Islamic State Supporters Celebrate Brussels Attacks on Twitter

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Supporters of the Islamic State took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to celebrate the deadly attacks carried out by the group in Brussels which claimed 34 lives.

The terrorist organization, which has taken responsibility for the attacks, targeted Brussels only four days after the arrest of a suspected participant in November’s attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

The first explosion occurred in the departure hall of Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, at about 8 a.m. local time, with the second occurring at the Maelbeek Subway Station, where the majority of lives were taken. Three Americans, Mormon missionaries, were injured.

Immediately after the attacks, ISIS supporters took to Twitter to celebrate, using the hashtag #BrusselsOnFire. The hashtag was supposedly inspired by a similar phrase used in the aftermath of the jihadist attacks in Paris.

The similarities in social media behavior isn’t the only parallel between Tuesday’s attacks and the attacks in Paris. Both attacks involved terrorists infiltrating a public space with explosives strapped to their belts.

Many of the tweets included the phrase: “You declared war against us and bombed us, and we attack you inside your homeland.”

“With the permission of God, the lions came to take revenge for the killing of Muslims in Syria and Iraq,” one person posted on Twitter.

Twitter, which has come under fire recently for censoring conservative and libertarian content, seems to be fine with members of ISIS using their platform.

Tom Ciccotta writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta.

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