Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Police Raids Follow Vicious Brussels Attacks; Belgium Admits Intel Failure over Suicide Bomber; Treating Brussels Terror Victims; Key ISIS Commander Killed; Cruz and Trump Go to War over Their Wives; Bombings at Brussels Airport and Metro Station Killed 31; The Florida Fish Kill; Muslim Teacher Missing after Metro Blast. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired March 26, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes here in Brussels, as we continue our coverage of the terror attacks that hit this city earlier this week.

Police here may have the identity of a possible suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (voice-over): The French police bulletin shows Naim Al Hamed, a 28-year-old Syrian, thought to be at the heart of the ISIS attacks here and also in Paris. Investigators are unsure of his whereabouts during the bombings but French media are reporting the police found his DNA inside the apartment that the three airport attackers used.

This comes as officials make at least 10 arrests in Brussels, in Belgium, in France and also in Germany in connection with the blast at the airport and the metro station in Brussels.

And police continue scouring Belgium and beyond for suspected terrorists as people here in the capital get back to some sort of normalcy. Brian Todd has the latest in the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scenes like this across Brussels as police work to take down alleged ISIS cells related to Tuesday's attacks, arresting at least nine potential terrorists, including this suspect, seen here shot and wounded as a police robot moves in. Moments later, police drag the man away. A witness says just before the shooting, the suspect had been sitting with a little girl at a bus stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In one moment, two cars coming very speedily or three cars very speedily and they shoot one guy. Shooting behind me. I was watching him. Was with a little girl. And that was very, very fast. And he looked at the bag and after robots come to take the bags.

TODD (voice-over): That man is in custody tonight, shot in the leg. Since the bombings, the city is on edge as police continue major operations in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek. The same neighborhood where a taxi driver picked up three terrorists and brought them to the Brussels airport on Tuesday. Two of them blew themselves up inside the terminal.

This video obtained by CNN shows the apartment where at least two of the suspects apparently planned the attacks. Inside police found TATP, the unstable explosive believed to have been used in the Brussels and Paris attacks, as well as chemicals and an ISIS flag. Meantime overnight in a separate operation outside Paris, French officials captured another man suspected of planning his own attack.

BERNARD CAZENEUVE, FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): To foil a planned attack in France which is at an advanced stage. The individual in question holding French nationality is suspected of being involved at a high level in this project.

TODD (voice-over): Recovered in a related operation, a Kalashnikov rifle and more TATP. And tonight German authorities say they arrested a 28-year-old Moroccan man. A source briefed by German officials tells CNN the man allegedly received two text messages before Tuesday's attacks in Brussels.

One text had the name of Khalid el-Bakraoui, the man believed to have blown himself up at the Brussels train station. Later the source says there was another text containing the word "fin," the French word for end. Three minutes after that text, the source says, Khalid el- Bakraoui detonated his bomb inside the train station. German authorities don't know who sent the text to the Moroccan man.

TODD: And a U.S. official tells CNN U.S. authorities believe they know the identity of this man, seen on surveillance footage at the Brussels airport just before the bombings. He is wearing a hat and light-colored clothing.

He is believed to have left the bomb at the airport and then took off. U.S. authorities have shared information about his identity with Belgian officials, according to our source. His name has not yet been made public -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It's not yet clear if that mysterious man in white, the man with the hat that Brian mentioned in that report, might be the Syrian suspect that police are looking for right now, who we have been reporting on, Naim Al Hamed.

Now the 28-year old is described in a police bulletin in France as, quote, "very dangerous and probably armed." Investigators trying to piece together Hamed's movements in recent months and his links to the captured Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Meanwhile Abdeslam has reportedly told police that he had only a minor role in the November attacks in Paris. Let's get more now on both of these men. Salah Abdeslam and Naim Al

Hamed; CNN contributor Tim Lister, following this angle of the investigation, joins us now from London.

Let's start with Al Hamed. I know you have been digging into his background.

[05:05:00]

HOLMES: And this is a man who apparently came across to Europe as a supposed refugee. Tell us what else we know about him.

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well according to the French national police bulletin, Michael, Naim Al Hamed is about 28 years old; he was born in Hama in Syria. Whether those are his real details, whether it's a forged identity, we really don't know.

