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Terror in Paris

Aired January 09, 2015 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let me go back to Chris Cuomo. He's still, obviously, covering what's going on in Paris for us.

Chris, it's now the top of the hour. We're standing by. We just heard from the president of France, Francois Hollande. Getting ready to hear from the president of the United States, President Obama. He's going to be speaking out on what's going on in France right now. But set the scene for us a little bit right now. For viewers here in the United States or around the world who are just tuning up, update us on what has happened over these past few hours.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": All right, well, obviously, the culmination of what started here at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" wound up finding its conclusion in two separate standoffs. One involved the two main terror suspects from the magazine massacre that got captured -- not captured but cornered in an industrial park in eastern Paris. There was a second standoff that involved an associate of those two terrorists who had himself shot two officers and killed one of them, a female police officer. He wound up taking hostages in a kosher market in another part of eastern Paris. The two were not close to each other in terms of their geography.

So what happened was that the -- in the industrial park, the two brothers who were involved there wound up rushing police. And when they did, they were fired on by authorities and killed. And a man who had been hiding there, who had been presumed to be a hostage, wound up being released unharmed.

The marketplace, the kosher market, wound up being much more complicated, Wolf. The man was inside with an unknown number of hostages at this point, but a fairly significant number of hostages. Probably children involved based on what we saw in the aftermath. And he was saying that unless the brothers were released, he was going to either trade the hostages or harm the hostages. There's now reporting that he did take the lives of hostages before any of this happened while in that store.

So, what happened was, while he was in a moment of prayer or what authorities took as preparation, they used flash bang devices, which are diversionary tactics, to stun people inside and they rushed. And it was a very violent encounter. It was a difficult set of circumstances for authorities. They took injuries. There were wounded among the hostages. The terror suspect himself was killed. It is unknown, though reported by French authorities, that his accomplice in the shooting of the two police officers the day before was also present in the store and escaped. I have not been able to confirm that independently, whether or not she was actually in the store.

The hostages who were escaping told police that the man did have an accomplice. Whether or not that accomplice was identified as the woman on your screen, we're not sure. There is an unknown number of wounded as a result of that siege, the assault at the kosher market and also an unknown number of dead. Certainly the S.W.A.T. team took injuries as well, Wolf. And that's how we wound up here.

And just to an earlier question that you asked, Wolf, about the reaction among people here, I have not heard, although there's been robust debate around us about what to do about poor Muslims in and around Paris. I have not heard violent backlash. But certainly we have heard about incidents that suggest it. There have been attacks on mosques locally. Similarly, there have been other acts of terror here that have gone unreported internationally but are specifically known here in Paris. A man entered a police station with a knife and tried to stab as many police officers as he could while screaming "God is great." Separate incidents of men driving cars into pedestrians screaming "God is great."

So there has been a lot of what has become all too familiar around the world in terms of extremist Islamic attacks and violence and there has been some backlash here as well. But the sentiment as far as we can tell here, because of what unfolded today, isn't something massive enough to report as a cultural backlash against Muslims, at least not from my observation, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Chris, standby. We're standing by to hear from the president of the United States. He's in Knoxville, Tennessee. We're told at the beginning of his remarks -- he's there for a totally different situation. The vice president is speaking now, Joe Biden. He's going to introduce the president. The president will open with some comments about what's going on in France right now. Here's Vice President Joe Biden and here's the president of the United States. I want to listen in and hear what the president has to say.

We know yesterday, as soon as he came back to Washington, he immediately went to the French embassy here in Washington to sign a condolence book and to express his deep, deep regret and his solidarity with the people of France. The president, he may thank a few people now. He's there to talk about other non-France related issues. But his aides have told us he will speak out on what's going on in France. I don't want to miss it, so let's listen in.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it is good to be back in Tennessee. I hope you guys aren't getting tired of me. I've been coming around a lot lately. There's a lot of good stuff happening here.

