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Paris Terror Attacks. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired November 14, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02] CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How has this -- when this has obviously made it so much easier to commit these crimes.

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. And there's two sort of tracks to this, Christiane. You've all seen the videos of the foreign fighters coming into Raqqa and burning their passports of origin on camera. I asked the defector, I said, is this the norm? He said, no, that's just theater. When you come and join ISIS, you deposit your passport to the ISIS HQ in Raqqa and they keep it. So in other words, you know, it's not quite true that you are repudiating entirely your origins or nation of origin, because you're keeping that identity for them in case they want to send you back as a sleeper.

He said that Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who is officially the spokesman of ISIS but in reality runs all of Syria, that is he's the guy who appoints the emirs and the walis or the governors for all the Walayahs in Syria. Adnani has said, look, we have this foreign expeditionary arm, as the caliphate in Syria and Iraq begins to shrink, or as the borders become more regulated, and as the Mujahedeen can't cross, we want people to, first, stay where they are in the West and become sleeper cells.

Pledge allegiance to the caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, form their own networks and commit attacks where they are. But if that doesn't work, we will send operatives from Syria and from Iraq into the West and they can ringlead and they can coordinate this. So this is a very, very, as I said before, a sophisticated project and it has multiple arms.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And of course, the outcome we now see, as is evidenced behind us in the Bataclan theater, the outcome terrible. At least 80 people killed there. This is one of six separate attacks around this city. 128 people dead.

General Mark Hertling, thank you very much. Michael Weiss, thank you very much.

We're going to continue our coverage right now into the investigation, into the attacks here in Paris. You're looking at live pictures from this city, where we are now expecting a news conference any minute now from the prosecutor leading the investigation. He will have new information about this investigation. Until that point, this is what we know right now.

French police continuing to look for suspects. Authorities have identified one of the attackers as a French national. They saw in his fingerprint. They've been looking at this guy for a few years, apparently.

Belgian police, police in Belgium right now engaged in raids there. They say they have made several arrests connected to the situation here in Paris. These raids in at least two neighborhoods in Brussels. They were triggered after a Belgian rental car was found near the site of one of the attacks. German police say they believe a man arrested last week could have connections to the Paris attacks as well. He apparently had a weapons arsenal including guns, grenades, and TNT.

AMANPOUR: And authorities say the two passports were found near the bodies of the terrorists, one from Syria and another from Egypt. And they add that at least one passport was processed through Greece, but also warns that it could be fake.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks in an online statement. Highly sophisticated and meant for maximum consumption, because it was translated into French, into English, into Russian, as well as Arabic. And so far, at least, as you heard John say, at least 128 dead. We've just had it confirmed in the last half hour that 300 are injured. Of those, 99 critically, and therefore, everyone expects, very sadly, this death toll to rise. At least two Americans among those injured. And other leaders around Europe are warning their own people that there may be other nationals injured also because --

BERMAN: Almost certainly will be.

AMANPOUR: Almost certainly because of the kind of city Paris is. In New York, the governor said that agencies are on heightened alert and will be using new surveillance measures to protect the state, and in the last hour, we also heard from the U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, and here is what he said about this situation, as well as the future for Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I want to make sure that it is absolutely crystal clear that the United States stands with France and the rest of the world, in our resolve to eliminate the scourge of violent extremist groups from the face of the earth. And make no mistake, that resolve has only grown stronger in the wake of this unspeakable brutality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. I want to bring you up to speed on the very latest on the investigation and the situation around Paris. Joining us now, CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson.

Nic, what are you learning at this hour?

All right, Nic -- Nic Robertson, I don't know if you're hearing me right now. If you are, you're outside I believe the soccer stadium, just one of the six sites attacked -- just one of the six sites that were attacked yesterday. What's the very latest you're hearing about the investigation?

[13:05:09] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, one of the -- one of the people that was identified or the person has been identified so far, we understand, he was one of the attackers here at the stadium known to the French police, known for some time. His identity was discovered through a fingerprint, through a fragment. We saw just a few hours ago, in the last few hours, the forensic teams go through this area for one last final sweep. Then a cleanup team came in for that -- the cleanup sweep.

