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A Closer Look At The Terror Suspects; Source: Female Terror Suspect Not In France; Airasia Tail Section Brought To Surface

Aired January 10, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I would like to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Fredricka Wlhitfield. This hour, CNN's breaking news coverage continues.

Armed and dangerous, the last surviving suspect in this week's terror attacks in Paris is now on the run. Police are on the hunt for this woman.

Plus, new reports that one of the Kouachi brothers was once the roommate of the underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a jetliner. And we have new information about the four hostages who were killed in the kosher supermarket in Paris.

Here they are, according to a JSS news, a well-known online Jewish publication in France. Yohan Cohen was 22 years old. Yohav Hattab was 23 years old. We don't know yet as much about Phillippe Braham and Francois Michelle Saada.

A focus of the investigation is now finding that fourth suspect. Let's go now to Paris and CNN's Hala Gorani. So Hala, what more do we know about the resources being devoted to the search for this young lady or whether even her family is being questioned. Have they been located? Are they cooperating?

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fred, from a rainy and windy Paris, a lot of developing angles to get to today. You mentioned that fourth suspect still on the run. Her name is Hayat Boumediene. She's 26 years old.

She's considered armed and dangerous and is reportedly the girlfriend of AmedY Coulibaly, who was killed in that hail of gunfire when French police stormed the kosher supermarket in East Paris. Take a look at some of the most dramatic video here.

(VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Four hostages were killed. You mentioned their names there, Fredricka. Another 15 survived. Coulibaly reportedly said he was working in tandem with the Kouachi brothers. Police killed those two brothers in another standoff in Northern Paris.

Said and Cherif Kouachi were suspected in the attack on the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine, which happened on Wednesday and we're learning a lot more about their background and their upbringing. CNN's Arwa Damon takes a closer look at their apparent journey into violent jihad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around a decade ago, in the 19th district of Paris, two orphaned brothers began their journey to so-called Jihad. Said and Cherif Kouachi's path to terror seemed to have differed.

Little is known about Said, the elder of the two, other than he traveled a few years ago to Yemen, meeting terror groups there. Cherif went from rap-loving hipster to radical. This video was made in 2004. Not long after, his life changed course.

It was at this mosque, now under reconstruction. He met and studied under extremist Fareed Benyettu, who recruited him as a foreign fighter. Cherif was said to have trained for his mission in Iraq in this park jogging and building up his strength.

But he never made it. He was arrested and convicted as he was trying to leave France to fight in Iraq. But despite links that later emerged to Benyetu's recruitment ring, Cherif was released for time already served in 2008.

He seemingly fell off the intelligence radar. This mainstream mosque in Northern Paris is where Cherif last worshiped, along with 2,300 others. We're told he wasn't even among those who were particularly devout.

For the big prayers, for the big events, he preferred to come here, a representative says. Five minutes away, Cherif's residence, this building, Apartment 143. The one neighbor on his floor, who answered the door, is in no mood to talk. Few are. (on camera): Another of the residents who lived on the third floor

did not want to appear on camera, but he did say that he saw Cherif on a number of occasions, at times with his wife.

She was dressed in the full black Islamic garb with just her eyes showing. He described them as being fairly discreet, keeping to themselves, but did say on a few occasions, heard loud voices from the apartment.

(voice-over): At the local kebab shop down the block, these men all said they were shocked when they saw Cherif's picture on TV. Describing him as polite, exhibiting no signs of his radical views.

One man said, he remembers him helping elderly women with their groceries. The brothers are the exact kind of Jihadis western intelligence fears. One that doesn't look or act like the stereotypical terrorist, perfectly concealing a murderous mind. Arwa Damon, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, there you have it. One of the reporters here for CNN, we have working on the investigation and also covering what's going on across this country, at this very tragic time for France. Fredricka, back to you for now.

