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4 Suspects Killed in Attack on Indonesian Capitol; Suspects Killed in Attack in Jakarta, Indonesia; Video Shows U.S. Sailor Apologizing to Iran. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 14, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[02:00:28] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everyone. We have an update on our breaking news out of Jakarta, Indonesia. CNN Indonesia is reporting police have shot and killed four suspected militants who carried out a series of gun and bomb attacks in the capital Jakarta. And police say they are now working to secure that area.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. These attacks happened in the last few hours. Reuters reports that a gun battle took place between police and the militants in the same building where a Starbucks cafe was attacked earlier. We also know a police station was an apparent target earlier in the day. And that the gunmen used grenades in that attack.

CHURCH: Now, there's been no claim of responsibility so far, but Indonesia has been on high alert in recent weeks. And police and the military have been going after the East Indonesian Mujahideen, which has pledged support for ISIS.

I want to check whether we have our CNN Kathy Quiano.

We are going to go to Kathy Quiano shortly, who is in Jakarta. Not so long ago, she was outside the skyline building where there was a lot of drama, but now we do have her.

Kathy, talk to us, as we've been reporting, four suspects have been shot by police. Does that mean this has brought these circumstances to an end? Or is there a possibility that there are more suspects out there? And talk to us, too, about how the police, how the military too got to this point where the four suspects were killed.

KATHY QUIANO, CNN PRODUCER, INDONESIA (voice-over): We're trying to independently confirm that report that four suspects have been killed. We know early on the police said three civilians, one policeman was killed in the attack. So we're trying to confirm that.

What I did see earlier when I was near the skyline building, which is 500 or 600 meters behind me here, was heavily armed with Special Forces going into the skyline building where they thought this armed suspect had fled into, after the attack and gunfight that ensued in the Starbucks cafe. As I walked here, the Starbucks with all the windows broken out in the aftermath of what seemed to be a gun battle between the police and the attackers. Earlier, I saw a very tense situation around the building. It was heavily guarded, protected from all sides. It's an intersection which sits in front of the police station. And it's surrounded by office buildings, commercial establishments and the suspects could have fled through that building out the side streets of the skyline building.

But it seems that the action had died down. We saw the police with the cordon taking off and journalists able to rush in and take a closer look at the building and the Starbucks cafe -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: So at this point, it appears from what you're saying, that this has come to an end, this incident, that these four suspects apparently, we're hearing from CNN Indonesia certainly confirmation of that, that the four suspects were killed in that Jakarta attack. So now we assume that security -- that police are trying to secure that area. What are you seeing happen right now?

QUIANO: Well, one of the police told me that there's still police forces inside the building. I'm not quite sure what's happened inside. Perhaps they're taking a closer look at the building, making sure that it's safe. That building is still off limits to bystanders. It seems like, in looking down the street here, that it has, the operation has winded down, but we don't know for sure what the next step they're taking in terms of securing the area and making sure that there are no other threats here or in other parts of the city. We know there was a lot of speculation as well, speculation. People calling each other, about reports of explosions in other parts of the city. Those were not confirmed.

CHURCH: And, Kathy, interestingly, there has been no claim of responsibility at this point, but we know that Indonesia's president has put this down to terrorism. Clearly that is what we're dealing with here. But would they go so far as saying this is perhaps ISIS- related in some way?

[02:05:15] QUIANO: That certainly is on the top of the minds of authorities here. The police spokesman said as much earlier when he was speaking to reporters just outside the site where the attacks happened. He did say that terrorism was suspected and there were -- they are looking to involvement of groups who have pledged allegiance to ISIS. We know they were going after certain Indonesian Mujahideen group headed by the most wanted terrorist in Indonesia. Police are going after him, and we know that he has pledged allegiance to ISIS. (INAUDIBLE). There was heightened security in places of worship and commercial establishments across the country, and we know, Indonesia has been the target of terror attacks in the past, but it's been a while since the last attack happened in Jakarta -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: And, Kathy, as you mentioned there, Indonesia has been on high alert in recent weeks. Have you seen a noticeable difference in security in the city? And quickly, how quickly do you think police actually got on to this? Did they move fast when this initially happened? QUIANO: Well, from what we heard, I think the response was very