But the question that's being asked about this stadium, we still don't have an answer to it at this time. But the question being asked at this time now, 80,000 people crammed into the stadium last night for this friendly soccer match between Germany and France. ISIS say they targeted it, because it was two Christian teams playing. The president of France was here. His additional security was here.

Was it because his additional security was here that the suicide bombers, the three suicide bombers here, weren't able to get into that densely packed crowd? That is being speculated in the French media. We don't have an answer to it here, but we do know the first of the attacks last night began here. The last of the bombings took place here, over a span of about 40 minutes. Three separate suicide bombings, time to try to catch as many people in their blasts as they could, as they came out of the stadium. Four people were killed here, John.

AMANPOUR: And yet, the fewest number, John, were killed at the stadium, because even though there were three explosions that took place there, it was here at the Bataclan Concert Hall that the majority of the people were killed --

BERMAN: Slaughtered.

AMANPOUR: Slaughtered in cold blood. And at the restaurants, there were dozens of people killed in drive-by shootings, AK-47 machine gun fire through the windows of restaurants, that mowed down so many people even though they were just driving by. They weren't just standing there doing that, they were driving by and they took so many people out there.

I think what's absolutely incredible to this is what we're hearing about this fingerprint. This man at the Stade de France was known to the authorities, just as the senator told us, the French senator, told us in the last half hour, that many of those who committed the crimes and the atrocities against "Charlie Hebdo," against the kosher market in January, were also known to police.

BERMAN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: So it always begs the question, how are they -- there are pipes, bagpipes being played.

BERMAN: "Amazing Grace."

AMANPOUR: "Amazing Grace" just near us. BERMAN: Beautiful to hear. We've also heard a lot of shouting here

because there is a lot of anger on the streets of Paris tonight. I think people with pent-up emotions. They've been cooped up all day, not able to go out on the streets here.

Nic Robertson, if you're still with us right now, there is more news developing this afternoon into this evening, Paris time. Raids in Belgium against sites there believed to be connected with what happened here. Belgium, obviously, in the spotlight since January. There were raids right after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks there looking for weapons, looking to possible connections here.

What can you tell us about the role of the border between Belgium and France, not to mention all the borders and the free flow of weapons in this continent?

ROBERTSON: Well, it's an open border. You can drive across it. You don't get stopped. This is part of the Schengen area in Europe. What defines part of the European Union, the free movement of people after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks earlier this year, within a week or so, the Belgium police moved in to arrest a group of gunman who then got involved in a ferocious shoot-out in the Vervier area of Belgium.

Those gunmen, themselves, actually came from Brussels, from the Molenbeek neighborhood, and it is Molenbeek tonight, that Belgian authorities have gone in and targeted three houses. One of those people there that they believed to have been targeted is believed to be connected with the attacks here overnight in Paris. There's talk about a vehicle, its registration plate being recognized. That's not information that we can -- it's fully reliable and fully firmed up.

This is just the early stages of information we're getting. But we are understanding that those arrests that are underway, the operations underway in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, this is a neighborhood that has a large immigrant population in it, that those raids, at least one of them, connected with the attacks here in Paris. Quite how? Quite why? We don't know. But we have seen the use of automatic weapons on the streets of Brussels, going back to May 2014. A gunman, lone gunman, with an AK-47 goes into the Jewish museum inside the center of Brussels, guns down four innocent people there. He's later --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:10:05] BERMAN: All right, Nic. Nic, Nic, we're going to jump in right now because the Paris prosecutor with a news conference, a statement about the state of the investigation. Let's listen.

AMANPOUR: Well, we really wanted to bring you this in the right language. We were hoping to get English translation so those who don't speak French can understand, but this is the prosecutor who is about to reveal details of the current investigation.

What we've heard so far is that he has, obviously, expressed solidarity with all the victims and their families. He has said that the fight against terrorism is something that concerns us all. And crucially, he has updated the numbers in question. 129, he said, have been killed. He said that's -- at least, right now, that is the confirmed number. 352 injured, including 99 critically and confirming that seven terrorists have been killed.

BERMAN: 352 injured is a high number. A higher number --

AMANPOUR: Especially with 99 critical.

