Kerry to visit Belgium on Friday in show of U.S. support after bombings

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Belgium on Friday to voice U.S. support for investigations of Tuesday's bombings, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday after Kerry arrived in Moscow for talks on Syria and Ukraine.

"He will reiterate the strong support of the United States for Belgian efforts to both investigate these attacks and continue contributing to international efforts to counter violent extremism," spokesman John Kirby said.

The United States has offered assistance in the investigation of the bombings at Brussels airport and in its metro on Tuesday that killed at least 31 people and injured 271.

Kirby said Kerry would meet Belgian and European Union officials while in Brussels.

He would have just completed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a political transition in Syria, where a fragile true prevails after five years of devastating civil war.

Kerry is hoping for more details from the Kremlin on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose departure is sought by opposition leaders as part of any transition. Russia has been Assad's main supporter in the war.

The Kremlin meeting, which was arranged after Putin announced recently he was partially withdrawing Russian forces from Syria, will also explore the larger threat posed by the Islamic State militants after the Brussels attacks.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Mark Heinrich)