Texas mother of four identified as third American killed in Brussels attacks

US officials identified the third of four Americans killed in the Brussels attacks last week as a Texas mother of four married to a US Air Force officer.

Gail Minglana Martinez, 41, was travelling with her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Kato Martinez, and their four children when she was injured in one of the suicide bombings on March 22, Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold said in a statement. It was unclear whether she was at the Brussels airport or a central metro station that were both targeted in the attacks.

Kato Martinez and the four children were also injured in the blast. They remain hospitalised, Farenthold said without elaborating about their conditions. Family friends said the father was in intensive care and the children recovering from burns, the Air Force Times reported.

The family was living in Brunssum, the Netherlands, where Martinez is assigned to the Joint Force Command, the newspaper reported. "Gail was special to so many people. She blessed people's lives and made this world a better place," Minglana Martinez's brother told the paper. Officials have not yet identified the fourth American killed in last week's bombings. 

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed at least 35 people and left some 300 wounded.