BERMAN: It is. A higher number than we'd even been told. So that death toll right now of 129, it could almost certainly go up.

Again, Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, is giving a news conference right now. It is in French. We are awaiting translation. We do believe he has some new information on the state of the investigation. We're going to stay with this as long as we can until we get that translation.

Just to give you a sense of what we know at this point.

Christiane Amanpour, this is John Berman, we're outside the Bataclan theater right now, the concert hall right behind us right now, which was the site of the worst carnage here, at least 80 people killed there. There are police vans parked out in front.

The activity here has died down somewhat over the course of the day, but the investigation certainly continues in all parts of this city.

A state of emergency, Christiane, in place, which means among other things until Thursday, at least, no public event.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

BERMAN: No flea markets. No anything.

AMANPOUR: Yes, indeed. And we spoke to the deputy mayor of Paris, and the mayor herself had convened all her deputies, all the leaders of the various districts which are called arrondissements here, and given them basically the marching orders that no public displays of any kind of solidarity or otherwise. As you said, the flea markets, all public buildings, museums and everything else closed. And people stay at home. That's the instruction.

[13:15:00] BERMAN: And this is so different than in January after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks because you'll remember, that attack happened and the Sunday immediately after, there was this huge march here in Paris, where everyone took to the streets to come together, to show solidarity. That's not happening here right now. Not yet because there is a state of emergency.

AMANPOUR: He's --

BERMAN: We're getting -- are we getting translation?

AMANPOUR: He's talking about -- he's talking about what happened at the Cambodia restaurant, that somebody came up in a black car and opened fire against that restaurant. And we know that many people were killed in that restaurant.

As we await the English translation, we know also that the French president addressed the people of France for the second time. He did it immediately after -- he did it immediately after the attacks and then again this morning. And he spoke very strongly, in no uncertain terms, about a war being declared on France. A war, he said, by terrorists, by jihadists, a war that was determined to bring France to its knees, and France equally was determined not to surrender, not to allow that to happen, and to fight back, as he said, ruthlessly, and mercilessly.

He also said that while this was most certainly planned outside, they had accomplices inside, and that's how it was carried out. And then his political opponent, the former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said that we are in a stage of war and that we must never surrender. Very tough talk from the more conservative rightest leader. We are in a state of war. No surrender. Every aspect of our policy now, domestic and internationally must take that into account.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: And here in France, but also inside Syria and Iraq as well. And that key point for President Francois Hollande, an attack planned outside this country, from presumably Syria and Iraq, carried out here inside France.

I want to bring in Nic Robertson, who's outside the soccer stadium, which is one of the six sites attacked yesterday. A site where there were explosions, several explosions, although the site with the fewest number of casualties.

Nic, we've been listening or trying to listen to the Paris prosecutor, outline the state of the investigation right now. We're waiting on an English translation. But the one fact that we learned that we did not know hard before, 350 people injured right now.

AMANPOUR: Fifty-two.

ROBERTSON: A staggering number. And of course, it could have been far worse here at stadium had the three suicide bombers or the three attackers here been able to get into that crowd, get inside the crowd of 80,000 people that were gathered here.

Literally, in the last couple of minutes, as the prosecutor has been giving his latest information, the barriers have been pulled back here by the armed police officers who have been here on duty all day. Their weapons pulled at the ready, in their hands, standing here. They have pulled that barrier back. The road is now open, the stadium, I'm looking at it, now people are going in to take a look, to see the precise location where the first explosion took place, at about 9:20 p.m. last night.

The first explosion happened then that precipitated or appeared to precipitate from that the attacks on the restaurants and other locations inside the central Paris. FRANCOIS MOLINS, PARIS PROSECUTOR (Through Translator): -- terrorist

was killed. And the other two blew themselves up with their suicide belts. Now there are 98 deaths and large number of injured. And I've given you a version of going by chronological order of these events took place. I am not speaking about the different groups, which I'll come back to. So because of the number of victims and the locations and the medical and legal actions that follow in the coming days. At 21:53, 400 meters from the Stade de France, with La Cokerie, a third explosion occurred and we found the body of a suicide bomber.

