The terrorists who carried out the March 22 attacks on the Brussels airport and metro had initially planned an attack on France instead, the Belgian federal prosecutor announced Sunday.
A cell of terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State had largely conceived and executed the November 13 attacks on Paris from the Belgian capital, where many of them were reared. According to the prosecutor's office, members of this cell were apparently "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to attack locally instead.
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Despite the "speed" of that investigation, however, the terrorists - some of whom were known to the Belgian government - were able to kill 32 people and injure hundreds more in an impromptu attack four months after an attack that killed 130 in Paris.
The Brussels attack came four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a principal suspect in the logistics behind the Paris assault. Sunday's revelations confirm what many suspected: The arrests leading up to the Brussels attacks prompted a quick and desperate terrorist retaliation.