WHITFIELD: All right, Hala, right alongside you, we have a guest, we want to open this up and have a bigger conversation about what really is at issue here, culturally there in France and beyond.

Janine Di Giovanni, the Middle East editor for "Newsweek" magazine joining you there in Paris. We're also joined by CNN military analyst, retired Major General Spider Marks, joining us from Phoenix.

First to you, General, what do you make of this report that Kouachi and the so-called underwear bomber were roommates. And then we want to talk about what's at hand there in France in terms of overlooking or many of these young people getting training elsewhere. To you, Spider Marks, first.

MAJ. GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Fred, good morning. Thank you very much. We should not be surprised by this report. In fact, as we start to peel this back, I think we're going to find far more connections, in that really what we have is the radicalization of Islam is a metastatic cancer that is very localized.

And -- but through that metastasis, there are links back into cells, if you will, that are very vibrant, very much alive, and through which you could transfer a lot of motivation, a lot of training, and a lot of technical expertise.

And that's clearly what we have here. So, these connections are going to continue to reveal themselves, but they shouldn't surprise us. And what that really means is, what do we do in the west, how can we now accommodate this type of radicalization?

This type of terror, these kinds of anarchists, if you will, that get their motivation out of the mosques, within these relationships that they have, that exist within this religion.

And let's be frank, it's within this religion that this cancer is emanating. So without profiling the religion, how do you profile the behavior? And then how do you insert yourself so you can get more insights, so you can get ahead of events like this?

This is what it's all about. It's good intelligence work that has to be done, and it has to be done at the root of the problem. We can kill all the radicals in the world that present themselves, we killed three yesterday.

And we'll kill another one here in the next couple of days and she'll be gone. But the key thing is, is how do you get at the radicalization? That's the issue?

WHITFIELD: And so, Janine, let me bring you into this equation now. Has this been percolating for a very long time? Meaning, the vulnerabilities of some of these young people there in France, it has been apparent for, you know, decades, if not many, many years.

And so is this problem being overlooked, as a societal, you know, issue, or even law enforcement or have you noticed or uncovered otherwise, Janine?

GORANI: Fredricka was asking you about the, sort of the historic recurrence of some of these issues.

JANINE DI GIOVANNI, MIDDLE EAST EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": Yes. And Hala, while I agree with the general that we have to look, what we're going to do in the future to calm that radicalism, I think it's very important we take into consideration the past and why this is happening.

It's a product of colonization of France and that there's a large Muslim population that hasn't been fully integrated into the society. And you and I talked about this, that there's a great sense of feeling excluded and alienated, which leads in many ways to radicalization. So how do we combat that? Education really is at the root of it.

GORANI: That's one of the things. And Fredricka, also, with Janine, I wanted to ask her about historic context, which is important. Every decade, it seems, has seen its own form of radical attack on western countries. We had anarchist groups for instance, in the '70s.

You had groups like the IRA in the heart of London bomb entire buildings, party conversations for the conservative party in Britain. So this is something, and as the general was saying, how do you not profile the religion, but profile the attackers that can be useful here, to maintain perspective.

GIOVANNI: I think in this case, we have a whole different scenario than going back to the red brigade in the '70s, who weren't truly anarchists. I think that now, we've got the rise of radicalism coming from a great sense of disenfranchised society.

But also, we've got the wars in Iraq and Syria. We've got the rise of the Islamic State. We've even got the polarization, which as much as we don't want to see this happening in Europe, with the rising immigration we're getting as well, coming as fallout from these wars.

GORANI: All right. Well, thank you so much, very interesting perspective, Janine. We enjoy having you on and we'll be talking in the coming days. There's right now the view from Paris. Fredricka, back to you in the studio.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to continue this conversation in a moment. Also, straight ahead, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in Paris discussing the possible link to the so-called underwear bomber. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back to our continuing coverage. We've been talking about the burgeoning radicalism that has now turned very violent, latest example, right in Paris over the past three days.

