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New Arrests In Latest Brussels Terrorism Raid; An Arrest In Germany; An Arrest Made In France; ISIS Second In Command Killed In Syria; Multiple ISIS Plots At Different Stages. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 25, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- in Washington and 6:00 p.m. in Brussels, Belgium. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks so much for joining us.

And we begin with the breaking news. Fast-moving developments in the Brussels terror attacks' investigation. And efforts to untangle the web of terrors spreading across Europe right now. Witnesses reported hearing explosions and gunfire as police carried out a major operation in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels this morning.

In all, three suspects were taken into custody in operations today. Police arrested at least six people in raids across Brussels overnight.

In Germany, police say they've arrested two suspects linked to the Brussels' attacks. And according to German broadcaster, ARD, one man was stopped during a routine check at a train station.

And in France, authorities raided an apartment near Paris overnight. They've arrested a suspect who is said to be in, quote, "the advanced stage of planning a terrorist attack." Police say they recovered explosives and a rifle.

Let's bring in Senior International Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh and Clarissa Ward in Belgium. Nick, first to you. You're at the site of the latest police raids. Bring us up to speed on what we know about the operation and the suspect who was arrested.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We do know, at this point, Pam, little about the suspect apart from the mayor talking to state media saying that he is related to the Brussels attacks on the airport and the metro here. He is in custody and was injured.

Let me explain to you the drama that gripped here just a matter of hours ago now. Now, amateur video and witnesses confirm that the man in question was sat just on the other side of this board here in this tram stop on the bench.

Now, he was approached by police. Two shots were fired. One, we understand, hit him in the leg. We don't know which one. But he was wearing a backpack. So, it appears that police were concerned about whether he was carrying a device on him of some description. And then, he must've been dragged away from that tram stop, just away from where I'm standing because there is some blood, in fact slightly further down the street there. Amateur video, in fact, shows the police move one of their cars across there and took shelter on the other side of it.

But that dramatic scene playing out here just in matter of hours ago. Subsequently, one of the bags here was checked by the police. We saw them go through it. And, in fact, the bomb disposal squad was seen here, too, according to witnesses.

After those shots were fired, I should point out, there was a third noise which witnesses here say sounded like an explosion. We don't know if that was part of the police operation. We don't know if it was initiated by the man they then arrested or somehow unconnected. But, certainly, the people here deeply on edge.

There was a tram that, at that stage, was, in fact, passing through here. It was stopped just down the street. The number 35. And people taken off it. Moved away. Those trams, subsequently, allowed to leave the area.

But that police investigation continued. We saw officers coming here, poking through a bag that had been left on the scene. And then, they've opened the area up again, quite quickly I must say, to the general public to come back.

But the broken glass from that tram stop where he was confronted still on the floor behind me. And as you can see, the trams continuing about their business as normal. Part of the challenge for authorities here is to collect the evidence they must and then let daily life continue.

But this, just one of a number of raids that have been happening. The man injured, taken into custody. He must, clearly, have been a pretty substantial target because of the nature in which police approached him. We've seen amateur video that showed them obviously deeply concerned of this man wearing a backpack.

One of the videos, in fact, showing what looks like a -- either a young woman or a girl near him during that confrontation. It is not clear his relationship with her or quite what happened during that confrontation.

But deep concerns, always, Pam, about how much police really know, in terms of the people they're looking for. But we know that there's certainly three individuals they're chasing. There were a number of arrests last night. Some people then let go.

But do they have the full picture or are they still picking people up one by one? But finding out more information as they go -- Pam.

BROWN: Absolutely, this, as we know, multiple ISIS plots are in the works in Europe, we've learned from U.S. officials.

Clarissa, to you. What can you tell us about the raids that police carried out overnight across Brussels?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. There were a series of raids. Authorities here saying that six people were detained, three of those people are believed to have now been released.

One of the raids, at least, taking place in the area where Nick Paton Walsh is now in the Schaerbeek district. We were there on the scene. We could see forensic experts apparently combing through the top floor of a building, looking for evidence, taking swabs, taking samples. Obviously looking possibly for traces of explosives, traces of DNA, any identifying factors that can help them on this manhunt. They are looking for these two men specially, Pam.

[13:05:00] But, interestingly, we also heard about an arrest in Germany. We're seeing this plot overlapping now into France and also into Germany. We heard, the man in Germany who was arrested, who sounds like he might be most closely related to this plot, was stopped on a routine check.