I want to begin by thanking Jo and Jill Biden. They're not just good friends and good partners, but they really believe in the power of education and they really believe in creating those kind of ladders to opportunity that gave all three of us and Michelle the chances, the incredible opportunities that we've had today. And they understand the promise of America's community colleges. Well, Jill really understands it and, Joe, he doesn't really have a choice. Before I get into the reason that I'm here today, I want to begin by

saying just a few words about the tragic events that we've watched unfold in France over the last several hours and days. and because events have been fast moving this morning, I want to make sure to comment on them.

I just spoke to my counterterrorism adviser. We have been in close touch with the French government throughout this tragedy. The moment that the outrageous attack took place, we directed all of our law enforcement and counterintelligence operations to provide whatever support that our ally needs in confronting this challenge. We're hopeful that the immediate threat is now resolved thanks to the courage and professionalism of the French personnel on the ground. But the French government continues to face the threat of terrorism and has to remain vigilant. The situation is fluid. President Hollande's made it clear that they're going to do whatever is necessary to protect their people and I think it's important for us to understand, France is our oldest ally.

I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have been directly impacted. We grieve with you. We fight alongside you to uphold our values, the values that we share, universal values that bind us together as friends and as allies.

And in the streets of Paris, the world has seen once again what terrorists stand for. They have nothing to offer but hatred and human suffering. And we stand for freedom and hope and the dignity of all human beings. And that's what the city of Paris represents to the world and that spirit will endure forever long after the scourge of terrorism is banished from this world.

Now, I'm in Knoxville, not only because I just like Knoxville, but I'm here today because one of my --

BLITZER: All right, to there's the president of the United States making his moving comments about this oldest alliance that the United States has with France going back to the revolutionary war here in the United States. The oldest allies the U.S. and France. The president making a point that the United States is with France, with the people of France, during these difficult times, suggesting this is by no means over. France has a serious problem. Other countries in Europe have a serious potential terror problem. There's a very serious potential terror problem here in the United States as well.

Paul Cruickshank, you hear the president of the United States, you hear the president of France, they're deeply worried, as you point out, as sick as it is to believe that the massacre of these 12 individuals at a magazine in France could be hailed by some, seen as a victory for propaganda purposes, that's going to inspire other terrorists out there.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think it's absolutely going to inspire other terrorists out there, perhaps to launch copycat attacks, perhaps to fund these groups, perhaps to join these groups. We've seen that in the past. I think we're going to see that in the future. This was a spectacular terrorist attack in France that played out over a long duration. And the fear is we're going to see more of this. There's an unprecedented threat in Europe right now because of the number of people that have gone to travel and fight in Syria and Iraq.

BLITZER: All right, and there are thousands of them, literally, maybe a few hundred, that have come back to the United States. But in Europe, it's in the thousands.

CRUICKSHANK: Thousands who have gone and hundreds who are back now in the European Union, and 200 back in France, 5,000 people in France that they're watching because of suspected ties to Islamic extremism. Those numbers are staggering.

BLITZER: And we know that at least one of the two brothers, the terrorists who killed those 12 people at that magazine, had gone to Yemen back in 2011, actually was trained by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right. And they've also, Wolf, had probably consultation with other terrorists to say, look, if you, you know, do this attack on the magazine, extend the issue. Don't die there. There won't be enough media coverage. But if you can extend it a day or two, take hostages, have worldwide media coverage, start to finish, then go ahead and do what you're going to do, which is what they did. They choose to come out guns blazing today and end this when they were certain they had the maximum coverage possible.

BLITZER: And what really got law enforcement in France on top of these two guys was the fact that they left - one of them left his identity paper, his identity card, inside that stolen black Citron (ph), that vehicle that they found. I think it was Cherif Kouachi, that identity card. And you're not necessarily convinced that was a blunder on the part of these two terrorists, are you?

FUENTES: No, I think they left that as a calling card for themselves, knowing the authorities would look up their background and know that they were affiliated with al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, know that they've been involved with law enforcement on their radar for so long, as opposed to the possible speculation that these guys were a one off or an unrelated cell or self-radicalized. They wanted all of us to know who they were and why they were doing what they did.

