United Nations, March 23 (IANS) The UN Security Council and top UN officials including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday strongly condemned deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels, which killed more than 30 people and injured many more.
Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the terrorist bombings, calling for bringing those responsible to justice, Xinhua reported.
"The despicable attacks today struck at the heart of Belgium and the centre of the European Union," the secretary-general said in a statement.
The UN chief "is confident that Belgium's and Europe's commitment to human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence will continue to be the true and lasting response to the hatred and violence of which they became a victim today," said the statement.
"The secretary-general hopes those responsible will be swiftly brought to justice," it added.
The 15-nation UN body, in a press statement, "condemned in the strongest terms" the terrorist attacks in Brussels, for which the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, has claimed responsibility.
The UN Security Council expressed its solidarity with Belgium in their fight against terrorism and stressed the need to intensify regional and international efforts to overcome terrorism and violent extremism.
The council members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government of Belgium, as well as to all governments whose citizens were killed in these attacks, the statement said. "They wished a speedy recovery to those injured."
"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," the statement said.
"The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice," the statement said.
"The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," the statement said.
At least 34 people were killed in a series of attacks in Brussels on Tuesday morning, of whom 14 died in a suicide attack at Brussels national airport.
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon has declared three days of national mourning following the attacks that also rocked an underground rail station. The apparently coordinated bombings came just days after Belgium's security services caught the last surviving suspect in November's attacks on Paris.
Meanwhile, the president of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, said he was "horrified."
"We have in the last week seen atrocities in Turkey, Ivory Coast and now in Belgium. It must be condemned in the strongest terms," Lykketoft said in a separate statement.
"Acts of terrorism are unjustifiable regardless of their motivation and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes on of the most serious threats to international peace and security," the statement said.
"Acts of terrorism have no place in the modern world and only serve to strengthen the resolve of governments the world over to find and prosecute the individuals responsible," it added.
Moreover, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said that it is "deeply shocked by the tragic attacks" perpetrated in Brussels.
"This is not an attack on Belgium, it is an attack on us all and sadly these tragic events remind us again that we are facing a global threat that needs to be addressed globally," said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.
