead and dozens wounded in Brussels.

"The time has come for the world to make a final stand to deal with the phenomenon of international terrorism," ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement issued in English.

He called for steps to tackle it at the "financing and ideological levels ... and to prevent the recruitment of more individuals by criminal terrorist groups".

Belgian public broadcaster VRT has reported that the death toll in Brussels has risen to 34, with 20 people killed in the Metro blast and 14 in the airport explosions.

Around 151 are thought to have been injured.

13 people have been killed in Brussels airport following a series of explosions there on Turesday morning while a further 10 people have been reportedly killed in a Brussels Metro explosion, according to Belgian public broadcaster VTM.

35 people have reportedly been wounded in total.

The Brussels airport attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, Belgium's federal prosecutor said on Tuesday, according to Belgian broadcasters VTM and RTBF.

He declined to give more details at this time.

The Belgian Prime Minister gave a press conference following the Brussels attacks, calling for Belgians to remain united in the face of the attacks.

"Our first thoughts are with the victims, with their families and those whose who are waiting for information about their loved ones," he told reporters.

He said that scores were feared injured and dead and that security forces were trying to "stabilise the situation"

He said the priority was on providing treatment for victims and evacuating victims towards various hospitals.

He added that the terror threat level had been raised to level 4, the highest possible rating and that "military reinforcement" was being delplyed.

He said Belgians were "facing a difficult and challenging time and we should face up to this challenge by being united" and "coming together."

Israeli minister of Science, Technology and Space Ofir Akunis has said that the attacks of Brussels on Tuesday could have been avoided had the EU been less concerned with slamming Israel.

“Many in Europe have preferred to occupy themselves with the folly of condemning Israel, labeling products, and boycotts," he wrote on Facebook.

"In this time, underneath the nose of the Continent’s citizens, thousands of extremist Islamic terror cells have grown.”

“There were those who repressed and mocked whoever tried to give warning. There were those who underestimated. To our sorrow, the reality has struck the lives of dozens of innocent people.”