BLITZER: And if, in fact, they did leave that identity paper, that identity card deliberately in the vehicle, it would underscore that these guys were suicide -- suicidal. They wanted to be martyrs for the so-called cause.

CRUICKSHANK: I think they did and they probably believed that they would go to heaven for this. That's their ideology. That's their religious believe. They believe they'll be rewarded in the afterlife. That's why we've seen so many people go off and fight and die in this cause that they believe in.

BLITZER: It's hard to believe that this is going on. But as you point out, Tom, the international community should be bracing for more of this.

FUENTES: Absolutely.

BLITZER: There's little -

CRUICKSHANK: Yes.

BLITZER: You can't necessarily watch thousands of people all the time. You need a lot of people to do surveillance like that, right?

FUENTES: It's more than difficult, it's impossible. It's impossible.

BLITZER: So this is more of -- the war on terror, everybody seems to suggest is sort of like the war on crime, it's never going to end.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's going to go on for some time. And the big worry now is because of this Syria, Iraq safe haven. I think there's going to be real vulnerability for the next one, two, three years. There's going to be a terrorist safe haven there in one shape form and another for years to come. And these groups can plot attacks. They can encourage others. But already back in the west to launch attacks, we've seen a string of terrorist attacks now in the last months and I think we're likely to see more in the weeks and months ahead.

BLITZER: Yes, these three terrorists, though, are dead.

Go ahead.

FUENTES: Yes, 13 years ago we invade Afghanistan with the idea that never again will these guys be able to train and jump around on the monkey bars and learn how to shoot guns. We're going to eliminate their training camps and now in Syria and in Iraq, you have the largest training camps you could possibly have. It makes Afghanistan look like nursery school by comparison.

BLITZER: Yes.

FUENTES: And that's where these guys are learning this trade craft.

BLITZER: Tom Fuentes, thanks very much for joining us. Paul Cruickshank, you'll be with us, obviously both of you, throughout the day.

That's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room" for much more of breaking news coverage. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, Brooke Baldwin will pick up our special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin, live here in New York, alongside my colleague there, Chris Cuomo, in Paris. We'll talk to Chris here in just a moment. We are all over this breaking news of this eruption of a terrorist --

multiple attacks in France. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. And, Chris Cuomo, I'm going to come to you, standing by at that memorial near the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine offices in just a moment, but first I have a lot for you here so let me just back up and start at the beginning.

Two separate hostage standoffs that were unfolding today, they are now over. At least three terrorists are dead and one terror suspect, the woman were the wanted sign is over her face here on the screen, she is believed to be on the run. Police are seeking her as I speak.

As far as today's harrowing events, a flurry of police raids that began with a volley of gunfire in this small village near the airport in Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport. Inside of this printing factory, the Kouachi brothers, remember these are the brothers who killed 12 people in the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre on Wednesday just before noon Paris time, they were holed up in this printing factory with one hostage. Now, we had CNN crews, of course, on the ground there nearby. They reported hearing gunfire and apparently a bang of flash grenades. And that siege ended when the gunmen came out firing, this is according to French media, our CNN affiliate BFN. Those two, the Kouachi brothers, were killed by police. Their single hostage was freed. He is alive.

At the same time, in a different part of Paris, a larger hostage standoff unfolding. Undertaken by two separate people who were apparently part of the same jihadist group as the Kouachi brothers in one of the districts in Paris. So this man and this woman, they live together, and today they held up this kosher grocery store, taking multiple hostages. And we have seen the pictures showing the end of the siege. You see all of these hostages racing toward law enforcement. Some of whom were freed. But we have learned, hearing from the president of France, that several were killed, four were killed according to Francois Hollande. Also killed was this man, the hostage taker. His accomplice, the woman, who we said moments ago, she is still on the run. Both of whom are suspected of killing a Persian policewoman yesterday morning.