Back with us to further this discussion, Janine Di Giovanni, the Middle East editor for "Newsweek" magazine in Paris alongside our Hala Gorani there. And also, CNN military analyst, Retired Major General "Spider" Marks joining us from Phoenix.

So back to our conversation, Hala, to you first, I'm listening to some of the language that y'all are using. You're talking about decades of, you know, frustration, radicalism, and the rise of immigration was the last point that Janine brought up. So all of this seems obvious then why hasn't it been addressed, particularly there in France, Hala?

GORANI: All right. Well, I mean, it all seems obvious, but it's very complicated, I should say, to implement a multi-pronged approach. It's -- as we were discussing, Janine, with many of the experts who were telling us, it can't just be policing, it can't just be surveillance, it can't be just education.

It's got to be a multi-layered approach. And Janine, this is something you've written about as well, on how education, as part of a wider policing effort and surveillance effort, should be something that is implemented in this country, in particular.

GIOVANNI: Yes. And Hala, we've seen, which is quite interesting, over the past three days, that religious leaders have come together to try to have some kind of consensus about how we move forward.

Because what's going to happen now, I would think, that in the next week, it will still be -- Paris will still be -- France will be in a state of tension, a state of chaos, and then it will slowly become more of a healing process, a trauma, as in, you know, Madrid after the train attack, as in New York after 9/11.

The population will have to slowly get used to the fact that they're vulnerable to attack. But I think that eventually, we're going to have to come together with a combination of all these things you said, education, religious leaders, trying to bring people together, more of a consensus, more of a common voice.

GORANI: And that, Fredricka, as I toss it back to you, and I know the general has his thoughts on this, is, is something that is going to have to come, I think, from the population, demanding it of their leaders. Because for decades now, these immigrant populations have felt separated from overall society.

In fact, Janine, as you know, and I just want to tell our viewers as well, there are some neighborhoods outside of Paris, immigrant communities, where police barely even go. I mean, so there are certainly areas that are almost "ghettoized," if you will, quote/unquote, of the immigrant populations, and it's physically a manifestation of how outside the overall community they feel.

WHITFIELD: Right. It's not just a problem there in France, it is just the latest example and one that has created a new springboard for this conversation. But Spider Marks, this same dialogue is taking place in the United States, whether you're talking about from Minneapolis to cities in Colorado, where you see young people who are recruited.

They are, you know, fresh pickings, because of that feeling of isolation and radicalists, you know, experts, and those who are looking to pluck these young people for training are looking to those kind of vulnerabilities.

So do you see here in the United States any real parallels to what is taking place in France in terms of a new, I guess, objective, for law enforcement and for other communities to work together, to try to make a dent in this kind of recruitment?

MARKS: You know, Fredricka, let's be careful about how we draw these parallels here. First of all, in the United States, there is a very large effort, as a matter of routine, based on how we're -- how we have created ourselves and grown and evolved as a society in a representative democracy.

In that, integration exists as a matter of routine and that isolation generally occurs because you choose to isolate yourself. Everyone is essentially made available in all goods and services and opportunities for education and integration are available to us in the United States.

And if we have an issue of isolation, it's generally a choice. In Paris, what you've seen, admittedly, is a large percentage of the population, almost 10 percent is Muslim.

And through policies that have been in place, both existing policies that are on the books and what I would call behaviors that exist, for example, the no-go zones, there are no-go zones not by legal status, was because the police have chosen not to penetrate, and there has been an open effort to keep them isolated.

So what you have there is a different circumstance where you can create a sense of hostility. But we can't apologize for this challenge, being the cause for this radicalization and this barberist behavior, these acts of mad men over the past couple of days.

This is what we are seeing as a new normal. In many cases, Fred, it doesn't matter the western world, the Judeo-Christian world does. Radical Islam -- not Islam -- radical Islam hates us irrespective of what we do. They hate us for who we are.