quick, because the police outpost was attacked in this particular exPLOsion this morning. It was very swift. It's quite a central area. So the response was very quick. I got there, you know, a few minutes after the exPLOsion happened, and it was cordoned off. And we saw this heavily armed Special Forces go into the building. The police here, they have been recommended -- they've been recognized for the work they've done in terms of breaking down the terror network in Indonesia. What we're seeing is the smaller splinter groups who are also radical and taking different methods in terms of launching attacks here. They've become smaller. And they've also attacked police and government sources as well today -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: If you could just clarify something for us, because we know in the early stages that there were four people killed, one of them a police officer. Now we're learning four suspects were killed. Can you talk to us and just clarify there who the other three, the people killed, were they civilians, or were they possibly three of the suspects? And we're doing some double counts here?

QUIANO (on camera): Well, from the statements of the police spokesman earlier, he confirmed that the three were civilians and there was one policeman. So we know that there were three civilians. What he couldn't confirm was if they were the attackers or innocent bystanders or just happened to be passing by. But this is a main thorough fare, and it was near a pedestrian lane, but people don't normally walk along that police post because there's a bus lane and you know people are not supposed to be walking there. So it's assumed then that maybe the three civilians were the attackers and it seems now if they're saying four people were killed, that three of them were in fact the attackers.

CHURCH: Three of them perhaps the attackers and then you mentioned the skyline building. When that man was pursued, the suspect who was armed, pursued into that building, but you said he got away. Can we assume from this and we don't want to speculate, of course, that then they tracked him down after he left that building, the skyline? Did we see anything happen after that? You saw them go in. Did you see them all come out?

QUIANO: I saw them go in. As I said, it was quite tense for a while. There were several groups of armed men going inside. But quite suddenly, it seemed to have died down. You know, the tension and the security was loosened up around the building. They took off the police line and journalists were able to go in there. So clearly there was a development that happened at that point -- Rosemary?

[02:10:10] CHURCH: And, Kathy, you're there on the street. Describe to us where you are exactly and what people are saying, how people in Jakarta are responding to this. At least now it seems everything has died down.

It looks like we've lost Kathy. We'll try to re-establish contact with her. Of course, she was on the line and then we had her live. There are difficulties with live television always.

But Kathy Quiano joining us there live from Jakarta.

And just bringing us up to date, she was talking about the numbers there. Because we have been reporting to you and it's been confirmed through CNN Indonesia that those four suspects have been killed by police. Now we understand, we had been reporting to you that four people had been killed earlier, one of them a policeman and the other three were civilians, but now we understand, through Kathy Quiano's reporting there, that those three were that killed were more than likely the suspects. And then the fourth one killed a little later.

We'll continue to bring you this breaking news from Jakarta in the aftermath of the six blasts and then the gunfire on the streets. It looks like it has been resolved at this point and the police are trying to secure the area.

We'll have more details on this when we come back. Do stay with us.

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[02:15:14] CHURCH: Want to update you now on our breaking news in Jakarta, Indonesia. Police say they have killed four people who launched a series of gun and bomb attacks. No one has claimed responsibility at this point. But the country has been on high alert over threats from a terror group linked to ISIS.

BARNETT: Police have deployed throughout the downtown area, raiding at least one building as they search for any more suspects. The country's president called the attacks an act of terror.

CNN producer, Kathy Quiano, joins us now from Jakarta with more on this.

Kathy, you've been following every twist and turn over these past few hours. You're very close to where this all unfolded a short time ago. Just update us on the current security situation there, and if the primary concern is over, or if there could be suspects still on the loose.

QUIANO: Errol, I think what we're getting now from the police press conference that happened earlier, the police did confirm that four suspects, the bodies of the four suspects had been picked up by ambulances from the site and were brought to a police hospital. That we can confirm already. As we see security has been loosened around the building, comparing to what it was earlier. It was very tense when heavily armed police forces entered the building in pursuit of this armed suspect. Now that's totally changed. Security now is quite loose, with journalists and bystanders able to go near the buildings. Again, we can confirm that the bodies of the four suspects have been taken out of the site to a police hospital -- Errol?