And he arrived on the Greek island or Leros back in September of last year. Oddly enough at the same time as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks, was also on that island. He then appears to have proceeded up through the refugee chain, if you will, and ended up at a refugee center in the German city of Ulm, which is where his links with Salah Abdeslam become much more interesting because Abdeslam drove to Ulm at the very beginning of October.

And when he was there, two refugees went missing from this center. And we think one of them is Al Hamed. One of the reasons that investigators have been able to piece this together is that during the course of last summer and last autumn, Abdeslam rented a bunch of different cars and those cars were equipped with GPS systems.

That's enabled investigators to piece together his movements. Anyway, after October, he appears to have gone to ground somewhat until an entry in the Schengen information system just within the last couple of weeks which shows that he had taken an Audi A3, a black Audi A3 from somewhere -- maybe he bought it, maybe he stole it, maybe he rented it -- and that's the latest information we have on him. His whereabouts are unknown, whether he was the man at the airport, unknown -- Mike.

HOLMES: Interesting, your take on Salah Abdeslam and the reports coming out of Belgium. But he did talk to authorities here after his arrest but basically that was to say he didn't have all that much to do with Paris, that he was a minor figure there and then not answering any questions about Brussels.

What are your thoughts there -- Tim?

LISTER: Well, I guess my first thought is he would say that, wouldn't he. It's inevitable. But he wasn't questioned for very long by either the police or the investigating magistrate. And the questions were solely about Paris.

They did not touch on his Belgian network because of course that was before the Belgium attacks. After those attacks happened, he clammed up altogether. But in talking about Paris, he said that he did drop off these two Iraqis at the Stade de France, where they blew themselves up. Then he drove randomly, according to his account, before wandering on the metro.

That does fit with what we know of his movements that night, which do appear to have been somewhat confused. And then he was picked up and brought back to Brussels the following morning and he says that he went to lay low at an apartment that belonged to a 35-year-old Algerian, Mohamed Belkaid. Now Belaid was a known quantity. He had been to Syria; he's come back to Belgium through Sweden.

Apparently he was not known to have been in Belgium by the Belgian authorities. He had been involved in sending money to Abdelhamid Abaaoud. This was a guy who was really at the heart of the plot.

But for some reason they thought they would be safe in Brussels so that's where he went. Either they thought that the Belgian authorities were not particularly competent, wouldn't find them; whether they were very optimistic and very naive about their survival chances. But he appears to have laid low in these two apartments that belonged to Mohamed Belkaid for at least four months -- Mike.

HOLMES: Yes and you write about a lot of this on cnn.com. And it's interesting; from your writings and what we're also hearing elsewhere, we're learning a lot about the extent of travel of these suspects and the apparent ease of travel as well, the resources they had.

LISTER: They do seem to have quite a bit in the way of resources for property, for travel and for fake documents. They all seem to be equipped with at least one or two aliases. That's not cheap. They travel a good deal by air. One of them who's associated with a plot, associated with Abdeslam, appears to have traveled to England in the days immediately before the attack by Thierry (ph), rented a car; went, came back. A lot of travel, a lot of aliases.

So, yes, there are resources and I think what we're seeing as you divert a picture and look at all the documents that we're able to see, we're able to obtain, it's what I call kind of the iceberg factor. There's so much hidden about this network. Every passing day seems to reveal a new name.

HOLMES: Yes, Tim, thanks as always. Tim Lister there in London.

And Koen Vidal, a journalist for the newspaper, "De Morgen," is here with me now in Brussels.

And I know you have written a lot about ISIS' strategy and the shifting, the expanding, if you like, of the battlefield.

KOEN VIDAL, "DE MORGEN": Yes. Yes. I think we have to see it as one battlefield, Belgium, France, also Iraq and Syria. ISIS is in a war on its own territory.

[05:10:00]

VIDAL: It's losing the war. And what they are doing now is attacking Europe in its weak spots. That's what's happening now.

HOLMES: And how does that play into how authorities in Europe need to play this, how they need to deal with this?

Do they need to now start thinking that they are not dealing with a terror attack here or a terror attack there, that they're dealing with an ongoing insurgency of sorts on European soil?

VIDAL: Yes. That's exactly how they I think should look at it. And as you know, the Belgian political discussion is now focused on the big question on how one of the foreign terrorist fighters who was in Zaventem and who blew himself up in Zaventem, he was arrested by Turkish authorities.

