2016 Brussels bombings
E192172
The 2016 Brussels bombings were coordinated terrorist attacks in Belgium that targeted the airport and a metro station, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, and significantly impacting European security policies.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| 2016 Brussels bombings canonical | 2 |
| Brussels attacks of 22 March 2016 | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1702524 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 2016 Brussels bombings Context triple: [Brussels Airport, hasSecurityIncident, 2016 Brussels bombings]
-
A.
2017 Manchester Arena bombing
The 2017 Manchester Arena bombing was a suicide terrorist attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people and injured hundreds, becoming one of the deadliest attacks in the UK in recent decades.
-
B.
Crimean Bridge explosions
The Crimean Bridge explosions were high-profile attacks during the Russo-Ukrainian War that damaged the key transport link between Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula, symbolically undermining Russian control over the region.
-
C.
2011 Norway attacks
The 2011 Norway attacks were a pair of coordinated terrorist attacks by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, involving a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting at a youth camp on Utøya island, which killed 77 people and shocked Norway and the world.
-
D.
2004 Madrid train bombings
The 2004 Madrid train bombings were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks on commuter trains in Madrid that killed 193 people and injured thousands, becoming one of Europe’s deadliest terror incidents.
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E.
McGurk's Bar bombing
The McGurk's Bar bombing was a 1971 loyalist terrorist attack in Belfast in which a bomb exploded in a Catholic pub, killing 15 civilians and becoming one of the deadliest single incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 2016 Brussels bombings Target entity description: The 2016 Brussels bombings were coordinated terrorist attacks in Belgium that targeted the airport and a metro station, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, and significantly impacting European security policies.
-
A.
2017 Manchester Arena bombing
The 2017 Manchester Arena bombing was a suicide terrorist attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people and injured hundreds, becoming one of the deadliest attacks in the UK in recent decades.
-
B.
Crimean Bridge explosions
The Crimean Bridge explosions were high-profile attacks during the Russo-Ukrainian War that damaged the key transport link between Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula, symbolically undermining Russian control over the region.
-
C.
2011 Norway attacks
The 2011 Norway attacks were a pair of coordinated terrorist attacks by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, involving a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting at a youth camp on Utøya island, which killed 77 people and shocked Norway and the world.
-
D.
2004 Madrid train bombings
The 2004 Madrid train bombings were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks on commuter trains in Madrid that killed 193 people and injured thousands, becoming one of Europe’s deadliest terror incidents.
-
E.
McGurk's Bar bombing
The McGurk's Bar bombing was a 1971 loyalist terrorist attack in Belfast in which a bomb exploded in a Catholic pub, killing 15 civilians and becoming one of the deadliest single incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Islamist terrorist incident
ⓘ
suicide bombing ⓘ terrorist attack ⓘ |
| airportTerminal | departure hall ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
2016 Brussels bombings
ⓘ
surface form:
Brussels attacks of 22 March 2016
|
| attackType |
coordinated attacks
ⓘ
suicide bombing ⓘ |
| city |
Brussels, Belgium
ⓘ
surface form:
Brussels
|
| claimedBy |
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
ⓘ
surface form:
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|
| country | Belgium ⓘ |
| date | 2016-03-22 ⓘ |
| fatalities | 32 ⓘ |
| fatalitiesExcludingPerpetrators | 32 ⓘ |
| impact |
intensified counter-terrorism operations in Belgium
ⓘ
significant impact on European security policies ⓘ |
| injuries |
300+
ⓘ
over 300 ⓘ |
| investigatedBy |
Belgian federal police
ⓘ
Belgian federal prosecutor’s office ⓘ |
| ledTo |
heightened security measures in Belgium
ⓘ
increased security at European airports ⓘ shutdown of Brussels Metro system ⓘ temporary closure of Brussels Airport ⓘ |
| legalOutcome | trials of suspects in Belgium ⓘ |
| location |
Brussels Airport
ⓘ
European Quarter of Brussels ⓘ Maelbeek metro station ⓘ Zaventem ⓘ |
| metroLine | Line 1 ⓘ |
| metroStation |
Maelbeek metro station
ⓘ
surface form:
Maelbeek
|
| motive |
Islamist extremism
ⓘ
retaliation for Belgian participation in anti-ISIL coalition ⓘ |
| numberOfAttacks | 3 ⓘ |
| numberOfNationalitiesAmongVictims | 40+ ⓘ |
| partOf |
Global War on Terrorism
ⓘ
surface form:
global war on terror
terrorism in Europe ⓘ |
| perpetrator |
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
ⓘ
surface form:
ISIL
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ⓘ
surface form:
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
|
| perpetratorFatalities | 3 ⓘ |
| relatedTo | November 2015 Paris attacks ⓘ |
| securityAlertLevelInBelgium | raised to highest level ⓘ |
| suspectedCell | same network as Paris attackers ⓘ |
| target |
Brussels Airport
ⓘ
surface form:
Brussels Airport departure hall
Brussels Metro ⓘ civilians ⓘ transport infrastructure ⓘ |
| timeOfFirstExplosion | 07:58 CET ⓘ |
| timeOfSecondExplosion | 07:58 CET ⓘ |
| timeOfThirdExplosion | 09:11 CET ⓘ |
| victimsNationalities | multiple countries ⓘ |
| year | 2016 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: 2016 Brussels bombings Description of subject: The 2016 Brussels bombings were coordinated terrorist attacks in Belgium that targeted the airport and a metro station, killing dozens and injuring hundreds, and significantly impacting European security policies.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Brussels attacks of 22 March 2016