BARNETT: Kathy, let's just rewind a bit and detail how all of this unfolded. You are in central Jakarta, a very busy intersection, next to this Serena Mall (ph). Explain why this would be a prime target for any terror group.

QUIANO: Errol, this is a very busy intersection. You have commercial establishments. You have Starbucks, you have McDonald's across the street. You have offices across it that house U.N. And this street is busy any time of the day, particularly during the lunch hours where people are walking past. Traffic is also quite heavy in this area. So this would be a prime target to terrorists. It's not a surprise that they picked this one. Also, there was a police outpost in the middle of the street, on an island which separates two huge lanes on this main thorough fare. And we know for a fact that police -- sorry -- terror cells recently have targeted mostly the police and government authorities. Shifting from western targets, from soft targets that would hit innocent civilians. So this is probably not a surprise that they, you know, chose to attack a police station first -- Errol?

BARNETT: Let's talk a bit more about the prime suspects, who is potentially behind this. The president already saying that this was, in fact, an act of terror with so many attacks globally being carried out by ISIS or ISIS sympathizers. They are certainly a prime suspect. But talk to us about the country's most wanted terror leader, Santoso, the head of the Indonesian Mujahideen, because he has been a prime target of officials of late.

QUIANO: That's right. Santoso is according to a lot of terror analysts, not a very significant figure in terms of the old terror networks that existed and operated here in Indonesia. But he had links to them. And he claimed to be the leader of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network and set up base and started recruiting. He's known to have built and operated militant training camp there. There have been reports of Chinese Uighurs, foreign fighters who are trying to get to him. But again, it's a very small group.

What has concerned the government authorities here is that he had pledged allegiance and support to ISIS, and that, of course, raised the red flags. And that was also the rein why there was a joint police military operation against this group from December through January. They were able to arrest several of his supporters but have not gotten to him.

It's still believed here that support for ISIS is not very, very large, particularly with the general population. There are a number of Indonesians in the hundreds, who are confirmed to have traveled to Syria, some of them to fight with ISIS, but it's not confirmed if all of them did, in fact, want that. But there's a radical fringe here in this country that's attracted to what ISIS is promising to many Muslims around the world. They want to join the jihad. They want to be part of the caliphate, and to live there mostly.

Now, the concern, they said, was when some of the Indonesians would come back to the country, probably more trained, more capable, more determined to launch attacks, that was certainly a concern that the government took very seriously -- Errol?

[02:20:59] BARNETT: And on that point, Kathy, the government estimates that roughly 700 nationals there are fighting -- are foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria. As you say, not necessarily fighting alongside is, but they are there. Considering, though, the country has a population of 200 million, I mean, it really is a small number by comparison. Also considering it's a majority Muslim country, the most-populist Muslim country in the world, you don't have the same type of dissent towards minority groups like Muslims because it's the majority group there. So just kind of explain for us some of the differences Indonesia faces with ISIS and foreign fighters, considering it is a majority Muslim country.

QUIANO: That's true. Many have surmised that because it is a country that is majority Muslim population, you know, they still claim to be moderate and secular, they're not the minority that's being discriminated here in this country. So there's not a lot of reason for them to join the jihad, for example. But I think the main thing here is that people oppose the message that is has taken in terms of launching attacks. Other Muslims as well, and that has angered many of the Muslims in Indonesia, and that's why you don't see too many of them joining ISIS right now -- Errol?

BARNETT: Kathy Quiano is our CNN producer in the center of Jakarta, Indonesia, very close to where there was a series of explosions and exchange of gunfire with police.

The latest information from police is that the four suspects behind this have now been killed, so that the chaos of the incident has ended. But questions remain. Who was behind it, what was the motive, how many civilians were involved and injured in all of this?

We'll continue to gather more information and bring you the latest breaking news here on CNN after this short break. Please do stay with us.

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[02:26:04] BARNETT: Let's get you the latest information on our breaking news out of Jakarta, Indonesia. Police say they have killed four people who launched a series of gun and bomb attacks. There's a lot of confusion right now. This is still a fluid situation as we have been told earlier that one policeman in fact may have been killed in all of this.