This was communicated to Belgian authorities but there went something wrong with the communication. Nothing happened with it.

So I think the -- some Belgian politicians say, well, it's this one liaison officer who is responsible; I don't think that's the case. I think it's a system error. And it's the system coming out of a kind of innocence and maybe also naivete. And I compare it a lot with a period of '92 (ph); as you remember the Belgian pedophile who kidnapped and killed several young girls.

There was also the system who was never confronted with such pure evil.

HOLMES: There was a trial there and things were missed in that case as well.

So where's the government responsibility here?

We talked a lot about these gaps in counterterrorism and the passing on of information not just within Europe but in Belgium itself?

VIDAL: Yes. I think there's a huge communication gap, the different services . I don't know whether they don't get along or not or whether they do. But I do know that there is a communication problem and it is extremely important, especially if you look at -- this is an international problem, where terrorists are going from one country to the other.

And then your communication system has to be really well organized. And that wasn't the case. That's clear.

HOLMES: And we heard the U.S. Defense Secretary yesterday, Ash Carter, talking about the sort of structure of ISIS, that there are those fighting in Syria and Iraq who have come back and then there are those who come back and they train others here.

And then there are those who are self-radicalized. But that brings us back to the point of why people are open to that radicalization, this disenfranchising of those who are then susceptible to a radical message.

What needs to be done there? VIDAL: Well, that's the second wakeup call. It's not just only a problem of the security services. It's also the big question on how you integrate different communities into our society.

And that should be also a big debate, not just security but also how to organize your community and how to include all the people of your society, how to give them equal chances.

And for example, we are in Brussels; education is quite a big -- is a big problem. I mean, some schools are really struggling and that's so important. That's where it starts. That's where the radicalization -- and, yes, if you don't have a good school, you're really vulnerable. And that's also the system failure.

HOLMES: I covered Iraq throughout the war. And one thing that we always battle with in covering that war was trying to get past the numbers and put faces and make those casualties into people.

Now here in Belgium, this attack, you're going to see photos. You're starting to see it now, photographs, names of local people here.

How is that going to impact the people in this square behind us to pressure the government?

Is there going to be an absolute of anger here that this was allowed to happen or could happen?

VIDAL: No, what I think is you will see that the group of victims will be very diverse. I mean, the first pictures are coming out, the first people are identified and you can see several people of Muslim origin. And we will see that we have been hit, not just the white people in Belgium but everybody is hit and everybody is hurt.

HOLMES: Yes. That's a very good point, 14 nationalities involved in the victims.

Koen Vidal with "De Morgen" newspaper, thank you so much for coming by.

VIDAL: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Important points made there as well.

Hundreds recovering after the explosions in Brussels. Ahead on the program, CNN spoke with a trauma doctor, who described the injuries that the shrapnel left behind. We'll be right back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES: Welcome back. The attacks here in Brussels left hundreds seriously wounded, many badly burned, their bodies torn apart by shrapnel. CNN's Hala Gorani sat down with the trauma surgeon who has been working tirelessly to try to save them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. NIJS, TRAUMA SURGEON: All of them have burns. All of them have shrapnel injuries, metal pieces blown away by the bomb, entering the body on different locations. This has caused multiple fractures in many patients, also involving blood vessels and nerves. Many patients have eye penetration, metal pieces going into the eye. Some of them have lost sight.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've, of course, extracted some of the shrapnel from the injured. Describe some of what was in that bomb because it truly is designed -- it's designed to inflict maximum injury.

NIJS: You can find whatever piece of metal in there. There were bolts. There were nuts. There were screw, nails and unidentifiable pieces of metal. The more bolts they are, the more injury they cause because sharp things cut.

The other one make the skin and the tissue below kind of explode when they go into the body and they create really horrible injuries.

GORANI: You're a trauma surgeon, so you are trained to respond to severe injuries, accidents, all sorts of things.

Were you prepared for this?

NIJS: You never are prepared for this. On one side, you have the number of patients. On the other side, these are injuries you never see under civilian circumstances.

One of our co-workers is a military surgeon with experience in Afghanistan and he has informed us in the past and instructed us in the past based upon his experience in Kabul. So we knew about those injuries and we knew how to deal with them but we never see them until last Tuesday.

