Arab governments express solidarity with Brussels terror victims

Ahram Online , Tuesday 22 Mar 2016

Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa
File Photo: Bahrain Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa (Photo: Reuters)

Arab countries including Jordan, Bahrain and Egypt condemned the series of seemingly coordinated bombings that ripped through Brussels Airport and a city metro station on Tuesday, killing at least 34 people and wounding dozens.

Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Gouda strongly condemned the attacks and stressed that his government stands in solidarity with Belgium in its fight against terrorism, Jordanian news website Al-Ghad Al-Ordony reported on Tuesday.

"Jordan's position has always been to denounce terrorism, and we stand in solidarity with our friends in Belgium during this difficult time," Gouda said at a press conference, adding that Muslims are also victims of terrorism, and that no one is safe from terrorists.

Belgian authorities said later in the day that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.

The Bahraini foreign ministry also expressed solidarity with Belgium in a press release published by the Bahrain News Agency BNA, saying that the country stands with Brussels in the face of all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism.

The Bahraini ministry said that terrorism has become a serious threat to security and stability, calling on the international community to concentrate its efforts on fighting terrorism.

Egypt's foreign ministry also condemned the attacks in the "strongest terms."

"The time has come for the world to make a final stand to deal with the phenomenon of international terrorism that targets the security and stability of peoples around the world, and which seeks to undermine all human civilisation," the foreign ministry's spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement.

Abu Zeid said that fighting terrorism requires quick and effective measures on the international level to drain the financing for terrorists. He added that terrorism must also be combated on the ideological level so as to prevent the recruitment of more individuals by "criminal groups."

The attacks were also condemned by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

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