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Brussels Terror Attacks. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 22, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:11] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN's breaking news coverage of the deadly terror attacks in Belgium's capital. ISIS is now claiming it was their men who carried out the suicide attacks at the main international airport in Brussels early this morning and also at a very busy subway station.

Right now, a massive hunt is underway for, wait for the picture and we'll show you here, this is a very crucial image, the man in a lighter colored jacket, in the khaki jacket the, in the white, the glass, the hat. This is airport surveillance footage and it shows obviously all three of them pushing these different baggage carts through this departure area of the airport. Now police say, we have this official language from the Belgium prosecutor, that these two guys, on the left-hand side of your screen in the black, they probably were killed as they detonated their explosives. These are the suspected suicide attackers.

We also know, as far as those injuries go, that there were Americans among the injured. At this hour, at least 30 people were killed. That number is expected to rise with almost 200 people injured, many of them still fighting for their lives.

We do have video in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. And just listen, you can hear the panic as the smoke filled departure hall, all the action here at the airport. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This happened right around 8:00 in the morning there local time in Brussels, as hundreds of would-be passengers filled into the main check-in hall.

And then, from the airport, just about one hour later, another explosion.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, a child crying. This is the Maelbeek station. This is downtown Brussels. Shrieks echoing through the pitch black train tunnel as people jump onto the tracks and run towards safety. Smoke billowing out into the streets. This is just blocks from the headquarters of the E.U., the European Union.

And when you think of the timing of all of this here, it's significant as well. Today's bombing happening just four days after the capture just outside of the very same capital city of one of the world's most wanted men, Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the 10 men accused in last November's Paris terror attacks. We are told he is cooperating with investigators as he is in custody.

So let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Nima Elbagir, who is live in Brussels.

And so, Nima, tell me as much as you know at this hour as far as who could be responsible, how these attacks were carried out.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand from Belgian security force that there is a working assumption, that's how they've characterized it to us, a working assumption that this is linked to the Paris terror attack network. But, of course, we have to remind our viewers that even that network is much less a network and more kind of a series of overlapping lattice works of radical extremist cells because Salah Abdeslam himself, while he was part of the broader Paris attack conspiracy, in fact, he was central to the logistics of the carrying out of that operation, he was also, authorities were saying, as recently as Sunday, he was also, they believe, involved with a network that was planning new attacks here.

And in an awful feat of foreshadowing, the Belgian foreign minister said just days ago that their worry was with the capture of Salah Abdeslam, that it would rattle those within that network that were planning terror attacks. That their worry, their fear was that they had shaken the hornet's nest, as he put it, that it would fast forward any potential plots as those within that network question what is Abdeslam telling prosecutors if he is cooperating, how close are they getting to me, and that that could potentially accelerate any plots, those are the lines of investigation that they are now navigating, Brooke.

And we're seeing - we've seen such in the Schaerbeek (ph) neighborhood. Eyewitnesses reporting to us the presence of Belgian police special forces, a security cordon, a police security cordon around the Schaerbeek train station. And now the Belgian prime minister, in a really emotional press conference, saying that there are homes and houses across the country that are being searched tonight, Brooke. And the language he was using in that press conference was just heartbreaking as he announced three days of national mourning. He said we are a nation with pain in our hearts tonight.

[14:05:15] Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nima, let me just follow up with you because I've just been - I've been riveted by your reporting all day long. And you were describing, as we're hearing now from more and more people, not only who happen to be at the departure hall there at the airport, but at the subway station. And if you can, just describe for me what you were hearing as far as - even what the blowback from that blast felt like this morning there.

ELBAGIR: This was one eyewitness whose train departed the station just behind the train when that device was located. And he said they - they were in the train and suddenly they felt this dust of wind and it was only when darkness fell on the carriage and they started hearing these emergency alerts go out and authorities, security officers really, really amazingly brave first responders, came down into the dark, through those tracks, to rescue them, that they realized that they'd been caught up in an attack. That this was the blowback from that blast that they felt.