GORANI: Talk to me a little bit about what the patients are telling you, when you're able to have a discussion; maybe they're out of surgery --

[05:20:00]

GORANI: -- they're just waking up to what happened to them.

NIJS: They are extremely courageous. They all want to fight back and go back to normal lives. We have some people who were working at the airport. And yesterday one of them told the king when he was passing and

visiting the patients, said, "OK, I'll be working back on the airport in six months. You will see me on the airport again."

And this courage of these people is striking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Stories of resilience and bravery there, Hala Gorani reporting.

Now we're going to be back a little later in the program with more on the unfolding developments here in Brussels. But for now, let's go back to CNN Center. George Howell is there, standing by with other stories making news this hour -- George.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Michael, thank you.

And other stories we're following around the world this hour, in Iraq, ISIS is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 25 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL (voice-over): That video appears to show the moment of the explosion at a football stadium. The blast happened as trophies were being handed out after a tournament.

Both the U.N. and the United States are condemning the attack. Even so, ISIS has been losing territory in Iraq. The country's army is now concentrating on retaking the key city of Mosul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile the Pentagon says that U.S. forces killed a man who may have been second in command for ISIS. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, reports American forces are trying to kill or capture the terror group's top leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. special operations forces secretly sent into Syria trying to capture this man alive, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter bluntly described the target.

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: He was an ISIL leader, senior leader, serving as a finance minister and who also is responsible for some external affairs and plots.

STARR (voice-over): Somebody the U.S. government put a high priority on grabbing, including a $7 million bounty on his head.

COL. STEVE WARREN, U.S. SPOKESMAN FOR OPERATION AGAINST ISIS: In fact, we know that he was actively planning external attacks, presumably in the West or even in the United States.

STARR (voice-over): But even though the U.S. forces went in to capture him, they kill him in a highly dangerous mission, about which little is being revealed.

The troops were part of the Pentagon's covert expeditionary targeting force, a team of 200 special operations forces with orders to kill or capture ISIS leaders.

The unit had been tracking Qaduli. From helicopters overhead, they prepared to land and grab him from a vehicle on the road, fighter jets overhead ready to act if the troops needed more firepower.

But sources tell CNN something went wrong. The commandos ended up having to open fire from their helicopters and kill Qaduli.

CARTER: The removal of this ISIL leader will hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations, both inside and outside of Iraq and Syria.

STARR (voice-over): Qaduli, who some analysts call the number two in ISIS, would have had crucial intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is somebody with significant credentials in global jihad.

STARR: If they had been able to grab him alive, the plan was to take him back to Iraq, interrogate him there and then turn him over to Iraqi authorities for detention -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOWELL: America's choice, 2016 and the race for the White House. The verbal feud between two Republican rivals, it is growing even more heated now. Ted Cruz is angry after a salacious tabloid article was published about his family.

And Cruz is accusing Donald Trump of planting that story. Trump says that he had nothing to do with that article.

The war of words began earlier this week during a back-and-forth attack over the candidates' wives. Our Gary Tuchman went to a Ted Cruz rally in Wisconsin, who asked some of his supporters what they think about this Republican feud.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Escaping a springtime snow shower in Janesville, Wisconsin, hundreds of people walk indoors and line up, looking forward to not only seeing Ted Cruz in person, but also his wife, Heidi, who has gotten recent attention she hasn't sought.

TUCHMAN: Have you read what Donald Trump is tweeted about Ted Cruz's wife?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: How do you feel about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unprofessional.

TUCHMAN: Who's angry, as a woman, who is angry about this? What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well I think every woman could be angry about that. It is a distraction. And not only that, when it comes to the general election --

[05:25:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- if he is the candidate, Hillary is going to beat up on him because the way he comes against women.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Ted Cruz made reference to the tweets.

CRUZ: Heidi has been in the news the past couple of days. And let me just say, although the views of some might differ, I think Heidi Cruz is the most beautiful, extraordinary, generous, loving, amazing, fantastic woman on the face of the planet.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Wisconsin resident Lexi Gianitsos says it's not amused about Heidi Cruz being in the news. She is leaning towards Ted Cruz still mulling over John Kasich but not considering the man who tweeted about Ted Cruz's wife.