So that recruitment is ongoing, what they do encourages recruitment. Not what we do. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do not encourage recruitment. We have to keep that in mind.

So how do you get into that? You have to embrace it. You have to be able to penetrate it overty, positively, peacefully. So you can then profile behaviors. You're going to profile entire groups if you don't understand what's happening inside the segments within those groups.

WHITFIELD: But this isolation, you know, whether it be by choice or otherwise, is a very fervent, you know, discussion, and argument that can be made. And so, Hala, there in France, y'all touched on it with a lot of young people feeling isolated or even certain neighborhoods feeling that they are very separated from the mainstream community, they do find themselves to be very vulnerable and to be easy pickings for those radicals, who are looking for easy prey.

GORANI: Yes, Janine wanted to answer, General Spider Marks. But I think it's important, also, to put numbers in perspective for our viewers who may not know the actual percentage that we're talking about. If you have a few thousand, I think the Muslim population in France is about 3 million.

GIOVANNI: Yes, yes.

GORANI: So even if you -- and I'm not diminishing, of course, in any way, the severity of having young men recruited into this extremist population. It's still a small sliver.

So this is ongoing work that only should really be considered in light of that statistic. But you wanted to respond also to General Spider Marks about one of the things he said about choice, I think.

GIOVANNI: Yes, I think, while in no way do I want to make any excuses for what these men did, this brutality and this violence, at the same time, I think that there has to be a bit of understanding about the background they come from.

Because it is nothing -- I don't think it is the same as America. Here in France, they really are much more alienated from the French society. They do not have the opportunities, the same opportunities.

We were talking earlier about one of the great French universities. You would not get those kids growing up in the suburbs. Those Muslim immigrants, or not immigrants, they're French, they are born here. But they do not in any way feel French.

They feel more akin to fighters in Syria and Iraq than they do to those in France because they are isolated. So I think we have to understand that. That's a point that we have to put ourselves in our shoes because what they have done is brutal and horrible.

And at the same time, the choices that they get, unless they are highly motivated, highly driven, and are given some kind of opportunities to get out of the trap that they're in are very slim.

GORANI: All right, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to continue that conversation. Great points being made by all of you, all three of you, General SPIDER MARKS here in the states, Janine Di Giovanni and Hala there in Paris. We'll return to our conversation a bit later on in our programming. Meantime, we'll be back on much more with the development in Paris in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In France this hour, the hunt continues for the one known suspect remaining in the attacks that killed 17 people in a three-day terror spree. Let's go to Paris right now and CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

So Frederik, we're now hearing that while the search continues for that one young lady, who was also the partner of one of the killed terrorists, we also understand that one of those terrorists also has ties to the underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a plane in the United States five years ago. What more can you tell us about these two things?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. And there are indications that he had ties to Farouk Abdulmutallab. And apparently what happened is that Said Kouachi, one of the two men who yesterday, of course, died in that siege in northeastern Paris, went to Yemen several times between 2009 and 2011.

The indications that we have is that the first time he went there was in 2009. He stayed there for a while in 2010, and then for a long time in 2011. And at some point during that time in 2011, apparently he might have stayed in the place together with the man who later became known as the underwear bomber, who obviously tried to hijack that airplane, in 2009, that Delta flight, that went into Detroit.

This was apparently found out in 2011 by a journalist who talked to Said Kouachi, where he said that he met him while he was studying at some sort of institute in Sanaa, in the capital of Yemen, where he was studying Arabic.

And there he told him in 2009, he had contact with the man who later became known as the underwear bomber. So right now we have to say that's one source we're getting that from. We don't have any confirmation of that.

But it does go to show that there might have been links between Said Kouachi and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which of course tried to perpetrate terror attacks against the U.S. in 2009, for instance.

WHITFIELD: All right. And now let's talk about Hayat Boumediene, who was among the four in terms of the involvement over the last three days. Is it your feeling that law enforcement have exhausted all opportunities in its search, right in that area, where the crimes took place, and maybe they have moved on, or what more do we know about their ongoing search for her?