So this is how these terrorist acts took place yesterday evening in Paris in Saint-Denis, and this is the result of 34 hours of investigations, and we can see that very likely that there were three teams of terrorists who caused this barbarous attack. And so we need to determine the authors, their accomplices, the orderers, the mandators and the financing.

[13:20:01] I can indicate now the first results of the investigation because of a large number of research operations which took place and I appreciate the international cooperation which we have had with foreign friends who are also combating terrorism. Regarding these investigations and the identification of the terrorists, I can tell you the following. At this stage, one terrorist in the Bataclan was identified after his fingerprints were taken.

An individual born in 1985 in Courcouronnes in France is known for common criminal actions. There were eight sentences before 2010. An individual who was never put in prison, and who in 2010 was identified as radicalized, but he was never involved with any kind of terrorism. Near the body of the suicide bomber, who blew himself up near the stadium, a Syrian passport was found, in the name of an individual born in Syria, in 1988. And he is not known to the French authorities.

Regarding the logistics and the modus operandi, subject to further investigations, it seems that they all used Kalashnikovs, different types of -- but they were all Kalashnikovs and an explosive device, which was aimed at causing maximum damage on each body. There was an explosive belts, with TAPT explosives, very volatile, nitrogen peroxide with the same batteries and detonator.

As for the cars used, the video and witness statements show that a black Seat and a Polo, also black, with a Belgian plate. We know that they were hired by a French individual, resident in Belgium. This individual this morning was checked at the Belgium Frontier in another car. It wasn't either -- it was a third car, in which there were two other people. They, too, residents in Brussels.

I would stress here the effectiveness of the cooperation we've had from Belgium. We involved the anti-terrorist unit in Belgium and there was a request to check the Polo car, which was found before the Bataclan, hired by this individual, and we found traces of him in the car. And the Belgium authorities opened an investigation, involving the anti-terrorist unit and the other additional authorities in Belgium and a press release was issued a short time ago. The Belgian authorities told us that the stopping of the three

individuals this morning, which I am not going to talk about anymore now, in order to -- not to give way what's taking place in Belgium. These individuals lived in Belgium. They are individuals who are not known to the French authorities. As for the mandating and the financing of these acts, you know that these attempts or these actions were claimed by in various videos and a written document on the parts of Daesh. And they are all being investigated by the French authorities.

I would conclude by expressing once again all my sympathy to the victims and their loved one and I make use of your presence here for the media coverage to recall that specific unit has been set up to help all the friends and relations of those who want information.

[13:25:17] A telephone number has been made available to everyone to get information about victims or for people who are unknown or whose whereabouts are unknown. It is 0800-406005. Thank you very much.

AMANPOUR: All right. Well, that was a rather difficult press conference and statement to get through. It was a little bit difficult to hear and we had the translation coming quite late. But let us try to recap what we actually did hear and give you at least some of the news that the French prosecutor said.

First and foremost, he talked about the terrorist, at least one of them who was responsible for the attack at the Bataclan. He said that this was the one who was in fact the French national. That he was born in 1985, which makes him 30 years old now, in a place which is actually a suburb, very close to the outskirts of Paris, that he was known as a common criminal. That in 2010, according to the prosecutor, he had been noticed by the police because he'd become radicalized, but he had never spent any time in prison because they had no terrorist fears or indications about him.

BERMAN: No specific.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

BERMAN: No terrorism link. We did learn about another one of the people killed in these attacks, an individual killed by the stadium. That is the man they found the Syrian passport by. A Syrian passport. This man born in 1988. Now they do not know for sure whether or not this person was in fact from Syria or not but again he had a Syrian passport born in 1988.

We learned about the weapons as well, Kalashnikovs. All of them, the Paris prosecutor said, all of the terrorists armed with one model or another of Kalashnikovs. They also had explosive vests with them as well.

AMANPOUR: And now, in regards with the cars. We believe we heard the prosecutor say that there was a black Fiat involved, and also a Polo, which is a Volkswagen car. Apparently rented, hired by a French resident in Belgium. And this morning, that car, along with this French resident, plus two other people, were found in a third car, a separate car, not suspected in these attacks and they were found at the border.