CHURCH: It's worth noting that no one has claimed responsibility at this point. But the country has been on high alert over threats from a terror group linked to ISIS. The country's president calls the attacks an act of terror. Clearly that is what we're dealing with here. As to who exactly, they're not completely sure, but they are fairly sure that there's a link here with ISIS. But we are yet to get confirmation of that.

But when we're looking, the number of killed in the aftermath of these blasts and the gunfire, six people killed, one we know is a policeman, four are the attackers. We're assuming the sixth person here is a civilian, but we don't know that for sure. But it is extraordinary, given what has happened with the six or so blasts and then the bombs going off in Starbucks that the casualties are as low as that.

BARNETT: Yeah.

CHURCH: It's extraordinary really given the circumstances.

BARNETT: And we'll work on confirming all these details.

We'll be back in just a moment with more of this breaking news here on CNN.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[02:30:51] BARNETT: This is breaking news on CNN NEWSROOM. We welcome our viewers here in the states and those of you watching all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

We are following breaking news in Jakarta, Indonesia. CNN Indonesia reports police have shot and killed four suspected militants who encountered a series of gun and bomb attacks in the capital, Jakarta. Police are now working to secure that area.

These attacks happened in the last few hours. There's been no claim of responsibility so far. But Indonesia has been on high alert in recent weeks. And police and the military have been going after the East Indonesian Mujahideen, which has pledged support for ISIS.

BARNETT: Let's get a bit more clarity now on exactly what happened there today. Jeremy Douglas joins us on the phone. He's with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. But he's speaking to us just as a witness at the U.N. office very close to where this all took place.

Jeremy, things are much calmer now, thankfully, but they were so much more frightening for you over the past few hours. When did you know something was unfolding outside today?

JEREMY DOUGLAS, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (voice-over): Yeah, I was actually pulling into a U.N. building. So I was behind it, thankfully coming in from the back. And we got a phone call from our security, saying that something happened in front of the building. A suspected bomb had gone off. We weren't sure what was going on, but we got out of the car to go in and suddenly a bomb went off, a fairly sizeable one, pretty close by. Just around the corner, I guess. At that point, we realized we're in a bit of a problem here. So we rushed into the building. About a couple minutes later, as we were trying to get an elevator to go up to our office on the tenth floor, a third bomb went off and then we thought it was really bad. We got up to the office and heard a fourth and a fifth and a sixth bomb, and we heard exchange of small arms fire in front of the building.

BARNETT: We are looking at footage from outside, Jeremy, of a few of those blasts. You see an exPLOsion. This is an open area next to the street. You see what appears to be a puff of smoke almost as they were detonated. At that point, after you heard the explosions, how quickly was it until you heard the exchange of gunfire?

DOUGLAS: It would have been a few minutes. I'd want to say about five minutes, give or take. So there was the initial exPLOsion and a couple of minutes, and then there was one, then another, then another, a couple in rapid succession, and then the exchange of gunfire. And then we understand that the police swept in very quick on the scene, good for them. But then the militants seemed to be holed up in some buildings nearby.

BARNETT: We're now looking at footage from the street as police rushed out there to make sure everyone was safe, make sure they had identified all the attackers. We're now told by police that four of the suspects were killed in that exchange of gunfire. Our producer outside says the scene is much calmer now. Have you received the all clear from police, or are you still hunkered down?

DOUGLAS: We're still locked down. We're waiting for the clearance to leave the building. We were about to enter a security briefing ourselves to find out exactly what happened and the status of the U.N. staff, and then we're going to hopefully get clearance to leave this afternoon. But the area appears to be clear at this point.

BARNETT: The place secure and you are telling us it sounds calm and quiet outside. As we think about who would have been behind this, we know that the government has been aiming for its most wanted terror leader, Santoso, with the East Indonesian Mujahideen. Have you noticed, considering you work in a U.N. building, in a busy area, heightened security, or a change of posturing at all, leading up to this?

[02:35:01] DOUGLAS: Well, the U.N. itself has arranged for enhanced security and actually we want to thank the Indonesians because through their recent raising of alerts, they've been providing extra security, which is great. We thank them for that.