One eyewitness - another eyewitness inside the European Union building told us, Brooke, he felt that shake. And the fear that it - it just - the fear that just ran through him because he said he walks past that train station every morning with his daughter. He gets on that subway every morning. And to think that that could have been the morning that he was there with his daughter. Schools in the district, students locked in, teachers told not to allow any student out of the classroom unaccompanied. It just felt like the reverberations of the tension and the fear that have been building up here in the months since those first days post the Paris attack, when the threads of those investigations began leading here, that finally all of that was culminating in what this country went through this morning, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Absolutely chilling. And just we keep replaying this subway video and that child screaming. Our hearts, obviously, with Belgium today.

Nima Elbagir, thank you so much, just outside of the - of the international airport there.

Pamela Brown, let me bring you in now, our justice correspondent, who has some new information.

As we look at this picture here, all eyes on the photo of these three men inside the airport early this morning. The two, according to the prosecutor, the suspected suicide attackers. Tell me - tell me what you've been learning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, and one reason why, Brooke, they believe that those two men in black are the suicide bombers is because, as you see, they're wearing - both of them are wearing one glove on their left hand. And so officials believe those gloves were to conceal a detonator. They say either they could have had them in their hand and once they clinched their hand, you know, into a fist, that could have set the device off or perhaps they had connectors on two fingers, put them together and set the device off that way. But either way, they do believe those gloves were all part of the plot to set off the bombs without calling attention to themselves when they're there in the airport.

Officials at this point believe the man in white, as you see next to the two men in black, is still on the run. He is at large. And so that manhunt is underway right now. And U.S. officials are trying to figure out if this person has any nexus to the U.S. and that kind of thing. They're going back, scrubbing their cases, looking at the whereabouts, the suspected extremists in the United States and trying to ensure that there aren't going to be any copycat attacks here at soft targets in the United States. Brooke.

BALDWIN: Pamela Brown, thank you so much. We'll stay in close contact with you as you get more information.

But let's just broaden out the discussion here. Mitch Silber with me, senior managing director of FTI Consulting and a former director of intelligence analysis for the New York Police Department. Karen Greenberg is with us, director of Fordham Law School Center on National Security, contributing editor of "The Atlantic, Graeme Wood, and Bob Baer, CNN intelligence and security analyst, and formerly with the CIA.

So let's all just begin by looking at this picture here. And, Karen and Mitch, you're sitting next to me. Let me just being with the two of you. You heard Pamela's reporting, you know, noted with the men in black, their left hand - guys, drop the banner, and we'll see there what appears to be these gloves. Tell me more about what that could mean.

MITCH SILBER, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, FTI CONSULTING: I think from a tactical standpoint, the man in white may very well have been sort of their guide to make sure that they actually got to the target and didn't, in a sense, change their opinion, change their mind at the last minute.

BALDWIN: Let me stop you there, a guide? So he would be the guy calling the shots.

SILBER: In a sense.

BALDWIN: And making sure there's follow through?

SILBER: Yes, to be the - sort of the leader on the scene, to make sure that they actually go through with this attack.

BALDWIN: And the gloves?

SILBER: Well, the gloves, I think, are probably the most plausible explanation as what we did hear is that there is some type of detonation device that's in the glove. That's what, you know, only the two of them have. And the other individual doesn't have that glove.

[14:10:07] BALDWIN: Bob Baer, you're looking at this picture as well. Tell me what you see.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: I agree with on the gloves. You know what you have is you either have a syringe or a plunger and that make the detonation. I doubt these are command detonated. They want to keep them simple to make sure they go off.

Looking at the smoke from the explosions, from the pictures, this is early but it's probably TATP acetone peroxide. That's - that's their standard weapon.

You know, and these guys - these guys have mastered their technique. I mean who's going to notice people with just one glove on? They would notice if they had a plunger in their hand, they might, the police. So they are - what I'd say is, they're getting better.

BALDWIN: So is this something, Bob, where they would have to - if these are the two suspected suicide bombers, I mean they - they then would presume to be killed in the blasts. Would they have to stay with the bomb? Is it - it's not a remote explosion?

BAER: No, they pushed it in. I mean the bag in Brussels Airport will be immediately identified. The police will come get it. The casualties would have been much lower at that point. So they want the suicide bombers - it's also a message that people are willing to give their lives. And two is very important, rather than just one. It's sort of like a double tapping a target in commando language. This is very important for them. And they've sent a message to the - to the Belgiums that they're there. They have a big network. And they're going to keep hitting.