BERMAN: Which, of course --

AMANPOUR: And that is why --

BERMAN: This is so instructive because over the last several hours, we've seen raids in Belgium, in Brussels right now. The Belgian police engaged in raids that may very well still be going on. At least two separate raids going after suspects in that country. This French prosecutor went to great ends to thank the Belgian authorities for their cooperation in this ongoing investigation.

Our senior international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has got much more information about this investigation. These new details, Nic, that we're just learning now.

ROBERTSON: Well, one of the new details, the prosecutor talked about the suicide vests that the man had. He described the explosives as TATP. TATP is a homemade explosive. It's not a commercially purchased explosive. It's an explosive if we think back 10 years ago now to the underground bombers in London. They used this type of explosive. So what do we know about that? It is something that can be constructed and made with chemicals that can be purchased in a country.

These chemicals are available in commercial products. These products, if you want to buy them in substantial quantities to make explosives, are controlled. In some countries, police are notified when large quantities of the originating products to make these explosives are notified. However, what we witnessed back 10 years ago, in London back then, that there were bomb-making factories. That there was a place where the bomb-makers made the explosives, made them in one case, in a bathtub. In another case, there was a huge amount of debris left lying outside the apartment where they were made.

It involved cooking up chemicals to reduce them, to make these explosives, without going into further details. So there should be a trail here, somewhere, that the French would very likely be looking for right now to find out where the TATP itself was made, who put it together, is the bomb-maker still out there? This will be a vital source of information on the chain of getting more knowledge about how many people were involved and where they may be -- Christiane and John.

[13:30:05] BERMAN: One more piece of information we did get from the Paris prosecutor. He said, three separate teams.

AMANPOUR: That's right.

BERMAN: Three separate teams involved in these attacks. Unclear whether or not they got all of their explosives from the same, you know, bomb maker, right now, who may have been operating in a lab that could have existed, as Nic is suggesting right there.

Nic, how do you trace back the substances to make these TATP devices? ROBERTSON: Well, certainly the police will know what basic

ingredients and products go into making them. And they'll undoubtedly have their own forensic experts that will be able to tell them perhaps identify which commercial products by their signatures that were purchased here. But in the past, places like hair salons have been a source of some of the chemicals. Other -- other sort of hardware stores people have gone to, to buy this. So the police will be able to analyze chemically the residue of the explosives.

They know it's TATP but they, through more precise analysis, may be able to know better some of the ingredients. And then what they will do will be to backtrack from there. If there were parts of the explosives that didn't explode, or perhaps one -- one bomb that didn't go off fully or at all, that will be incredibly valuable to them. And this is how the police did it in Britain 10 years ago.

They were able to go back and find where the men purchased the basic chemicals, how they did it, indeed the tubs that they put their explosives in. Of course, there will be a question about detonators as well. That's just another detail that will be added in for the police that will help them in their investigation. But TATP, something that can be cooked up from commercially available components, readily available.

AMANPOUR: Nic, thank you. And the prosecutor, obviously, not being able to give out all the information he knows and all the information they are still yet to gather because this clearly does continue. But we're going now to Washington, D.C. and our justice department correspondent, Pamela Brown, who's learning more about some of the victims -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, some sad news to pass along here, Christiane and John. We are learning that one of the fatalities was an American, an American woman, who was in Paris, officials have been speaking to say it's believed that she was killed at one of the restaurant attacks.

We're learning more details at this hour and waiting of course for the next of kin to be notified, but we are learning that one of the fatalities is an American woman. This is in addition to the two injuries, a man and a woman who are believed to have nonlife- threatening injuries. And I should caution that the toll could go up at this hour. Officials are still going through the bodies, trying to assess who the victims are and who else could be an American victim.

Again, two Americans injured, one American who has died and we are still trying to get some more information at this hour -- Christiane and John.

AMANPOUR: Pamela, we heard earlier that there were some Americans involved, but this is the first confirmation of the death.

BERMAN: Six Americans.

AMANPOUR: Exactly. And we know from other government leaders to expect other nationals to be found amongst the dead and wounded of this terrible attack. The prosecutor started by thanking all his international compatriots, if you like, helpers in intelligence and investigation all over the world.

What do you know about how, for instance, the FBI and other American officials are currently helping the French investigation?