He was acting suspiciously. And when police offices looked at his phone, they found that a text message had been sent at 9:08, on the day of the Brussels attacks, just three minutes before the metro bombing.

And in that text message, reportedly, was the name Khalid El Bakraoui. He was one of the two metro bombers. Now, we don't know yet exactly who this man in Germany was, how he relates to these plots. But, clearly, what we are seeing here, Pam, is that the network goes beyond Belgium, beyond France even, to Germany as well.

So, authorities here very much focused on trying to contain the situation and find, primarily, Pam, those two men who we know were involved in the airport and metro bombings. But also trying to drill down on the nose (ph) of this network as it spreads out across the continent -- Pam.

BROWN: Really a race against time to do that. Nick Paton Walsh, Clarissa Ward in Belgium. Thank you very much.

Well, we are systematically eliminating the ISIS cabinet. Those words from U.S. defense secretary, Ash Carter, announcing the death of Abd Al Rahman Mustafa Al Qaduli. A man who many analysts consider to be ISIS' number two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Now, we've taken out the leader who oversees all the funding for ISIL's operations, hurting their ability to pay fighters and hire recruits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now. Barbara, you have some new information about this U.S. operation that killed him. What can you tell us? BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, we are now just learning, from our sources here at CNN, that when U.S. special operations forces moved in, and this happened in Syria, their goal, at that time, was to try and take Qaduli alive. They were going try to capture him and interrogate him for whatever intelligence he had and he would've had plenty being the so-called finance minister of ISIS.

But we're told that something went wrong during that effort, that when U.S. helicopters moved in, special operations' commandos on board, Qaduli was in a vehicle below. And something happened, we're not clear what yet, that made them unable to take him alive. Some kind of fire fight, apparently by all accounts, breaking out because when it was all over, Qaduli was dead along with other potential suspects at the site.

Some of the most dangerous work for U.S. special operations' forces. I mean, just think about it. They're really going behind enemy lines because there is nowhere in Syria, at the moment, that there are, you know, friendly forces on the ground that would be welcoming to U.S. special forces if they got in trouble. So, this was a very high-risk mission. Something that is done by the most highly trained forces in the U.S. military.

Nobody on the U.S. side killed or injured. And when it was all over, again, the finance minister, Qaduli, from ISIS, gone. Does it eliminate the ISIS threat? No. But defense secretary, Ash Carter, thinks it goes a long way to putting a crimp in their finances -- Pam.

BROWN: And the fact that this was such a high-risk mission shows what a valuable target he was for us.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thank you very much.

STARR: Sure.

BROWN: And the killing of ISIS' finance minister is a significant breakthrough in the war against ISIS in Syria, as we just heard Barbara say. And I want to discuss it with my next guest, Colonel Steve Warren. He is the spokesman for the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq. Thank you so much for being on with us.

COL. STEVE WARREN, SPOKESMAN, ANTI-ISIS COALITION IN IRAQ: Pam, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

BROWN: First, Colonel, I want to get just your general reaction to this news about the killing of the man who many consider as the number two in the ISIS chain of command. How significant is this?

WARREN: Well, Abu Imam, what we call him, that was his nom degar (ph), was a significant figure in ISIL. He was their finance minister. So, he was in charge of all of their financial operations. He was also an external operations planner.

In fact, we know that he was actively planning external attacks, presumably in the west or even in the United States. So, this is a very significant strike that we took to kill this -- to kill this enemy.

And it follows right on the heels of us killing Umar the Chechen (ph), Abu Shishani, who was their top military leader. And that was just two weeks ago. So, we are rapidly chipping away at their leadership. And we think that's important.

BROWN: And I want to talk about just the way that he was killed because we heard our Barbara Starr say, initially, the U.S. wanted to capture him alive but then the circumstances changed and, obviously, they couldn't do that. But the way in which he was killed, this kind of operation, tell us about that and how risky it was.

[13:10:07] WARREN: Well, we would always prefer to capture, if possible. And, in fact, recently, we captured Abu Daoud, who is ISIL's chemical weapons chief. And we were able to extract significant amount of information from him, because we captured him alive.

Our special operators work in the shadows. And so, we don't like to talk in much detail about how they do their business. We prefer this enemy to have to sleep with one eye open. But know this, these are terrific commandos who are able to do extraordinary operations anywhere around the world. And we're beginning to see that now.