And, frankly, there's not much they can do about attacks like this. How do you - how do you screen people coming into an airport with luggage and carts and - or, for that matter, subways? You just can't do it. It's not feasible.

So they're telling us, we are vulnerable and they can hit us when they want, even under the - the Belgian police were all over these people and they had security everywhere, people with arms, you know, and automatic weapons, and they still got through. So for these people, that's a victory.

BALDWIN: OK, I want to ask my panel to standby. I've got Gabriele Steinhauser on the phone, she is a reporter with "The Wall Street Journal," who was at the airport early this morning.

Gabriele Steinhauser, tell me - tell me what you saw.

GABRIELE STEINHAUSER, REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL" (via telephone): Well, I got to the airport not long after the explosion. In fact, I was dropped off at the motorway. And as I was walking towards the airport, all these passengers were coming towards me, pulling their luggage, trying to get away, visibly shocked. Some of them had been very, very close to the blast. And as I got closer, I could see that the entire glass front of the departure hall was blown out from the explosion.

People who weren't injured were kept inside the airport for several hours until the situation has been cleared. And then later, the afternoon, a bomb squad detonated another explosive device that hadn't gone off but that was also inside the departure hall. So that could have caused many more injuries and that - if that had been detonated.

BALDWIN: Gabrielle, you tweeted a photo today of hearses. Can you tell me more about that?

STEINHAUSER: Well, it was after most of the uninjured people and presumably also the injured people had been evacuated from the airport. There were three small processions of hearses who entered to take the remains of some of the people who didn't make it out alive.

BALDWIN: Gabrielle Steinhauser there for us in Brussels.

Graeme Wood, to you. We know, as we have reported on other attacks, you know, previously, that ISIS has already come forward. They say, this was us, claiming responsibility. I have yet to see any evidence proving that. Maybe you know something I don't. But can we quickly assume that, in fact, this was ISIS?

GRAEME WOOD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": I think it's very highly likely that they have claimed responsibility with what's now a fairly familiar rhythm. They mention it first on their Amlak (ph) news agency, which is their equivalent of a news wire, which just says things in very basic language, yes, we attacked. And they have also, on the equivalent of ISIS letterhead, in Arabic and in French said, yes, we've attacked Belgian crusaders. And they've mentioned that, yes, we used suicide belts. They mentioned - they did not mention, however, the number of attackers. They didn't mention their names. And so I think with time we'll probably see a claim of credit from ISIS that's very specific and that maybe even shows the images of the people as they were headed off to do their martyrdom operation. But right now it is very typical in the way that ISIS takes credit and it's very likely that it's going to be them.

BALDWIN: Graeme, I want to ask you to standby. And Bob and Karen and Mitch, there's so much more to dissect here in the wake of these fatal, coordinated attacks in the capital of Belgium. This is - this is a symbolic capital of Europe, E.U., NATO all right there.

[14:15:14] Thirty fatalities, hundreds more injured. A quick break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And we're back. You're watching breaking news here on this busy, busy Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

All around what's happened early this morning, 8:00 local time in Brussels, Belgium, the capital here, sort of the symbolic capital of Europe, NATO, E.U., this all happening, at least 30 people have been killed, hundreds more injured here after these what appear to be coordinated attacks.

We have a new photo that we can now show you. Two men in black appear to be the suicide - suspected suicide attackers. And the man in that khaki color, the lighter colored jacket, this is the man, this is a suspect they are looking for right now.

So as this manhunt is underway, I want to go to Fred Pleitgen, who is live in Schaerbeek, this is this community in the Brussels area, raids are underway.

Fred Pleitgen, tell me what you know.

[14:20:01] FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. Yes, well, we got here a couple of minutes ago and it is fair to say that there are raids still underway. Now, the most recent information that we've gotten is that the police just cordoned off an area of about maybe two and a half square miles in size. I want to just get out of your way for a second and you can see where we are, because we are right at a police cordon in this area. The building that you see at the end of the street is the main railway station in Schaerbeek. And beyond that police cordon that you're seeing there, we're seeing a lot of police activity there. We're seeing police vehicles. We've also seen some ambulance movement there.

The raid that we're talking about here - the latest information we're getting - is that it's been going on for around six hours. And what we've seen, in just the past couple of minutes that we've been here, is that people are getting bussed out of this area. There are special buses taking people out of the area. There's also people waiting in front of this police cordon who have apparently also had to evacuate their houses. So there is a major police operation that's going on here.