BROWN: America has liaisons in Paris. There is an FBI legal attache. There are liaisons from other U.S. agencies that have been trying to coordinate with French officials. Initially, it was so chaotic, they were in crisis mode that the information was slow to trickle in. But now as the smoke clears, if you will, they are getting more information and they are coordinating with French officials.

The FBI, I know, is prepared to offer assistance. We don't know if that has been formally accepted yet, but the FBI is ready to give any assistance with bomb techs, with computer technicians. We know in the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks that happened there in January, that the FBI assisted with that and some of the electronics were actually looked at and analyzed at Quantico in Virginia.

So there is good coordination. The French, of course, are key partners for U.S. agencies. And so there is a lot of coordination at this hour. And you can bet that the Americans will continue to offer assistance and help in any way that they can.

BERMAN: All right. Pamela Brown in Washington, thanks so much.

Let's just recap what we just learned. We just did get a lot of new information right now. Paris prosecutor says 129 people dead, 352 wounded, 99 of them in critical condition.

[13:35:02] Seven terrorists killed at this point. One, behind us here, confirmed to be a French citizen with French fingerprints, 30 years old. Someone who had been radicalized in 2010, but not arrested as a terrorist. Someone with a Syrian passport, not far from here at the Paris stadium as well. Three teams. Three teams.

AMANPOUR: And this is also going to be very interesting as, for instance, the senator and others, the law enforcement try to figure out who are there to be radicalized because this guy was called a common criminal. So many on the margins, you can imagine ISIS looks around, they have their operatives, they have the French who are going over there to fight to them, and they go to the margins and try to bring those people in and give them a sense of belonging, a sense of we belong to this, of course, death cult, but for them, this club.

BERMAN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And those are the people who they're going to be looking at.

BERMAN: A hell of a problem, was how that French senator described it to us.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

BERMAN: Also, Nic Robertson reports TATP, the explosive used here in all of those belts and at least seven of them were wearing.

AMANPOUR: That's right. And also, very importantly, they talked about the vehicles. There were at least two vehicles that they know about now that were used and one of them was a black Fiat, another was a Polo, which is a Volkswagen, and it was rented by a French person, resident in Belgium. And in a third car, early this morning, they apprehended that person with two others in a different car near the border. And that has led to these raids in Brussels.

BERMAN: Which means there are three people right now, you can imagine, they're leaning on right now quite heavily for more information.

We'll pick that up, we'll talk about the investigation, all we're learning, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Happening right now, President Obama meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the terror attacks right here in Paris.

[13:40:06] 129 people killed, 352 injured. We just learned that moments ago from the Paris prosecutor. Very shortly, President Obama departs Washington and will travel to Turkey, where he will attend a G-20 summit.

Our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, he is there in Turkey. He joins us now live.

Jim, I manage the tenor of this meeting, not to mention the subject matter to discuss will be drastically different now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. This G-20 summit is shaping up to be something of a war summit because, obviously, what has happened in Paris has really added a sense of urgency to this summit that few would have expected. And President Obama, as you said, is expected to leave the White House any moment now, en route to Turkey.

He did have that National Security Council meeting that involved not only his top National Security officials inside the White House, but cabinet secretaries, lie Secretary of State John McCain who's overseas, but joined that meeting via a secure video conference. And so we'll have a readout of that shortly, I believe.

In the meantime, though, getting back to the summit, the president, he has a whole slew of meetings, keep in mind, he's going to be meeting with Turkish President Erdogan here to talk about the stepped up effort here in Turkey to take on ISIS in Iraq and in Syria. But at the same time, you know, one leader that a lot of people are going to be watching during this G-20 summit, John, is Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who has inserted himself into what is happening in Syria right now.

President Obama and President Putin are not expected to have a formal bilateral meeting at this summit, but they are expected to meet on the sidelines. And one of the questions that comes up from time to time inside the White House is, will the United States and Russia join forces to take on ISIS and perhaps that idea gets more traction now because of what happened in Paris.

We should point out, there's a lot of mistrust inside this White House, for Vladimir Putin, for the Russian government. But perhaps that might come up. You know, keep in mind, at the very end of the summit, the president is expected to sit down with the leaders of Germany, the UK, France, the French president is no longer coming, and Italy, and they were going to talk about the crisis in Ukraine and further isolating Russia.