PLEITGEN: Well, the search is certainly ongoing and it's certainly one that is very large. I mean, Hayat Boumediene became one of the most wanted people, one of the most wanted women, probably, in the world, simply overnight.

If you remember, only about 30 hours ago, we'd barely even heard of this woman, and now there are all these wanted posters out there. Everybody seems to be looking for her. Right now what the French authorities are doing is casting that dragnet.

They're looking for her and talking to people who might have been associated with her. We had one crew on the scene of the apartment she shared with the person who laid siege to that kosher grocery store, and the cops are still on the scene there. It's very difficult for them to find out where she is. One of the

things we always have to keep in mind is that if she's left Paris at any point in time, it's very easy for her to move across borders here in Europe, because due to that agreement with European nations, there are no more border controls. But we do know the French authorities are pressing this issue, they want to get ahold of her. Also in light of the fact that she's the only one, the only known figure of these two events that took place, that is still alive.

Because, obviously, the Kouachi brothers have been killed and Coulibaly has been killed as well. So they are pressing the issue and trying to get a hold of her using all available means.

There are some media reports that indicate that she might have gone to Syria before all of this even started. There are indications that she might have left France as early as January 2nd. We don't know that. That is speculation at this point in time. Nevertheless, the French authorities are still trying to get ahold of her by any means that they can.

WHITFIELD: All right, the dragnet widening. Thank you so much, Frederik Pleitgen, keep us posted. Appreciate it.

All right, U.S. authorities are looking at the attacks in Paris very closely. What they hope to learn about possible future terrorist attempts on American soil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Thanks so much for joining me. I would like to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We have breaking news right now. I want to go straight to Paris with our Hala Gorani who picks it up from here -- Hala.

GORANI: Well, Fred, CNN is learning that Hayat Boumediene is no longer thought to be in France. That is, of course, the most wanted woman in this country. According to a French source close to French Security Services, Hayat Boumediene is believed to have traveled out of France and believed to be potentially in Syria.

That source is telling CNN that Boumediene actually left for Turkey, likely headed to Syria, around the 1st or 2nd of January this year. Meaning she was not even in the country when the attacks happened. This is what we're getting from a source.

Boumediene left for Turkey, quote, "Of course to reach Syria," unquote, according to this source, on the 1st or 2nd of January. You're seeing some pictures thought to have been taken in 2010 of Hayat Boumediene, who is the girlfriend of the man, Amedy Coulibaly, who is responsible, authorities believe, for the hostage taking at that kosher supermarket that ended in the deaths of four hostages.

So there you have it. There are the latest coming to us from Paris. We were talking about the manhunt there, Fredricka. Well, it appears that if this, indeed, is the case, that they are not going to find this woman anywhere in this country. All right, that's the latest from here. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Hala, just a little bit more clarity then on Hayat, help us understand. It is believed that she was not with these other three at the time of these attacks over the past few days or are we saying that she was with them and has made her way out of country, following those attacks?

GORANI: No. According to this source, she left before the attacks, on January 1st or 2nd, made her way to Turkey, and then into Syria, according to the source close to French security sources, who spoke to CNN, the French Security Services.

And if that is the case, Fredricka, of course, that means she wasn't present during the "Charlie Hebdo" attack, but she was never believed to be, but also that she wasn't present during the killing of that female police officer on Thursday.

That was allegedly the work of Amedy Coulibaly, the man who was then suspected of having taken these hostages at the kosher supermarket. There was a question surrounding whether or not she'd been table to escape yesterday.

You'll remember that, but then when we all viewed video, security sources, as well, viewed the video, and it was determined that it would have been extremely difficult for anyone to escape the notice of security and of the police surrounding the supermarket.

So if this is, indeed the case, that she has made her way to Syria and left on January 1st or 2nd, she was not in country when all the attacks took place.