Lots of moving parts on this story. Chris Cuomo has been up and at this for hours and hours and hours, through both of these sieges there in Paris.

Chris Cuomo, let me just bring you in. And tell me, as far as this woman is concerned, I'm assuming police, they are seeking her as we speak?

CUOMO: Unclear to be sure, Brooke. French officials have said they believe that the accomplice may have been in the kosher market during it, may have escaped among other hostages. But it's equally possible that she wasn't there and that she is at large. Assets were detached from the area that were surrounding the kosher market and they were sent to the neighborhood where the man on your screen and the two brothers were connected to each other, where they grew up, where they were supposedly associating and where they may have been planning what we've seen happen over the last few days. And they went to that area for two reasons. One, to look for her. And,

two, to see if there was any way to track down any other associates and see if there would be another wave of violence because what had befallen the three terror suspects so far. And what we're seeing here in Paris, where we are so close to the offices of "Charlie Hebdo," Brooke, is that people are remembering, now that this has ended, where it began.

Now, there is a memorial here that got set up very soon after the violent incident, the massacre itself. And it's been growing by the hour. Flowers, notes, candles. Protests of the violence that brought down the members of the staff of "Charlie Hebdo." Different people giving sentiments about unity and peace that's going forward. And as we've seen in the hours since this siege happened and the assaults were undertaken by authorities, people have started to come back again.

Something else that happened here, Brooke, as these were unfolding, is that there was a lot of robust debate going on here about why it was happening, about the (INAUDIBLE) Muslim community here in and around Paris and about whether or not they had been probably assimilated into French culture or whether they're being ostracized and isolated. And people were very strong on both sides of that issue.

And it's relevant, Brooke, because of what you just heard from President Hollande. These horrible incidents, these days of people being on edge, certainly a wake-up call for French society. And it is proof, says President Hollande, that the war against terrorism is not just abroad, it's also at home. So that's been what's happening here.

We're very fortunate. We've had people stationed at the points of action all day long. Fred Pleitgen has been very close to what was going on in that industrial park, that printing factory. Let's go to him right now.

Fred, take us through your observations of what happened in that moment of crisis during the assault and what you've learned since.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly. The moment when the assault began really came out of nowhere, if you would. We were just walking to our live position when all of a sudden we heard what sounded like sort of a damp kind of detonation in the distance. It was followed by several shots. Not many. I would say it might have been two or three shots that were fired that we heard and then several more of these damp sort of explosions. Didn't take very long at all.

What happened after that was all of a sudden then you heard helicopters in the air. Three choppers or so landed in the area of that industrial park. And police went in, as well as medical personnel going in as well. The police then here started moving, but, again, it seemed to have been a very clean operation if something like that is possible during a siege like this one, but it was over very, very quickly. Of course, this happened after hours of a standoff here between the Kouachi brothers and the police.

They apparently had one hostage here, although it's unclear at this point, and this is a really interesting detail, it's unclear at this point whether or not they actually knew that they had this hostage or whether or not this hostage might have been hiding in another room the entire time. So we don't know that. But the police certainly did believe that these people had a hostage and that's why they waited a very long time to begin this siege. Now the latest that we have is that apparently they came out and fired

at the police and that's when they decided to launch this operation, to end the siege and neutralize these two suspects.

The interesting thing that we've learned since then is that one of our affiliates, BFN TV, apparently called the printing factory right after it was clear there was something going on there and actually managed to apparently speak to one of the two hostage takers, Cherif Kouachi, answered the phone. And I'm going to quote from our affiliate, again, BFN TV. This is a man purportedly saying that he was Cherif Kouachi. And he said, let me just open my phone here. I have it right here. And he said, "we are just telling you that we are the defenders of Prophet Muhammad. I was sent, me, Cherif Kouachi, by al Qaeda in Yemen. I went there and Sheik Anwar al Awlaki financed my trip." Then the journalist goes and asks him, "when was that?" He says, "a while ago. He was killed. Allah protects him."

