Americans confirmed among the dead in Brussels attacks
BRUSSELS -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed Friday that Americans were among the dead after the Brussels attack this week.
"United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us, including Americans, and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks," said Kerry, speaking after a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
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Some families of victims are still waiting for confirmation on the whereabouts of their loved ones.
Kerry visited Brussels on Friday morning to express condolences after the two attacks, which targeted the city's Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek train station, leaving 31 people dead and scores more injured.
His trip to the city will be brief -- he is expected to stay for only five hours -- but he will meet with EU and Belgian leaders on countering violent extremism in the country.
He did not give a specific number but a senior official said the families of two Americans had been informed of their deaths in Tuesday's attacks. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not have further details.
Very few victims have been publicly identified so far, but the families of a Belgian student, a Peruvian mother and a Belgian government worker have confirmed their loved ones dead.
The Moroccan embassy said that three Moroccan women are also confirmed among the dead, and the Netherlands' foreign minister said three Dutch citizens were also killed.
Meanwhile, dozens of the injured are being treated in hospitals throughout the city.
A spokesperson told Mashable that 14 people are currently being treated in the burn unit of the country's Koningin Astrid Military Hospital in Neder-over-Heembeek, five with the most serious level of injury and nine in more stable condition.
Additional information from the Associated Press.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