WHITFIELD: Right. So that would mean that she is no longer a terror suspect, or that she is not a terror suspect, or can you help us to understand whether authorities are looking for her even outside of country, because she may have either in association with these terrorists.

The one being killed, whom she roommated with or was a partner of, that she may have been involved in any planning, and that's why she would still be constituted a terror suspect?

GORANI: I think, obviously, here, intelligence services in this country are all going to be looking at her association with the men. But if it is determined that she left before the attacks, then her association with the events would only be -- would not be operational.

It means she wasn't physically present during the killing of the police woman or during the hostage taking at the supermarket. I think this is all going to be ironed out over the next several days and weeks, when we have more details coming to us from these security sources in France.

I'm going to bring in, Samuel Laurent, the author of "Al Qaeda In France" and he's an expert on these al Qaeda networks. Thanks for being with us.

We were breaking on CNN, the news according to one security force who spoke to us that this woman, Hayat Boumediene, who was the subject of this intense manhunt, woman hunt in France, may not have even been in the country during the attacks and may have left January 1st or 2nd for Syria? What do you make of that possibility?

SAMUEL LAURENT, AUTHOR, "AL QAEDA IN FRANCE" AUTHOR: That's actually a probability. Nothing's been confirmed, but actually, it might be the case, but that doesn't make her less involved. I would say, let's not say that we have already spotted in 2014 more than 500 phone calls between her and her companion, the housemate of one of the two brothers.

So therefore, she was involved and she was involved in, I would say, the logistics, the communication. Obviously, the two brothers knew they were very carefully checked and monitored. So therefore, they were using her, as much as the other companion.

GORANI: Just updating our viewers on what French authorities have said in the past 24 hours is that they believe that these 500 phone calls between the partner of Coulibaly and the wife of one of the Cherif brothers was a way for the men to communicate, potentially.

LAURENT: Exactly. They knew exactly where was the red line for the intelligence service. They knew how the intelligence services were operating, how carefully they were checking them, and actually that the best way to circumvent this money tree was to use their girlfriend, their wives, and so on, that were under much less surveillance.

GORANI: And that means that this was a plan that was well thought out, if this, indeed, is the case, that she left on January 1st. Because it would mean that a week before the attack, this individual left the country, knowing that she would be looked -- that she would be then hunted down.

LAURENT: Well, exactly. You know, the martyrdom was the objective of the silence, either in "Charlie Hebdo," either in the hostage taking place, but actually, she was just taking care of logistics and she was precious. She was extremely precious because she had information.

She knew more about the sales and so on. So it's not only an escape, it's actually seeking refuge and safe place, where nobody can extract any information from her.

GORANI: I want so ask, you've had experience, you've traveled to Syria, you know these networks and these routes. I want to ask you about the modus operandi because it was quite different from a suicide operation. It did appear as though these men, the Kouachi brother, did not want to die at first.

They had masks on their face. They fled. They held up gas stations and stole cars. So why was that a different tactic, do you think, at least in the beginning?

LAURENT: I think one of the most possible scenarios, but again, it needs to be confirmed, is that it was a chain of operation, that it was planned. Actually, those people have been not checked enough, right, but they were checked.

As soon as their I.D.s started to emerge, it was rather quick for the intelligence and security services to circumvent all their contacts and their networks, so probably some chain attacks.

GORANI: This is interesting, what you're saying, just so I can explain to our viewers what I think I'm hearing from you, which is I believe their identity would not be revealed as quickly as it was. Perhaps they had other operations planned, which is why they did not -- they covered their faces and tried to make it out alive for that reason.

LAURENT: Most likely, based on what I heard from French jihad in Syria, planning to come back and planning to basically perpetrate those actions. The idea of chain attacks was something that was really coming out very often. So it's a very likely scenario that they have been basically kept from their network by the security service.