LEXIE GIANITSOS, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I think that something that you don't do in a six grade presidential campaign. They don't let you put that stuff on the walls. This is the national stage.

TUCHMAN: Whether you are against Donald Trump or for Donald Trump there's little surprise these days when he goes on one of his Twitter tirades. While the Cruz supporters here don't very much like Trump calling their candidate "lying Ted," they say that outrage doesn't compare to this outrage.

Ann and Joshua Marie brought their children so the could all see Ted and Heidi Cruz in person. Their support for Ted Cruz only solidified by Donald Trump's tweets.

JOSHUA MARIE, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I think him attacking women has gone to a major low for him. And I understand Donald can say a lot of things and not get in trouble for it but I think going after women and going after Ted Cruz's wife is totally, you know, unacceptable.

TUCHMAN: So a couple of days ago you were considering Donald Trump?

MEREDITH KONKOL, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And you are not anymore?

KONKOL: I don't think so.

TUCHMAN: And are these tweets a factor?

KONKOL: I think the tweets play a part in it. Yes.

TUCHMAN: Because?

KONKOL: I Because I just don't think it's appropriate to be attacking each other's wives.

TUCHMAN: There were quite a few undecided voters we talk to here. The tweets, at least at this rally, did not bode well for Trump getting any of those votes.

CAMERON PICKENING, REPUBLICAN VOTER: His views on women, he doesn't treat women the way that, I mean, as humans. So objectifying us and objectifying Ted Cruz's wife was really immature.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Heidi Cruz, part of the conversation of this unusual campaign -- Gary Tuchman, CNN, Janesville, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: For the Democrats, there are three contests ahead on Saturday, in Alaska, Hawaii and the state of Washington. Be sure to tune in all day for CNN's full coverage of the Democratic caucuses only here on CNN.

This is CNN. I'm George Howell in Atlanta. Ahead, we take you back to Brussels and our continuing coverage on the deadly attacks there with my colleague, Michael Holmes, with a very powerful story of a community trying to stay united, despite their fear while they honor those who died. Stay with us.

[05:30:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: And welcome back to our special coverage of the Brussels terror attacks. I'm Michael Holmes, coming to you live from Brussels.

We are learning that passenger flights at Brussels airport won't resume until next Tuesday at the earliest.

The airport departure area was very badly damaged in last Tuesday's deadly attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (voice-over): Now in the meantime, a manhunt underway for a 28-year-old Syrian in connection with the attacks in Brussels and indeed the November Paris attacks as well.

Naim Al Hamed is described as very dangerous and probably armed. In Brussels meanwhile on Friday, mourners releasing balloons into the sky at the memorial site for attack victims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Most of the deaths in Tuesday's bombings were at a metro station not far from where we stand now. Many Belgians still struggling with disbelief while trying to stay strong at the same time. CNN's Saima Mohsin shares some of their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reaching out for reassurance in the center of the city, a quiet moment for just two people of so many who have been touched by this tragedy. Local residents who use this station every day, tears in their eyes, struggling to absorb why they're under attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our city and we didn't ask for nothing. We are just -- we are struck by that but it's not our business. We are not -- we don't have anything to do with that. If they go and fight a war, I understand and we respect that. But not in our city.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are very, very sad that all these things are happening all over the world, not only in Brussels.

MOHSIN (voice-over): Workmen opened the shutters to reveal the empty ticket hall, seen here through smashed glass.

In an exclusive look, these are the first pictures of the scene underground since the attack. Reminders of the violence and carnage remain. A gutted-out station, once the very artery of life in this city.

MOHSIN: This makeshift monument at the entrance to the metro. People have been leaving flowers. Some people coming, like these ladies, to light candles and a number of messages and prayers left as well. Children, too.

I want to show you this. A lot of them writing tributes, messages of peace.

"Everybody together," this says in French.

And this letter really, really struck me. It's a young girl who lives nearby and she says that, "I normally take the metro all the time. But that particular day, I didn't. And I keep thinking," it says, "what would have happened to me if I was on board that metro train? I'm really scared to take the metro."

These children are from a nearby school. Only five of them from the entire class came to school for the first few days after the attacks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today we are 21 of 30 in the class. The rest of them is not -- didn't dare to come or was afraid to come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of our children, they live where the terror and the terrorists came from. They live in the streets are like that. So for Schaerbeek or Molenbeek. It's very important to see like we are Muslim but that's -- we are not the same, you know.