So this is, obviously, a very clear indication, again, if all of this is true, that these two brothers did have contact to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and, of course, to the radical American cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, who, of course, was killed in a drone strike a couple of years ago. But that's certainly some very worrying information and another really bizarre and interesting tidbit as we try and reconstruct what happened and, of course, foremost also what drove these men to do what they did.

Chris.

CUOMO: Right, Fred. I think that it was a journalist from a magazine that called in to BFN and then BFN wound up reporting what the journalist says had happened when they just took a shot and called the office and wound up getting the older brother on the phone and had the conversation that they recorded that you just reported on there.

They also say that they had a conversation with the other terrorists in the kosher market. That he called them. They didn't record that call as far as I know, but they did relay the contents of the conversation to BFN.

PLEITGEN: Yes.

CUOMO: So let's go to Isa Soares - I'll check back in with you, Fred, but let's go to Isa Soares because you're located outside the kosher market. And what we understand about that part of the conversation was that the third terrorists who was inside there, who had taken many hostages, said that he was connected to the two brothers, that he had not been a part of the "Charlie Hebdo," that that wasn't part of the plan. He was supposed to shoot at the officers, which, of course, he did do yesterday, shooting at two police officers. One who was unarmed and died from her injuries. And then he took a large number of hostages there and, of course, there was an assault that ensued there to as well on a much more complicated situation. Isa, what do we understand about how that assault went down?

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris, you know, you and I were watching it unfold. It was extremely dramatic, extremely dangerous. But just to let our viewers know, if they're just joining us, that in the last 10 minutes we heard the French president, Francois Hollande, basically said that four people died in this store behind us really. We -- initially we were told that the reports that no one had died, but now are being told that four people have died.

But like you said, Chris, it was a dramatic and very dangerous situation. And what happened here today, it was about - after - early afternoon or so it happened and one of the gentlemen, the terrorist really that killed that French policewoman on Thursday, he walked into this kosher store and he reportedly said, you know who I am. Inside, reports of about six people inside, including a child. Now, this is Friday, of course, and the attacks came before Shibat (ph), so you can imagine how busy that was.

Now, also with him was his accomplice and we are finding out also his girlfriend. At least the one that she's on the run. And she was there with him. Now, I've read reports and I've heard reports on French TV that apparently police hacked into the CCTV inside the store to see what's going on. We cannot confirm that at this stage. But what we do know is that police stormed into the store at the same time that the other attack was happening about 35 miles or so away from here. So, that was a simultaneous attack on the ground. Our team heard three loud bangs. It really was flash bangs, if you can remember, they're just white. And then we heard simultaneous fire. Just take a listen to just how intense it was.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Now, after that, we were told about 10 to 20 police officers stormed in. And within a period of about two minutes, less than that, they were coming out with hostages. We've actually seen footage of one of the policemen coming out with that baby. He was more like a toddler really. And in the midst of all that, in the midst of the confusion, Chris, what we do know is that the female person that was joined with Amedy Coulibaly, the one that also is reported - that also killed that Parisian policewoman, she escaped amidst all the confusion. So now the cordons (ph) are coming off, but the man - but there's still a hunt to find this woman because, of course, as you and I have heard, there are reports that these two had some sort of relation to the Kouachi brothers.

Chris.

CUOMO: Isa, and, obviously, it was a much more complex and difficult situation for the S.W.A.T. team there. There was only one way in, one way out. The door was very tight and heavy to move, unlike the industrial park area where there were lots of different angles and opportunities. Of course, they didn't have to take them because the brothers wound up rushing them.

Let me ask you something you reported though, that you heard from the French authorities. Four people died. Do you know if that number includes the terrorist himself or does it also include -- or is it just hostages? Do you know what that number is that we heard?

SOARES: I believe - I believe - I believe it's just hostages. I believe that does not include the terrorist. Chris, at this stage, that is what - that's what we're hearing, of course, that that's, as far as we know, four hostages were killed. We heard from French President Francois Hollande, four people died. And he called it an anti-Semitic attack, Chris.