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Attack in Bangladesh Capitol's Diplomatic Zone; Hostage Situation in Bangladesh. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 01, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Roads are closed. They are talking to their friends. They have these orders to shelter in place. There is tremendous fear and concern for people in that area right now -- Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Alexandra, you are sensing or the suspicion of those that have been in touch. This is a continuation of the violence going on over the last year and a half. Is there also a concern that because attacks in this particular neighborhood are hostage-takers have focused in on is where there are a number of foreigners that is this would be a slightly different situation, something that is designed to capture more international attention instead of being something that is seen of more of just a local issue?

FIELD: I think you are hitting on two really important points. We do not know who is behind these attacks, whether this is terrorism and what has motivated it exactly and precisely. Yes, you touch on two very important elements. One, growing climate of fear, concerns that these been met with a stronger stance from the government, that the people who perpetrated these attacks were not being brought to justice. There were cries to find these people and bring them to justice and stop it from spreading and cut off the head of the snake. On the flip side, there is also the concern that the killings were becoming more indiscriminate while they had initially targeted these secular writers that were very prominent, the voices of the country, the intellectuals, it started to target more of the religious community, bloggers, the LGBT community. You have an undercurrent. The more liberal section of the country, society, community, the society and the community who say, wow, there is this feeling of fear here, because there is growing intolerance. Can we link these machete murders to whatever atrocious, hideous act is unfolding in Dhaka? It's too soon to know -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Alexandria, stay with me.

You're in Istanbul. Alexandria has recently been to Bangladesh.

We do have our law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, with us. We'll go to him in a moment.

These are pictures from moments ago. They are not live. Law enforcement is telling TV reporters not to broadcast the incident live for the sake of national security interest. We are trying to resolve this issue peacefully.

I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, on the phone with me.

We see this elite force, Tom, staging. What are they and other authorities trying to do?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (voice-over): At the moment, they are trying to figure out what exactly is going on. How many people are in that restaurant? What are they up against? What kind of weapons and explosives do they have? If it is true they have been throwing grenades out of the restaurant and it adds to the complications of containing this issue. They want to find out who is behind this. There is no shortage of Islamic, extremist groups in Bangladesh. You have ISIS claiming more than 20 attacks in the last year and a half. You have six or seven claimed by al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent in Bangladesh. You have Ansar al Islam and the continuation of many attacks that have occurred over the last year and a half against a wide range of targets.

Often, in many capitols in largely Muslim countries, they allow them to serve alcohol and this increases the identity of the infidels that they may want to attack. We had four FBI agents critically hurt where an explosive was hurled over the wall of a restaurant in an outdoor patio. That's another concern that these extremist groups would be aware that many non Muslims would be in the restaurant. During Ramadan, they fast all day. After dark, these restaurants are jammed with everybody now being able to eat until the sun comes up the next day. Ramadan causes these restaurants to be packed with Muslims and others that may be hosting them.

KEILAR: Tom, when you hear these attackers are throwing grenades at police? What does that tell you that they want them to keep their distance basically? Is that any indication they want to have communications with them at some distance away?

[13:35:11] FUENTES: I think what they are communicating is, we are the real deal. We are heavily armed. This is what you are going to be up against. It could end up being a suicide mission for you, law enforcement, but it could also result in the death of whatever number of hostages. Again, the hostages, there is a good possibility that they will be European, American, Australian diplomats who are Westerners, and therefore infidels that may be committing the sin of drinking alcohol. We don't know for sure. Often, in the diplomatic zone, that's the case.

KEILAR: Tom, stay with me and listen to this with me.

White House Press secretary, Josh Earnest, was just asked about this situation. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not aware of this particular situation. We will see what we can learn and let you know if and when the president has been briefed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: That's how new this unfolding situation is. Josh Earnest in the middle of his briefing, yet to hear about it, obviously, because he was at the podium. We do expect that the president is going to be briefed on this. Normally, this happens very quickly. But he was just asked about this situation in Bangladesh.

To recap, ongoing hostage situation. Pictures from the Bangladesh capitol. This is an ex pat area where there are a number of embassies, foreigners living there, socializing, working there. These hostage takers are in a restaurant with dozens of hostages, at least some of them foreigners, and we don't know who the hostage-takers are. And a number of terrorist groups have been operating out of Bangladesh for some time.

This is a tweet from the State Department. It is saying that, "This is at a bakery in the diplomatic enclave. Local news should be monitored."