GORANI: We have you here. You have traveled to these parts of the world, where you have spoken to French nationals, French citizens, who are now members of these groups and they tell you what, I want to come back to France and attack French targets? What did they say?

LAURENT: The two main ones want to go there and live their life in what they call pure Islam, and the other ones obviously will come back as an order of the al Qaeda. And they would perpetrate terrorist attacks against one specific objective, like the authorities, like Jewish community, like the press.

Because we have to figure out that those three attacks were very symbolic, all of them, there were very precise, a community that was basically hated by radical Islamists, the Jewish. They attack the freedom of press, which is called the Nidal (ph) by the (inaudible).

Democracy, freedom of press, and so on, are the new religions that need to be destroyed to be replaced by Islam, and also the authority by killing police officers and basically it's a very complete symbol.

GORANI: Before we go back to Atlanta, what numbers are we talking about here?

LAURENT: Actually the first number, the official number is 400 to 500 French fighters in Syria and Iraq. This is solidly underestimated and this is basically the real numbers based on expert research and also what I could guess on the ground, is 1,500 to 2,000 or even more.

GORANI: And of those, according to you and your research, what percentage intend on coming back to strike targets in their home countries?

LAURENT: It's very difficult to gauge, but I would say that at one point or another, for various reasons, whether for -- by will or because things are getting different in Syria, the situation changes, you can see at least half of them coming back. That's rather obvious.

GORANI: That's a very scary number.

LAURENT: That's any way a very scary number and we were only talking about the French. Let's not forget we were in Europe. So therefore the Belgium's that will come back to Belgium, we'd also be able to travel to France, saying that the French can travel to Belgium. It's an open space.

We're talking about a lot of countries with a lot of Jihadis. And a very large threat uncontrolled security service that do not talk enough to each other.

GORANI: All right, Samuel Laurent, I want to update our viewers once again on the breaking news, according to a source that's spoken to CNN. The wanted suspect from one of the Paris shootings, the woman believed to be the girlfriend of the man who held up that kosher supermarket, Hayat Boumediene, is thought to be no longer in France at all.

That source is saying that probably she traveled out of the country on January 1st or January 2nd most probably to Turkey and into Syria, according to that one source.

We'll bring you more on this breaking news and more from right here in Paris, France, with more on our developing story on the aftermath of the terror attacks in this country -- Fredricka, for now, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Hala and Samuel, making this story all that much more complex and confusing, if her travel dates are indeed the case.

So now unclear what role she may have played in the last three days with the deadly shooting at the publication and then the hostage taking at two locations also in Paris, the supermarket and the printing office. Much more on this breaking information when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Well, new aspect of these chilling terrorist attacks in Paris, a landmark synagogue shut its doors today for the first time since World War II. The grand synagogue of Paris closed because of fears it could be the next target of extremists, Islamic extremists. So rabbis belonging to another synagogue in the city calls that a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RABBI JONES JACQUEEN: The best thing we can do after this kind of attack is to continue and to show that we are not afraid of the intent of this kind of terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: On Friday, a gunman killed four hostages at a kosher grocery store east of Paris. Police stormed the market, as we all saw unfold on our TV screens. They were able to rescue 15 others. The gunman was killed. The French president, Francois Hollande is calling the attack an anti-Semitic act.

Mr. Hollande expressed solidarity with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants France to beef up security at Jewish institutions. Earlier today, CNN's Jake Tapper talked with the president of the union of French Jewish students. They planned a vigil outside the market to show concern over anti-Semitism in France.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I want to say tonight is that after the gathering of tonight, I hope that tomorrow's gathering will be absolutely immense.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: That unity --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope that the crowd will be gathered by millions. We need to show unity, we need to show support for everyone who was hurt in these attacks.

TAPPER: The neighborhood where this kosher supermarket took place, this is a Jewish neighborhood, generally speaking, and schools had to close in the area. Other stores had to close in the area. Does the Jewish community in Paris feel under attack?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, it does. This does not come from like --

TAPPER: Yes, it's not just this week.