Well, does all of that change now because, perhaps, there needs to be a larger conversation about the United States and Russia working more closely together to try to root out ISIS so we don't have more circumstances like what happened in Paris.

But, John, keep in mind, you know, the president is going to be coming down here to Turkey with a lot of questions. One of those questions will be what the president said just a few days ago to ABC, when he said that ISIS had been contained. Now the White House has said he was talking about ISIS in Iraq and in Syria, but the question will be asked, well, what happened in Paris? How does that affect, you know, your analysis in terms of how ISIS has been contained. The president will obviously have to face that question.

And I think another big question, John, that will have to be asked is when President Obama will go to Paris to offer his condolences in person. At this point, the president plans to keep his schedule to go here to the G-20 summit and then make a couple more stops in Asia in the coming days, but he is expected to go to Paris later on this month for a climate summit and the White House says that is still happening -- John.

AMANPOUR: Well, if that is still happening is quite something, because this is a city that is in shock, that their security services are stretched, and that it already has been deploying a huge amount of security, just precisely for that summit. So the fact that it's still going on is quite amazing, and of course, that will be yet another opportunity for all these world leaders to talk about something, that I'm not sure whether they can any longer push to the side of their agenda.

They have tried and tried and tried not to get involved in stopping this Syria war. In other words, militarily stopping the Syria war. And it's going to be very interesting to see whether minds are really concentrated in Turkey this weekend.

BERMAN: Jim Acosta in Turkey, thanks so much. Jim, side meetings at the G-20 meeting, I don't think there are any side meetings anymore when it comes to ISIS. As we said, it has to be front and center for the entire world community.

We'll have the very latest on the investigation, new details coming in just now. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:26] BERMAN: All right, John Berman along with Christiane Amanpour here in Paris, outside the Bataclan theater where we believe about 80 people were killed last night in this wave of terror attacks across this city that left at least 129 people dead.

And we have breaking news on that front. At least one American was killed in the attacks and we now have the identity. Joining us now in Washington, our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown.

Pam, what have you learned?

BROWN: Well, we are learning from the California State Long Beach University that one of the victims killed in the Paris attacks is 23- year-old Nohemi Gonzalez. This is according to a spokesperson for the university. This spokesperson telling CNN that she was studying abroad for a semester. She was one of nearly 80 foreign exchange students and she was studying design in Paris.

We know that there are so many American students who go overseas, go to Paris, and study. She was one of them. And we are now learning the sad news that she was killed in one of the attacks yesterday. Officials telling me, it's believed, at this stage, that she was killed at one of the restaurants. And the statement that the university just sent out, it says, "I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Long Beach State University student Nohemi Gonzalez. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during sad time."

That is with the university's president. It also says that there will be a vigil held at the university at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow in her honor. In addition, we have learned that there were two Americans injured. A man and a woman. We are still trying to find out more details on that. But at this hour, we are learning the identity of an American female killed.

And Christiane and John, I can tell you at this hour, officials are still looking at the bodies and still trying to identify people, so this toll could, sadly, rise.

AMANPOUR: It could, indeed. And it is so sad, and we just have to really pause and talk about the humanity and the inhumanity of what's just happened. It is so sad. It is so depressing. And the people of this city. Not to mention this country re-traumatized. And you've heard -- we've heard so many people talking about, you know, these were just young people, these were ordinary people.

BERMAN: Exactly.

AMANPOUR: Out for a Friday night. Drive-by shootings at restaurants, concerts back here, which were turned into slaughter houses. Stadium -- football stadium. A nice friendly soccer game that the president of the country was at. Turned almost into a carnal house last night. And it's just really depressing. So soon after "Charlie Hebdo." [13:50:04] BERMAN: And I think the profile of the people who are the

victims here, those killed and injured, will be very similar to this 20-plus-year-old exchange student from the United States. Remember, these are going to be young people who were at this concert.

AMANPOUR: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: It'll be young people who were out eating dinner late at night. All those people at the soccer stadium, as well. This terror attack really hit at the vibrancy of the city.