MOHSIN (voice-over): A community trying hard to stay united in the face of fear and terror. For now, though, there's only confusion and emptiness --

[05:35:00]

MOHSIN (voice-over): -- Saima Mohsin, CNN, Maelbeek metro station, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now of course the terror attacks are exposing Belgium as a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi fighters. But even before that, CNN's Nima Elbagir was in Brussels' Maelbeek neighborhood, an area becoming synonymous with extremism. She and her team spent months getting to kn0ow the resident, having them share what it is like to live there and finding out what attracts some to a violent ideology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAM SULAYMAN VAN AEL: I believe that as a part of our Islam that we protect the country that we were raised in and that we try to make the country that we lived in prosper. And the problem is the misunderstanding of this youth, that they think, when I attribute myself to a non-Muslim country, it makes me a non-Muslim. And that doesn't make any sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That's just a glimpse there of what is an in-depth look at the fight against terror in "Frontline: Belgium." That's Saturday, 7:30 pm if you're in London, 8:30 Central European time, only here on CNN.

Anger, frustration, sadness, all of those things being felt across Belgium and especially at the countries' Islamic cultural center. Our own Max Foster went to the Great Mosque of Brussels for the first Friday prayers since Tuesday's attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Friday prayers in a week that scarred the minds of all Belgians. Religious leaders left to make sense of the horror that unfolded in Brussels.

The same questions a growing number of terror victims all over the world are asking.

One of the imams of this mosque strongly condemning the attacks the week, calling the perpetrators "barbarians." There is no evidence that anybody here is implicated in any crime.

But the Muslim community as a whole feels implicated. The terrorists may be Muslims. But that doesn't mean that Muslims are terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are all affected by this, we are all affected by this, as a Belgian, as a Muslim or as a human being. It's very sad. It's a sect that is striking everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The problem is, is that there are a number of young people who are weak and who are lost, socially and economically, and who are easily indoctrinated.

FOSTER (voice-over): So how does Belgium move forward?

How does it neutralize a threat that's emerging from its own communities?

Leaders here accept joint but not complete responsibility. The solution in large part is economic and comes from the government, they say, claiming the youth most vulnerable to radicalization are those who are out of work and out of things to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the solutions for this problem, to find chances or activities or sport activities or physical activities or financial activities to keep him busy with useful things, not with bad things.

FOSTER (voice-over): For his part, Dr. Momenah (ph) says he sees himself as the eyes and ears of the Muslim community, on permanent lookout for signs of radicalization.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had the depression or he has psychological problem. We send him to the clinic.

FOSTER: What have you got here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's sick with the doctor and speak to him about his problem. He tried to solve his problem, taking care of him.

FOSTER (voice-over): A resident psychologist, sitting beneath the mosque. A sign, perhaps, of Europe's new reality, psychologists sitting beside imams -- Max Foster, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And we will have more from Brussels a little later this hour. After the break, though, we have the story of a massive fish kill in the fishing capital of the world.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:40:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING) GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell. We will have more from Michael Holmes in Brussels ahead.

But first, in the U.S. state of Florida, enormous numbers of fish and marine wildlife are dying. Our Jennifer Gray explains what's causing the Florida fish kill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Florida is known as the fishing capital of the world. But right now there's a lot less fishing and a lot more concern about what's happening to their valuable and vulnerable ecosystem.

If you walk up and down Indian River Lagoon, you will see this: thousands of dead fish, belly up in the water. There are several different factors going into play here.

One is the state received about triple their average rainfall for the month of January. All of that rainwater and runoff has gone straight into the rivers and the lagoons.

Not to mention, because of El Nino, temperatures were warmer than normal, allowing for a toxic algae bloom and brown tide to takeover. The algae bloom depletes the oxygen from the water; in turn, killing the fish and has also killed more than half of the lagoon sea grass.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute says that fish kills happen all the time all over the state. But this one is massive.

Farther south, there's another problem. Lake Okeechobee is the highest it's been in 10 years. So, right now, the Army Corps of Engineers is draining it, billions of gallons of fresh water pouring out of Lake Okeechobee. This brackish water affecting the salinity of all the estuaries.