We are getting new information by the moment. We'll take a quick break and be back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:45] KEILAR: Breaking news right now coming out of Bangladesh. Here is what we know about an attack that is underway in a diplomatic neighborhood inside Dhaka, the capitol of Bangladesh, an area popular with foreign nationals. They live there, work there, cafes and restaurants they go to. We are hearing that attackers have been throwing grenades at police and at least one officer is dead. Police say they are trying to calm the situation there. There is an unknown number of attackers they are dealing with. They do know they are dealing with more than one. There are dozens of hostages. They are all inside of what we believe is a Spanish restaurant. There is also a tweet coming from the State Department that this is a bakery. We are trying to figure out if this is a bakery restaurant or what is happening there. It is possible dozens of people are inside and trapped. The U.S. embassy is telling people they need to shelter in place. The State Department says all Americans that work with the U.S. embassy, at least, have been accounted for.

I want to go to Alexandra Field in Istanbul. She's spent time in Bangladesh.

A number of terror groups have operated, maybe quietly. There was some staging for al Qaeda, a base where they would train and get a little rest, not where they would necessarily operate. There was a presence for al Qaeda as well as other terror groups -- Alexandra?

FIELD: Hey, there, Brianna. Al Qaeda and ISIS have both claimed credit for recent attacks where the government has continued to deny that these groups operate within their borders. What we are hearing is about this growing climate and fear about the number of attacks that have ratcheted up within the past few months. We don't know who is behind the attack.

One woman tells me she was about a five or 10-minute walk from this restaurant in this neighborhood. She was stopped by police. She said that people all around her were suddenly being searched and stopped, that cars were being turned away. She describes seeing police pushing back, trying to keep people out of that area, if not setting up a formal perimeter and trying to get people back out and away from the area. She has been in touch with people in their homes heeding these orders to shelter in place as this chaotic and difficult situation continues to unfold as police try to get a grasp and handle on what's going on. She says they are simply fearful.

The orders from the State Department is to shelter in place. They are waiting for answers and for all of this to come to an end.

[13:45:00] KEILAR: A very scary situation that we are seeing.

We're going to let you get back to talking to your sources there in Bangladesh, who can tell you what's going on in this neighborhood that is essentially under lockdown.

You see police there in advanced gear, SWAT gear, head protection. These attackers inside of what is a Spanish restaurant or bakery, they have been throwing grenades at police. One police officer is dead. Dozens of hostages, some foreigners, inside this restaurant, holed up with multiple attackers.

I want to bring in CNN intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer, joining me on the phone.

Bob, as you see and hear what's going on, what are your thoughts?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): This is unprecedented. A lot of political murder in Bangladesh, Islamic- inspired, over the last couple of years, but never a full-on attack like this. Bangladesh has traditionally been a very conservative country but secular at the same time. Never has it been inspired by the Islamic State or al Qaeda. The Bangladesh police are not prepared for military assaults. I don't know who these people are. It would take a while. If they are Islamic-state inspired and they have military training, this is a very dire situation, especially for a country that's pretty much stadium out of the conflicts in the Middle East.

KEILAR: There are several hostages inside with these attackers, which you are describing as a very unusual situation, not only because it is in this part of the capitol which is an area where a lot of foreigners live and work, but just because of the nature of this. These are attackers who have grenades. They are throwing them at police. They have killed an officer. This is not just an assassination that we have seen a proliferation of recently. What do police need to do at this point, especially talk about some of the challenges when you are saying these are not police that are necessarily equipped to handle a big military style attack like this?

BAER: It is a poor country. They haven't been prepared to take on something like the Istanbul attackers or even the Brussels attackers. The country, it is not a failed state. This sort of chaos is truly unprecedented for Bangladesh to take on Islamic style commando attacks, you would need to insert yourself into the situation with heavy weaponry and hostage situations, we are surrounding a place and people are throwing grenades usually do not turn out well at the end, especially if they are targeting foreigners. This is a soft target. We have to look at it in the Istanbul airport attack, the attacks in Jordan, Yemen and Lebanon and Afghanistan. It looks to me like there is some sort of worldwide assault going on inspired by the Islamic State. We are going to have to wait and see if they have any connection with this. Right now, I'll go out in a limb and say it is probably connected. We don't know that but that is certainly the concern.

KEILAR: What we know that at this point, and it's a concern, Bob.

I do want to tell our viewers, be transparent, because this information is coming in rapidly and we're getting it from local officials, what we know about where the hostages were being held. It is a restaurant. We do not know what kind of restaurant this is now. We are just describing this as a restaurant. This is in a neighborhood where there would be a number of foreigners.

Bob, when you look at this, for instance -- we are not drawing a connection at this point. We do not know. But one of the reasons, looking at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, when that attack happened, a lot of people said from the very beginning this appeared to be something that had to do with ISIS or the group, was because this is an area where there would be a number of foreigners. We saw that from those that were killed. When this happened, it tells you about something about the kind of tag get these attackers went after.