BROWN: And, as you said, you know, you can't just take out terrorism in one fell swoop but you can whittle away at his key players. Clearly, he's considered one of the key players. But what about the ISIS leader because he remains on the loose, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi? Does this mean, the fact that we were able to get the number two, that we could be closer to getting Al Baghdadi?

WARREN: We're continuously working to try and get closer to him. He's a slippery character. He's been around for a while so he's smart. But we're smart, too. And we've got lots of resources and lots of capabilities. And we're dedicating a lot of energy to finding him. So, he's being hunted. He knows he's being hunted.

And, eventually, as have all the rest of these terrorists, these international terrorists, eventually, we'll find him. Our long arms will reach out and get him. And that's the -- I think, the most important thing to remember. In the wake of this tragedy in Brussels, the Paris attacks, these other attacks, it's important for us not to forget that there are a lot of good men and women out here right now, putting themselves in harm's way and fighting this enemy.

BROWN: And just quickly, I want to ask you because, you know, a year ago, all we talked about was how Syria is this black hole, this intelligence black hole. But, clearly, we've been able to capture these key players more recently. How does this reflect where the evolution of our capabilities in Syria and Iraq?

WARREN: All right, that's the thing about intelligence is it builds on itself. So, as you get little bits and pieces, as you gather it up, it grows larger and larger and larger. And now, after a year, a year and half of really dedicated work, we're beginning to put the pieces of this puzzle together. And you can see the results. We've seen them when we killed their defense ministry. We've seen them now that we killed their finance minister. We captured their chemical weapons minister. We captured the wife of and we killed their oil minister several months ago. So, it's beginning to get better. And we believe that, you know, this enemy, ISIS, is on its heels. And they're on the defensive.

BROWN: OK. So, if ISIS is defeated in Iraq and Syria, as is the goal, many have equated this to cockroaches pouring out of an object, a pretty gross analogy there, and sort of scattering all over. How do you contain this threat?

WARREN: Well, there's -- you now, there's a second piece to this. And we heard the American secretary of defense speak about this. There is a law enforcement component to this counterterror mission. And this is a very important component. And we're seeing it play out now in Europe.

And, of course, we know that our great first responders and our homeland defenders back in the United States are always on the job. And that's really the second piece of this puzzle is bringing together this homeland defense and the law enforcement component to really squish this enemy, this terrorism threat, completely out. And so, that's what we're counting on them to do.

So, we'll fight them here. And we know that our first responders are going to -- are going to fight them back home.

BROWN: OK. Colonel, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

WARREN: Pam, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

BROWN: It looks like we're losing you there.

Up next, are all these raids and arrests lessening the threat of another ISIS attack in Europe? Our terror experts will weigh in.

And secretary of state, John Kerry, sits down with our own Erin Burnett and calls what happened in Brussels a, quote, "an attack on America."

We'll be right back.

[13:14:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:05] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: One of the breaking developments in the Brussels terror attacks is the stunning but long feared news that Americans have been killed. At a news conference earlier today in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, quote, "the United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us." A U.S. official traveling with Kerry confirmed two Americans are among the dead. Kerry also took a moment to lay a wreath to remember all 31 people who died in the Brussels attacks. Earlier in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Kerry talked about the worldwide impact of these terror attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Americans, of course, we now know are dead in these horrible terror attacks here in Brussels. Do you consider this an attack against America?

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Whenever Americans are killed, of course.

BURNETT: So you do consider it an attack on America. Do you think Americans were targeted?

KERRY: I think it's an attack on America, it's an attack on Europe, it's an attack on civilized people in countries all around the world. It's an attack on people who weren't even here and who weren't killed because it is an attack on everybody's ability to move freely, to live without fear, and that's what the terrorists want. And that is precisely why we have to continue, as we are, to go after Daesh with full determination to destroy them. And I'm confident we are going to.

BURNETT: The - you've put out a warning about near-term attacks and the concern of that. We know here in Belgium they're worried about, there's people on the run. They're worried about more cells. They're worried about more attacks. Do you have knowledge of what those attacks might be?

KERRY: I don't personally. I think there are strands of intelligence here and there which we wouldn't talk about publicly anyway at this point. But the point is, we know that there are foreign fighters who have returned from Syria over a span now of about five years. And they are in various places in the world. Every - loads of countries. America included, by the way. We've had some 500 Americans who have chosen to go to Syria and fight with Daesh over the course of the last years. And - and so that is the reason for people being vigilant and for being alert and that's the reason for travel advisories and restraints.