But to say who's behind it, as you said earlier, there's no claim of responsibility. So we're waiting to hear who does. But clearly there's an issue in this region, both Indonesia, some of the neighbor countries in the sense that there's been hundreds that have gone to Syria to fight with ISIS. We're worried that some of them are coming back. In fact, that's why I'm here to talk to the government about a new strategy. I've flown in to talk about terrorism strategy. I'm based in Bangkok. We know there are a lot of sympathizers with ISIS and al Qaeda active in the region.

BARNETT: Is it your view that the country needs to change its anti- terror policy or methods? Or --

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DOUGLAS: Yeah, they need to come up to what's known as the Security Council Foreign Fighters Mandate 2178, basically to stop the recruiting, stop the incitement and to be able to prosecute those that have committed crimes overseas, for example, in Syria. It's not just here, but a number of countries in the region where the counterterrorism systems weren't built for the concept of foreign fighters. They were built basically to target domestic terrorism. So now they have this phenomena, a movement of guys around the world, to the caliphate. So we're talking to the Indonesians about what we can do to improve their strategies.

BARNETT: This very well may be more evidence of a change in methodology, a change in procedures from how terror networks operate. It may not be a direct ISIS link, maybe just ISIS inspired, but the country itself has its own home-grown groups to worry about.

Jeremy Douglas, thanks for walking us through what is surely a day at work you will never forget with the uncertainty there for a while. Stay safe. We appreciate your speaking with us. And we'll contact you in the hours ahead if necessary. Thank you.

CHURCH: All right, we do want to go back to CNN's Kathy Quiano. She's there in the center of Jakarta, and joins us live.

Kathy, let's go just over what we know at this point. Because we understood that this was at an end. I'm seeing tweets coming from some of my followers who live in Jakarta, suggesting that there has been more gunfire in the last couple of minutes. Can you clarify whether this, whether authorities are telling you that this has come to an end?

QUIANO: Rosemary, we have a colleague who is down there at the skyline building still and is watching the developments there. He tells us that there's no clear signal, clear information from police authorities that the operation is over. But the situation has dramatically changed here from when I was there. It was very tense earlier. It was heavily secured. I think what is happening now is that Special Forces, the police, are still inside, trying to secure the area. But we know for a fact now that four suspects have been killed, and the bodies of those four suspects were brought by ambulance to a police station. We know that the police have not totally stopped the operations, of course. They're making sure that the area is secure, as you heard earlier with one of the eyewitnesses. Some people are still in their offices on lockdown, and not being allowed to leave the area until it's secure. And this area is a few hundred meters down the road and is still off limits to many people.

CHURCH: And describe to us the scene around you. What are you seeing? What sort of activities as far as police and security?

QUIANO: There was a lot of comings and goings here. We did see the four ambulances that came to pick up the bodies. We confirmed they were, in fact, brought in to bring the bodies of the suspects. Just police officials in their cars going in and out. You see a few trucks behind me as well. And from our colleague who is down there near the skyline building, he said that, you know, they believe that bomb squads are still scouring the area, making sure there are no more explosives there, and they've had to run away from the building a couple of times because they've suspected they were going to detonate some explosives. But again, you know, it's just showing you how fluid the situation here is and how tense. People still are, in Jakarta, in still a shock in what happened here. A gunfight, bombs, explosions happening in the center of down. And we know also, we're getting a clearer picture as well. We spoke to an eyewitness who saw two men apparently approach a police post earlier and then there's explosions happened. Apparently, the first exPLOsion happened in the Starbucks cafe across the street from the police post. And then you had the grenades there and then the gunfight later on.

[02:40:20] CHURCH: And that's what we're hearing. The targets, the Starbucks coffee shop, the police station, a shopping center. Four suspects doing all of that. Very coordinated, it appears. But the police did move very fast to bring this to a very quick end. And what's astonishing here, considering what has happened, is that there are so few casualties, when you eliminate the suspects involved.

