BRUSSELS ¨C An empty apartment block on a quiet street turned out to be the perfect place for the three suspected Brussels attackers to prepare the home-made nail bombs used in Tuesday¡¯s airport and metro attacks, which killed at least 31 people.
In a building undergoing renovation, there were no near neighbors to notice them taking in large quantities of strong-smelling household chemicals, as well as a suitcase of nails, to concoct an unstable white explosive powder known as TATP (triacetone triperoxide) that they later used in their attacks.
¡°Even if someone had stopped them, they could have said the materials were for renovation,¡± said Hassan Abid, an official at the local town hall, who was trying to determine why authorities had no knowledge of the men living illegally on the fifth floor.
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