[13:20:18] BURNETT: You talk about people going to Syria. I spoke to the brother of the bomb maker yesterday. He said the family had told the Belgians when he went to Syria in 2013. The Belgians did not follow up with them. I spoke to a young man yesterday, he has 10 to 15 friends who are in Syria right now with ISIS. He said to me, I'll quote, "if I want to go tomorrow, I can go. You can call the police. They don't care." Many of these young men's ultimate goal is to attack America. Could this kind of thing happen in the U.S.?

KERRY: Well, it did in San Bernardino. I mean we saw somebody come back, radicalized, and go on a killing spree. So everybody understands that any of these foreign fighters who have come back still attached to Daesh. Now, many people have left Daesh, recognizing that it was a lie. That all the things they'd been told were lies. Some of those people who tried to get away were executed. Others managed to get away and they've come back to tell the story of the lie.

So, we don't know how many people precisely there are who have filtered their way back in. But I believe very deeply that as we put additional pressure on Daesh in Syria and Iraq, it is entirely possible that in some other part of the world people will lash out out of desperation.

BURNETT: But are you concerned about attacks on American airports, American metro stations? Attacks like the ones we've seen here, which intelligence is now saying are linked to ISIS headquarters?

KERRY: Erin, let me - let me -

BURNETT: Which is a different profile than San Bernardino.

KERRY: Let me - let me put it to you this way. Law enforcement and intelligence community, people have to get it right to prevent an attack every minute of every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. If somebody wakes up one morning in their apartment and decides they want to go out and kill themselves and take some people with them, they can most likely find a place on a subway, on a bus, in a market, somewhere, to do it, unfortunately. So there's a very - you know, this is a difficult challenge. And, frankly, it's quite remarkable that our law enforcement community, our intelligence community, our police have done as good a job as they have done of protecting us here in - both in America, as well as in other parts of the world.

Now, that doesn't excuse one single event when it happens. Everybody's focused on it with the intensity that we see here in Belgium right now. But I am convinced that we are slowly and steadily deteriorating Daesh's ability to recruit, it's ability to prosecute it's neolistic (ph), you know, ideology. And over time, we are going to get back to a world where we feel that we can travel with impunity and feel safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And we also know that two Dutch citizens living in New York were also killed. They are brother and sister Alexander and Sascha Pinczowski, and American Emily Izenman's (ph) Belgian boyfriend, Bart Migom (ph), was also identified this morning as one of those killed at the airport.

And, of course, this has been an agonizing time for the parents and the loved ones of the victims of the Belgium attacks. At least 300 people are wounded, many of them still hospitalized. Several are Americans. Here, you see the emotional moment the parents of one of those victims, Mormon missionary Mason Wells of Utah, got to see their son. And like so many others, he's begun the long road to recovery. It was Mason's second brush with death after surviving the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. He talked about his harrowing experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASON WELLS, AMERICAN BOMBING VICTIM: It really came out of nowhere. Um - the - I wasn't expecting it at all. I was looking down and all of a sudden a huge blast came from my right. I think - I believe my body was actually picked off the ground for a moment and, um, my iPad, it was in my hands. I don't know what happened. It just disappeared. I think it actually might have hit me in the head when it got blasted out of my hands.

My - my watch on my left hand just disappeared. My left shoe just was blown off and a large part of the right side of my body got really hot and then really cold and I was covered in a lot of - a lot of fluids, a lot of blood a lot of - I - a lot of that blood wasn't mine either.

[13:25:07] It took my body about a second, half a second, to realize that it was a bomb that had went off. Um - and, of course, my - I'm sure my body was in complete physical shock. I knew that I had been wounded. I didn't know how bad it was. Um - I located an exit. I looked up, I located an exit, and I started to run towards the doors that we came in through.

And I took a couple steps, about three seconds after the - three or four seconds after the first blast, the second bomb went off. And I actually felt the explosion on my right side. I - I could feel the blast.

I was so lucky. I was so lucky, being how close I was. And I saw a lot of people that were injured worse. I heard a lot of people that were injured badly. And - you know, my only thoughts, my only feelings were just for the people that were out there. I hope that they're doing OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Wow. What a brave young man. Amazing to see him talk like that after going through all that he's been through.

Coming up, authorities across Europe racing to foil ISIS plots. The latest on a series of raids.

Plus, ISIS' finance minister killed in a U.S. operation. Was there any connection to the Brussels attacks? We'll discuss, up next.

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