There are some who are saying that perhaps during this raid that a bomb may have been discovered that contains nails or an explosive device. Also that an ISIS flag may have been discovered as well. It's unclear whether or not this raid is taking place because the authorities believe that perhaps the attacks that happened in Brussels at the airport and at that metro station earlier today were launched from here, or perhaps a suspect might be here. But this is a major cordon that's been put in place here. It's a major operation. And right now there's a police chopper that's also coming in as well.

I wonder if we can get a shot for you of that as well. You can see a police chopper that's hovering very low over this area. So it might be wanting to land here. That's coming in right now as we speak here.

So you can see that this is very much an active situation that we found here. It's a very big police cordon. There's a lot of police officers on the scene. And some police vehicles also - we're going to have to get out of your way for a second. There's a police vehicle coming through here. Sorry about that, Brooke. They want to get through here real quick.

So as you can see, there is quite a lot of activity. This is - you can see the mass of police here who are driving that van, and another one, an ambulance coming out as well.

What I can tell you, Brooke, is as they were coming out just now, is that even the ambulance drivers were wearing masks.

BALDWIN: Wow.

PLEITGEN: So clearly this is a very, very serious operation that's going on there inside.

BALDWIN: Wow, Fred, stay with me and let me - let's just - let's stay on your shot and, Mitch Silber, let me bring you back in -

SILBER: Yes. Sure.

BALDWIN: Former director of intelligence analysis for the New York Police.

As you're looking at Fred's pictures, and you see the vans, you see the, you know, the police chopper, it's cordoned off, he talks about explosives. We were reporting within a house search, nail bomb found, chemical products, an ISIS flag similar to what was found last Friday in a different raid. Can you just analyze all that for me?

SILBER: Yes, essentially they're going into what they believe is a beehive of activity for ISIS supporters and ISIS trained individuals. We've already had shootouts in Brussels over the last week or two that have resulted in potential terrorists being killed. So they're taking this with the utmost seriousness.

Now, remember from the Paris attacks, the actual bomb factory was not in France. The bomb factory where they made the TAPT, the suicide vest, was in Belgium, in - near Brussels. So, again, the fact that we're starting to see material coming out of these neighborhoods that can be used for explosive devices, not surprising.

BALDWIN: And, Karen, I have a thousand questions for you as well, but just beginning with Mitch's final point, why is Belgium sort of this hot bed of terror activity in Europe?

KAREN GREENBERG, DIRECTOR, FORDHAM LAW SCHOOL CENTER ON NATIONAL SECURITY: A very good question. And why didn't we know about it earlier? One of the things that's interesting is the number of - it's not just Belgium and it's not just the town that Mitch and the neighborhood that Mitch suggested, but it's also Brussels itself. And a very high number of the foreign fighters from Belgium are from Brussels itself. And so there's obviously some kind of network connection there that's been thriving for a long time.

But one of the things that Bob Baer pointed out earlier, on an earlier program that we were on, was the lack - indicated to him, and he can speak to this, a lack of human intelligence and the use of data mining instead. You would think in this kind of situation it would be very beneficial to have as many informants or on the ground information as you could and we don't know what it is. But yes, this has been known about for a very long time.

BALDWIN: And that was a question - we were sitting here on Friday afternoon, you know, talking about the, you know, the tremendous day that Belgium had because of the arrests, he was alive, Salah Abdeslam, sort of sole survivor of the coordinated Paris attacks, which was huge, huge, huge for the international community. But at the same time, this guy was hiding in plain sight. They found him a block from his childhood home. He had escaped through the roof days prior in a previous raid in which a number of these law enforcement, you know, officials weren't even expected anyone to be in the home. And then to have these attacks happen this morning, you're just like, how can this happen?

GREENBERG: Well, it may speak somewhat to the degree of coordination here. This is a very -

BALDWIN: Hang on a second. Forgive me. GREENBERG: That's all right.

BALDWIN: Let me cut away from you. I want the answer in a second.

Fred Pleitgen, I'm told I'm going to go back to you. What do you have where you are?