QUIANO: That's right, Rosemary. Fortunately, the numbers are very low. Although there was some concern earlier -- concerns earlier that there may be more victims who were probably in the Starbucks cafe when the exPLOsion happened. We haven't heard any information about that yet. But we do have to point out that the counterterrorism authorities here, anti-terrorism police, even the police force, in general, they're very, very highly trained, and simply because Indonesia has been a target of many attacks in the past, bigger ones, you know, that had more casualties here. And they've got a lot of training from their counterparts from Australia, from the United States. They're very highly trained. There's one aspect of the counterterrorism efforts here that's been widely commended here.

What the authorities said, they were focusing more, a soft approach and trying to stop the radicalization of many Indonesian Muslims who may be attracted to, you know, the teachings of is, for example, and trying to lure them into joining the caliphate in Syria. A few hundreds have gone there so far. The concern now, what, if any, of the Indonesian have come back here from Syria, came back here more determined, more capable of launching attacks in Indonesia.

CHURCH: And, Kathy, let's talk about that, because there has been no claim of responsibility at this point at least. It is fairly early. But we know that there has been a heightened alert there in Jakarta and across Indonesia for fears of this group, this Mujahideen group of East Indonesia. Talk to us about that group. How many people are involved, the leader, what sort of threat they pose, and what sort of attacks they have carried out in the past.

QUIANO: Well, you know, we spoke to several terror analysts and police authorities who say that the group of Santoso, Indonesia's most wanted terrorist for now, who claims to be the leader of the Indonesian Mujahideen, it's a small group, very radicalized group that set up base and is the site of sectarian conflicts in the 1990s, early 2000. Many say that was probably one of the best places to set up camp because they would have been able to recruit more people. But a lot of supporters of this group also come from the island of Java in central Java and west Java. You have pockets of this radical minority groups based across Indonesia.

But, again, you know, the consensus was that the threat of a major attack was quite low at this point, because many of the leaders, well- trained veterans from the Afghan war, for example, who joined Gemma Islamia (ph), who were able to build the bombs in Bali and Jakarta when they bombs hotels and the Australian embassy, they were all gone. And we had smaller groups that were not as capable of launching attacks. Now that might have changed and I'm sure Indonesian authorities will be looking at that -- Rosemary?

CHURCH: It is a very concerning situation there.

CNN's Kathy Quiano joining us from central Jakarta where the six blasts took place. At this stage, we understand six people killed, four of them suspects, one of them a police officer.

And, Kathy, do stay nearby. We want to come back to you a little later.

BARNETT: Kathy also mentioning there, one of those explosions taking place outside of a Starbucks cafe. Of course, you can imagine that would be a popular place at midday at a business intersection.

We have a statement from Starbucks. It begins by saying, "We are deeply saddened by the senseless acts that have taken place in Jakarta today." They also detail what they know. We can show you a map of the Serena Mall (ph) area where all of this unfolded. This Starbucks was inside the skyline building, all of this in the center of town there in Jakarta. Starbucks staying that one customer was, in fact, injured at that Starbucks in the skyline building. All employees at the Starbucks store are safe and they are saying that all Starbucks stores in Jakarta will remain closed, they say, out of an abundance of caution until further notice.

[02:45:21] Things have calmed down where Kathy is, but we don't know if the situation is over yet. We'll continue to gather more information for you and have updates on the other end of this break.

Please do stay with us.

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(WEATHER REPORTER)

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BARNETT: Here's the latest information on the breaking news coming to us out of Jakarta, Indonesia. CNN Indonesia reports that police have killed four people suspected in a series of gun and bomb attacks in the capital. This, in the past few hours. It's still unclear exactly if any civilians were killed. But there's some more information coming in on that. Police also said earlier one policeman was killed. All of this still early in the breaking situation, it is still fluid, and we're still working to get you more details.

[02:50:00] CHURCH: In fact, we've just got this detail from CNN Indonesia saying the six people killed in this incident. We know four of them were the suspects. One of them was a foreigner and, of course, the other one was a police officer. And we don't know the nationality at this point of that foreigner killed. We also understand that a number of foreigners were injured in this. Again, we don't know the nationalities, but we'll stay on top of this. Just repeating, six people, in all, were killed in the course of these six blasts. And the gunfire that ensued, six people, including one foreigner, we know a policeman that was confirmed, a policeman was killed. And we know, too, that -- what they're saying, heavily injured, a foreigner in this incident. So we'll continue to try to clarify that.