AMANPOUR: It really does. And, again, some have suggested that this, too, is yet another shade of what ISIS is doing. This is overt attack on mass civilians causing these mass casualty events and dotted around in a period of 40 minutes, six or seven different attacks. Three at the stadium. Restaurant shootings in between. Then the massive slaughter at the club and the concert location behind us.

And coordinated and wild and the new kind of sort of Kalashnikov suicide belt wearing terrorists who we have been warned by intelligence for months now. More than months, almost a couple of years. That this is the blowback from the unrestrained war in Syria and the additional terrible ingredient that is ISIS.

BERMAN: Want to bring in Paul Cruickshank right now. CNN terrorism analyst, editor-in-chief of CTC Sentinel.

Paul, you were listening to the news conference from the French prosecutor. It just wrapped up a moment ago. We got some new details, 129 people killed, 352 injured. But there was also new information about the investigation itself. What were your takeaways?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, John, I think one of the most important new details was the fact that TATP was used a high explosive in these suicide vests, TATP is something that you can make in the West from things that you can obtain. But it's very, very tricky to make in almost all of the cases we've seen, the people who have managed to make it actually got training overseas. So I think this very much is consistent with this being ISIS with there being training somewhere like Syria for this attack.

But the other significant thing is that back in January with that terrorist plot that was thwarted in Belgium, they had, in that case, all the substances necessary to make TATP. They were planning to make exactly the same kind of explosives. And we've now seen raids in that same neighborhood in Belgium, Molenbeek in Brussels where those plotters were residing back in January.

I think this brings up the possibility that the Paris attacks were, perhaps, almost a part two of that initial terror plot that was thwarted in Belgium in January. They'll be investigating all of that. But given the fact that a French -- national who is residing in Belgium, in Molenbeek, the very same neighborhood as those plotters back in January is now being arrested. I think, you know, that's a very significant new detail, guys. AMANPOUR: And, you know, we still trying to figure out and we don't

know yet, you know, how many if any more foreigners were involved. But clearly what you're talking about, the TATP, the ability to manufacture this in a homemade fashion goes to the heart of what President Hollande said this morning that this act of war was planned abroad but had accomplices and obviously carried out here.

Isn't that the ultimate nightmare then that these people, some of whom went over there could easily come back using their own passports? And interestingly hearing Michael Weiss, you know, ISIS people make such a great big show of burning their passports, Michael Weiss was telling us, but the nightmare has been that actually they don't burn their passports, they keep them, and they're able to use them.

BERMAN: Valuable.

AMANPOUR: And slip back into these countries. That is the change agent. That is what makes ISIS different from al Qaeda, Paul. Right?

CRUICKSHANK: Christiane, you're absolutely right. And when you look at the numbers, Europe wide, they're really striving right now. 6,000 European extremists believe to have traveled to Syria and Iraq and joined up with jihadi groups, many of them joining up with ISIS. 1500 believed to have returned to Europe. I mean, that's just a staggering figure. And when you look at France, the figure is more than 1,000 believed to have travelled or to be traveling towards Syria and Iraq, more than 250 believed to have returned.

And when you look at Belgium, more than 300 have traveled, more than 100 back, and these numbers are just the ones they know about. And so the extent of the threat is really kind of mind boggling, and they just don't have the resources to monitor all these people all the time. They can only monitor a fraction of them.

Just to monitor just a few of the suspected terrorists, I'm told by European security officials requires more than 100 police. So when you think of those numbers, Europeans do not have the resources to monitor all of this.

[13:55:08] BERMAN: All right. Paul Cruickshank for us, thanks so much for joining us.

You know, over the last several hours, a lot of new information coming out. We have a new count of the number dead, 128, new count of the injured --

AMANPOUR: 129.

BERMAN: 129. New count of the number, 352. Seven terrorists killed. New word of this explosive TATP being used. And also new word, Christiane, of three suspects being apprehended at the Belgium border in cars.

AMANPOUR: That's right. That's right.

BERMAN: That were connected -- well, in cars connected to this attack.

AMANPOUR: For John Berman, Christiane Amanpour, that ends our coverage of these terrorist attacks. Erin Burnett takes over at the top of the hour. Thank you for joining us from Paris.

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