[14:25:04] PLEITGEN: Well, what we're seeing right now, Brooke, as you can see up there, look, there seems to be that chopper up here has its search light on right above where we are, and that's well inside the cordon. You can see it hovering above us. Not exactly clear what it's looking for. But, again, just a couple of seconds ago, we did have that police vehicle that just came out here that sort of police van followed by an ambulance that came out. So that search light, as you can see, seems to be changing its direction by and by. Not sure if maybe they're looking for something inside a house or maybe they're looking for something there on the streets. But as you can see, they've clearly called this chopper in for a reason because they seem to be looking for something or trying to light up some place where they might be looking for something or someone.

And it's been here for a while. I've heard it hover above us for a while, that chopper. And as you can see right now, it is up there and just searching that area. You can see the search light sort of scanning the area there. I'm not sure whether or not there might be a police operation going on close to here inside that cordoned area, but we did see a considerable amount of police officers when we got here sort of go through that area, doing some kind of operation in there.

BALDWIN: Wow, look at that. We'll stay on that live picture.

And, Karen, I want you to finish your thought, but, Mitch, to you, just on tactics. Seeing this, you know, spotlight, perhaps honing in on something or someone, what items are they looking for or perhaps that they have found in these raids?

SILBER: Well I think, you know, again, one of the places that we learned from Paris where they got the automatic weapons was from Belgium. So Belgium is a place where arms are easier to get in Europe than other countries. So it's going to be, you know, automatic weapons, the precursor chemicals to explosive devices, explosive devices themselves and any type of telecommunications type of material, anything that will show who the broader network is. So any type of phones, any type of - we've seen in attacks. People use GoPros in order to videotape the attacks that they carried out. So all of that is fair game that the investigators are looking for, as well as armed men, as well as people who are part of the network.

BALDWIN: Where were we?

GREENBERG: Where were we? Yes, no, one of the things that you find in this is the degree of coordination of this attack. It was - it was - it was planned extremely well. And you have to ask yourself, how do you intercept the earlier? And this is something that can speak to it. But the amount of ammunition that they found in Paris and in Belgium and now the - BALDWIN: Well, they were talking about the Kalashnikovs they found in the raid last week -

GREENBERG: It's un - right. And -

BALDWIN: The Kalashnikovs found this morning at the airport.

GREENBERG: And the intricacy of the bombs, the use of the nail bombs, the way in which they went to the airport. And one of the things that Nima suggested earlier was that this had been planned a long time ago and that it was triggered by the arrest and detention of -

BALDWIN: Salah Abdeslam.

GREENBERG: Yes, Abdeslam. And I think that's a very interesting point because there's been a lot of pressure on ISIS in the past four weeks. There's been tremendous pressure in Iraq and Syria. There's been pressure - 22,000 documents were leaked to the European press which had details about ISIS members, ISIS plans and now this arrest and who knows what he's saying. The reports were in the news that he was collaborating and cooperating. And so the question is really, that's another piece of it, that it triggered it, but it wasn't a one off. It wasn't a panicked response that was ad hoc. It was extremely well planned, along the lines of what we're reminded of from al Qaeda in the old days.

BALDWIN: I am talking to Karen Greenberg, Mitch Silber, Graeme Wood and Bob Baer. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN breaking news here.

Want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We are looking - and it is just about 7:30 local time in Belgium. And these are live pictures here. We've got our eyes on a police chopper there, perhaps honed in on something or someone in the Schaerbeek neighborhood outside of Brussels.

All of this happening after a fatal morning both at the huge international airport at 8:00 in the morning where two blasts went off, followed an hour by a fatal blast at the subway. And again, you know, when you think of Belgium, this is - this is the headquarters of NATO, this is European Union, and now victims of these apparent terror attacks.

Fred Pleitgen is on the ground, watching these raids unfolding.

Fred Pleitgen, tell me what you're seeing now.

PLEITGEN: Yes, Brooke, one of the things that we just saw that I'm looking at right now, a couple of seconds ago, was that there seemed to be a person inside that helicopter pointing a gun out of the helicopter. So I'm not sure whether or not they might have a sniper inside that chopper, but it seemed to us very clear that someone was point something that looked very much like a rifle out of that chopper.

[14:29:57] You can see that search light is still on. They're still scanning whatever they might be looking at. And it certainly seems that there are armed people inside that chopper. And the other thing I can tell you is that it's not only one chopper that's here. That's the one that we're seeing right now.