But no one has claimed responsibility. The country has been on high alert, though, over threats from a terror group linked to ISIS. The country's president calls the attacks an act of terror, but says people should not be afraid.

All right, want to just for a moment leave this story and we want to cover another big story that we brought you 24 hours ago in actual fact. 10 American sailors are released from Iranian detention, but there are concerns about the circumstances that led to their freedom.

BARNETT: That's right. Now you remember the sailors were captured Tuesday after their boats entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Iranian television aired this video of the sailor it identified as the commander, apologizing for the incident. The Pentagon said the video appeared authentic, but noted the crew's circumstances at the time are unknown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SAILOR: It was a mistake, that was our fault, and we apologize for our mistake. It was a misunderstanding. We did not mean to go into Iranian water.

The Iranian behavior was fantastic while we were here. We thank you very much for your hospitality and your assistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, joins us now to talk more about this.

Thanks so much, Colonel, for being with us.

There are of course questions about the circumstances leading to the release of the 10 U.S. sailors and, of course, the humiliating shots of them on their knees at gunpoint, such provocative pictures sent out on Iranian media. What did you make of those images and then that apology that we just aired from the commander?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the images are being broadcast all over Iranian TV and social media. They've mounted a huge propaganda campaign. One of them I just saw a few hours ago, quite egregious. It's got pictures of those damning photos from Abu Ghraib prisoners, the miss treatment of the Iraqi prisoners, co- juxtaposed with the good treatment they're giving the American sailors. And they're drawing distinctions between the way Americans treat people and the way Iranians treat people. And they're showing they can humiliate the Great Satan as well. So it's upsetting to military people to see our brothers and sisters in arms treated that way. There was no reason to humiliate them that way, or put them at gunpoint on their knees, hands behind their heads and then to broadcast that, violations of the rules -- the normalcy that we generally expect of other military forces.

CHURCH: Absolutely. But thankfully, they were released. But there are also questions about how these sailors ended up in Iranian waters near that sensitive Farsi Island. Mechanical problems were the reasons given. Does that make sense to you?

FRANCONA: Yeah. It could have been mechanical problems. My question, why were they even out there? These were small riverine boats, 45 feet long. They're only meant to carry 20 people on each boat. They only had 10 total for the two. They were transiting from Kuwait to Bahrain. They should have been along the coast, not 50 miles out to sea. That was really strange where they were. So I have no idea what they were doing out there. Somebody in the Navy is going to have to take responsibility for this.

And you showed the clip of the lieutenant, the Navy lieutenant, apologizing. You know, I'm not going it second-guess a Navy officer who is in that circumstance, saying what he had to say to guarantee the safety of his crew. So I think we need to find out what kind of situation he was in before we second-guess him.

CHURCH: Certainly understand. And it will be interesting to see if we do hear some sort of explanation from the U.S. Navy as to why these 10 sailors were so close to Farsi Island, such a sensitive part of the world.

Many thanks to you, Rick Francona, for joining us and explaining some of this to us. We do appreciate it.

FRANCONA: Good to be with you.

BARNETT: Want to update you on this story. A man has been arrested in connection with the death of an American woman in Italy. This, according to Italian media. The Italian officials have not announced the arrest, though. And CNN has not independently confirmed it.

[02:55:17] CHURCH: 35-year-old Ashley Olsen was found dead inside her apartment on Saturday. Italian media reports she was apparently strangled with a rope or cord. Investigators are reportedly looking into the possibility she may have been killed during a sex game.

BARNETT: We are continuing to track breaking news out of Jakarta, Indonesia. So far, we have the confirmation, six people killed, that should include the four suspects, possibly one police officer, and possibly one foreigner as well. We'll continue to track this and have more for you coming up.

CHURCH: And we'll also hear from our correspondent on the ground and talk to a security expert.

Do stay with us for that. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BARNETT: We want to welcome our viewers here in the states and those of you watching from all around the world. We continue to following breaking news this hour out of Indonesia. I'm Errol Barnett.

[03:00:09] CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We do want to thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.