Special to WorldTribune.com
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and its supporters used the Twitter hashtag “Brussels is burning” to express their glee at the March 22 terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital.
Bombings at the city’s main airport and a metro station killed at least 34 people. It occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of Salah Abdelsalam, a suspected participant in the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
The most common remark under the “Brussels is burning” hashtag was: “You declared war against us and bombed us, and we attack you inside your homeland.” After each additional attack, Islamic State supporters celebrated by writing “Allahu Akbar.”
ISIL and its supporters also claimed the Brussels attacks were aimed at exerting pressure on Belgian authorities to release Abdelsalam, who was arrested on March 18 following a lengthy manhunt.
Some ISIL supporters also tweeted that the attacks were intended to avenge the recent U.S.-led coalition airstrikes on Mosul, Iraq in which Iraqi civilians were allegedly killed after coalition planes targeted the University of Mosul as an ISIL headquarters.
ISIL has also declared that the attacks in Paris and Brussels are part of its plan to disrupt the Western economy and replace the dollar with its own dinar.