(CNN)Five terrorists -- three dead, two whose fates are unknown.
So far, that's how many people that authorities say played a part in Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium, that killed 31 people and injured 330.
Two
were allegedly involved in bombing a train near the Maelbeek metro
station. Of them, one has been identified as Khalid El Bakraoui, who
died in that suicide attack. And on Thursday, a senior Belgian security
source told CNN that authorities believe a second, unnamed person was
also involved in that blast. That man's whereabouts -- and whether he's
dead or alive -- is unknown.
Surveillance footage shows this man
holding a large bag at the station, according to Belgian public
broadcaster RTBF. It's not clear if he was among the at least 20 killed
in that blast, RTBF said.
Three
more people apparently took part in the Brussels Airport attack. At
least two of them are dead -- Khalid's brother Ibrahim El Bakraoui and
ISIS bomb maker Najim Laachraoui, who also had ties to the November Paris terror attacks. Authorities also have a grainy image of another suspect who they believe is on the run.
And they've uncovered an apparent
hideout in a Brussels suburb containing 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of the
explosive TATP, screws and other bomb-making materials, Belgian federal
prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said.
Any clue, any lead, any witness could be critical in the race to stop the next terrorist attack on European soil.
CNN
intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer thinks people have reason to
worry, given all the munitions authorities have found so far -- and,
more so, those they still haven't discovered. He says Britain or France
could be hit next.
"I
think they're shocked by the amount of armament and the number of
followers and how big the network was connected to Paris and now
Brussels," Baer said.
As CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson puts it: "The dam has broken''.Minister: Possible 'we missed the chance'
Are Belgian authorities responsible, at least in part, for this rupture?
Interior
Minister Jan Jambon suggested Thursday that's a legitimate question,
especially after Turkey's presidency revealed that it had captured Ibrahim El Bakraoui in June 2015 and deported him to Europe, where he was set free.
Bakraoui
was the same man who, in October 2010, was sentenced to nine years in
prison for opening fire on police officers with a Kalashnikov during a
robbery, according to broadcaster RTBF and CNN affiliate RTL. Needless
to say, he didn't serve all that time.
"Given the facts, it is justified that
... people ask how it is possible that someone was released early and we
missed the chance when he was in Turkey to detain him," said Jambon,
whose offer to resign was rebuffed by Prime Minister Charles Michel.
This
isn't the only potential embarrassment for Belgian authorities. Another
is that Salah Abdeslam -- despite being Europe's most wanted man for
four months as the lone surviving Paris attacker -- hid in plain sight just blocks from the Brussels neighborhood where he grew up before his capture last week.
Baer,
the CNN analyst, thinks European authorities haven't done enough to
develop a network of sources inside communities that terrorists call
home.
"These communities of North African
origin are very tight-knit," he said. "It's very difficult for the
European services to get inside of them. They were ignored for so many
years."
The
fact that no one gave Abdeslam up is troubling. What may be more
worrisome is if there are more young men like him, who sympathize not
with Europeans but with ISIS, the terror group that's taken over swaths
of territory in Syria and Iraq while claiming attacks elsewhere around the world, including in Brussels and Paris.
"Today,
Belgium has been trying to hold back another force of nature: A
disaffected, disassociated youth, warped and wrapped in ISIS's corrosive
ideology," CNN's Robertson said. "Their numbers have been too great for
Belgian counterterrorism efforts to cope."
Bomber brothers' homes searched
Not
long ago, Western authorities believed ISIS was focused on taking
territory in Syria and Iraq, not lashing out elsewhere. But U.S.
officials now think the extremist group has been sending trained
militants to Europe for some time.
These men don't necessarily follow
orders directly from ISIS headquarters. But they build on what they've
learned, as well as a shared philosophy and approach, to develop their
own terror cells and hatch their own plots.
How many more ISIS militants are in Europe, poised to attack? That's not clear.
For now, though, the top priority is tracking down the two men linked directly to Tuesday's terror.
One
of them, shown in surveillance images wearing a hat and light-colored
clothing, is suspected of dropping off a bomb at the Brussels Airport
and then leaving.
Authorities
looked Wednesday at the Brussels homes of the Bakraoui brothers, though
the Belgian federal prosecutor's office says those two searches "were
not conclusive."
The same office
revealed that Khalid El Bakraoui, the subway bomber, was the subject of
an Interpol "red notice" issued on December 11, 2015. He allegedly used
false identification to rent a Brussels apartment that served as a
hideout for Paris attackers.
Those who stayed there include Abdeslam, who Belgian officials say may have been helping plan new attacks at the time of his capture.
Investigators
suspect Abdeslam planned to be part of an attack by the same ISIS cell
that lashed out Tuesday in Brussels, a senior Belgian counterterrorism
official told CNN's Paul Cruickshank.
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