The Army Corps of Engineers says that they are backing off to a safer discharge. But if you ask the fishermen in the area, they say it's too little, too late.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: That was our meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, telling us what's happening there in Florida.

And now switching to weather, winter, it is hanging on in parts of the western U.S. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is here with that at the World Weather Center -- Karen.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[05:45:00]

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And the wind gusts here into Western Europe, George, could, as I mentioned, top 100 kilometers per hour. Back to you.

HOWELL: That's some pretty serious weather there. We'll stay in touch with you, Karen. Thank you.

Still ahead here, the story of a young teacher who is still missing after the terror attacks in Brussels. We visited her school to meet the students and colleagues who hope that she will return. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:00]

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES: And welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN's special coverage of the Brussels terror attacks. There is a manhunt for one of Europe's most wanted men. Authorities say 28-year-old Naim Al Hamed may prove to be a critical figure in both the Brussels and the Paris terror attacks.

Meanwhile, Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect from the November Paris attacks, has apparently told police he had only a minor role. This coming from French media outlet citing interrogation transcripts.

Belgian police captured Abdeslam last week. Now in the headlines, they are numbers: 31 dead, 300 wounded. But of course behind every one of those numbers is a face and a family ripped apart by tragedy.

And there's another number, too, one that is harder to pin down: the number of people who are missing since the Brussels terror attacks. Authorities in Belgium say it could be weeks before all the dead are identified.

Meanwhile, their families trapped in a limbo, not knowing for sure.

And the Islamic school in Brussels is trying to find its way back to normalcy. Colleagues and students alike hope that one teacher who has been missing since Tuesday's attacks will somehow return. Our Atika Shubert visited her school to meet the people whose lives she touched.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Tuesday morning in Brussels, students at La Vertue Islamic School were waiting for class with their gym teacher, Loubna Lafquiri, also a wife and mother to three young children.

"She was supposed to start at 9.45," the school's co-founder told us, "but she didn't show up. We started to worry; thought she was sick. We called and called. But there was no answer on her phone."

A powerful bomb had ripped through Lafquiri's morning commute. Her family has checked every hospital; she remains missing. It may take at least three weeks to identify those killed.

"She was an exceptional woman. She represented the true values of Islam, with generosity and caring."

He then corrects himself, as he says, "She was a woman -- I'm sorry. She is a woman, an energetic woman, who smiled all the time."

SHUBERT: The chairs in her homeroom class are still empty. And many of the students haven't come back to school yet. But on the door of her classroom, you can still see her name listed, Loubna Lafquiri.

SHUBERT (voice-over): Before students return, a counselor meets with teachers to discuss how to break the news to the children.

SHUBERT: What's your favorite memory of Loubna?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her smile.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her smile, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Always jumping.

SHUBERT (voice-over): At the gym, children play under gold calligraphy that spells out the word for "Allah" and the Prophet Muhammad. No one here can fathom how the attackers could possibly justify bloodshed in the name of their religion.

"It's simple," he says. "Whoever supports these people, who harms so many others, who paralyzes the lives of those around them with fear is not a human being. We must not support these people; we must report them."

The terrorist attacks on Brussels may have robbed this school of a --

[05:55:00]

SHUBERT (voice-over): -- beloved teacher. But it cannot shake their faith -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: One of the many tragic stories that have come from these horrible attacks here in Belgium. And before we go, we want to bring you some scenes, though, from Friday, when many here paused to remember the victims of Tuesday's bombing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES (voice-over): And we were here at the Place de la Bourse when that happened. The Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra playing Barber's "Adagio for Strings" for the crowd in the Place de la Bourse, it was a very moving scene, too.

Before this week, the Brussels stock exchange looked like any other civic building. Now, of course, it's very different. It is full of flags, flowers and messages written on the walls, messages of peace ever since the attacks. The Place de la Bourse has become the focal point for mourners here in Brussels.

And on Good Friday, they were joined by the city's emergency services for a moment of solidarity, Brussels showing its appreciation to the first responders.

And here in the Place de la Bourse right now, it is quiet, but people still coming in, mingling; we saw people dropping flowers earlier, adding to the many already there.

I'm Michael Holmes in Brussels. Thanks for watching.