SACHA REINGEWIRTZ, PRESIDENT, FRENCH JEWISH STUDENT UNION: Yes. The number of attacks has doubled in the past year. And overall in the past 10, 15 years, there has been a growing threat against the Jews in France. This is very worrying, but I don't want Jews to be afraid or think they don't have a place in this country.

This is our country. We've been there for hundreds of years. The history of friends is marked by the history of Jews. Jews are a citizen of France. And when you attack Jews, you don't just attack a community, you are attacking France.

The same way you are attacking freedom of expression by killing journalists, you're attacking freedom of religion when you're trying to attack Jews.

TAPPER: Let me ask you a question, we did a story about this on my show, on CNN, maybe six months ago. How much -- is it overstated how much Jews are actually leaving France?

REINGEWIRTZ: At the moment, we're only talking about 1 percent of the population that has left.

TAPPER: One percent of the Jewish population?

REINGEWIRTZ: Yes including that of young people who anyway are moving to various countries. We talk about the difficulty of the situation. A lot of people want to leave. So rather than focusing on the people who are leaving, we need to think about the people who are here, who are living here, and make sure that they don't live in anger. TAPPER: Let's talk about that. The grand synagogue in Paris didn't have Sabbath services last night. And it's said it's the first time since World War II, since the holocaust that that happened. That must be very upsetting.

REINGEWIRTZ: Yes, this is a very sad symbol. And on top of that, I know that a lot of people yesterday didn't want to leave their home. I know that a lot of Jewish schools are increasing their protection. But this is not a new thing. There have been Jewish places of worship for years now.

So Jewish people are used to living with protection, but I don't think this is a society you want to live in. You can't just imagine that Jewish in France has to live with an officer by his side. Soy hope that the government will increase the means and education in the way that we can teach to our children how to focus, how to learn to live with one another.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Jake Tapper there, speaking with a representative of a Jewish student group here in France. We're going to have a lot more from Paris, in a moment.

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WHITFIELD: All right. We'll get back to our continuing coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris in a moment. But I want to also turn our attention to that Airasia flight and some recoveries that are being made now there in the Java Sea.

We understand that authorities have been able to bring up, as you see right there in these images, some portions of the tail section. Well, the tail section is usually where the voice recorder and the black boxes are located, but we understand that the two -- or all three portions, rather, may have been separated.

I want to bring in Jeff Wise, a CNN aviation analyst and the author of "Extreme Fear." So we're talking about two boxes that are vital to understanding to what may have brought down this plane. But the tail section, it appears, may have been brought up, but those boxes may somehow be in the muck at the bottom of that sea.

There are some reports that there is some pinging that has been heard. What's your assessment of this kind of information that we're learning thus far, Jeff?

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's very significant, Fredricka. Frankly, this is the first piece of debris we've actually found on the seabed. We heard earlier reports earlier this week that they had found big chunks and those turned out not to pan out.

This is very, very significant in understand thing what happened. Gives us a lot of hope that we have not actually found the black boxes themselves, we know where they are, more or less. This vastly decreases the amount of area that has to be searched. It's very significant.

WHITFIELD: And now we're still talking about the danger for the divers to look in murky waters. What's your feeling as to whether those boxes could be located by way of those divers or would some other kind of equipment have to be used to get through the muck on the bottom of the sea?

WISE: Well, as challenging as you indicated, we have heard reports that some pinging sounds were detected. These are the black box pingers that were designed to help search and rescue teams find the black boxes in such an event as this.

They were fragmentary. And you would think if they were strong, the rescuers would able to search and find them rather easily. In the case of MH-370, they thought they had found them and that turned out to be something else. That could be happening here too.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Wise, thanks so much for your expertise. Appreciate it.

We'll have much more ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all begins right after this.

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