BAER: Exactly. That's why the initial attack on Istanbul, it looks like Islamic State. The fact that there was automatic weaponry, heavy weaponry attack on foreigners and also a country. Now I would be very surprised if this was controlled from a place like Raqqa from the Islamic State. Seems awful far. But again, we're just going to have to wait and see. What again I don't like is all of these attacks. Almost every day there is an Islamic State-inspired attack, even going back to Orlando.

[13:50:22] KEILAR: Certainly. And I think people around the world do feel like there is an assault under way.

I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, back with us by phone.

Tom, we know this is a restaurant. There are numerous hostages and bob has been describing this situation where these are not necessarily -- even though this is the elite level police group, compared to, say, Turkey, or compared to the U.S., this may not be a situation that law enforcement officials in this country are really prepared to deal with.

FUENTES (voice-over): No, that's true. And I also agree with everything Bob has just said about the probability in this case of ISIS. Because even though there's four or five extremist groups operating in Bangladesh, ISIS has become the bigger one. ISIS is the one sending worldwide messages right now to all of their followers to commit home country, especially during Ramadan, which is still ongoing now. And also, many foreign fighters from all over Asia -- west Asia, North America, Australia -- went to Syria and Iraq to learn and fight for ISIS, and then return home. And Bangladesh has had extremists going back as far as fighting with the Mujahidin in Afghanistan. So they've been involved on a global basis before, and that's why it would look like in this case ISIS would be the likely candidate for this type of attack. But especially many of the other attacks were locally done, bloggers and others who were killed with machetes or stabbed or beaten to death. The fact that we've already had a grenade thrown in this case indicates they have explosives. They're more heavily armed, like you would expect an ISIS group to be.

KEILAR: Tom, stay with me. I am going to come right back to you.

I want to bring in Jim Moriarty, former U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, as well as Nepal, and he's with us now.

You were there just two weeks ago, right? And you were the ambassador for three years.

JIM MORIARTY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO BANGLADESH & NEPAL (voice- over): Yes, that's right.

KEILAR: Tell us -- and can you see the pictures on our air?

MORIARTY: No, I'm sorry, I'm not picking them up. I'm calling on the phone.

KEILAR: No problem. What we're looking at as police were staging in this neighborhood. This is the diplomatic neighborhood I assuming you may have lived in, worked in and certainly are very familiar with. Can you tell us about it? Jim Moriarty

MORIARTY: Yeah. This is about -- I think it is about one-half to three-quarters of a mile away from my old residence. It's called the diplomatic enclave, but it is a very mixed area. Embassies are all there, diplomatic residences are all there, but in addition you have many more Bangladeshis and foreigners moving about the area, a number of very nice single-family homes, upscale restaurant. It is the epicenter of the wealth for the entire country. This being late in the evening with Ramadan nearing its close, there is a lot of excitement, people out on the streets with their families, with their friends. It is actually a very joyous time in Bangladesh normally.

KEILAR: If this is supposed to be a wonderful time so celebrate and meet with friends amid this sort of season, what does it tell you when you see that attackers have taken hostages in a restaurant? Does that signal to you?

MORIARTY: It tells me that they're trying to create a high-profile incident to drive home the message that they can attack any time, anywhere in Bangladesh. The first of the series of attacks began in December last year. 35 or 40 people were shot to death by extremists. Afterwards the government really cracked down and put a lot of security in to this area. So the attacks have all been almost all individual attacks and outside of this diplomatic enclave. So this is trying to drive home the message that these folks can attack when they want, where they want.

[13:55:06] KEILAR: This is something different then. It is horrific when we've seen what's been going on with these hacking attacks here in the last year. But those were individual attacks and to people there on the ground, they're realizing this is something very different than these individual attacks. Right?

MORIARTY: Absolutely. This is something where, like I said, you've gone into the most heavily patrolled area in the entire country, and shown that you can pull this off, that the government can't protect people at this most joyous time of year from celebrating with family and friends safely.

KEILAR: Ambassador Moriarty, thank you so much for talking with us. The former ambassador to Bangladesh and to Nepal. He was just in that country there a couple weeks ago.

Stand by for us, because we'll come back to you here in the next hour as well.

I just want to let our viewers know what is going on. This is Dhaka, Bangladesh, the capitol. You just heard the former ambassador to Bangladesh say this is a wealthy neighborhood, it is where concentration of wealth is for entire country. It is an international neighborhood as well as where a number of Bangladeshis live. There is a hostage situation ongoing in a restaurant there, numerous attackers. They've been throwing hand there are a number of hostages, including foreigners, inside this restaurant, holed up. You see authorities there on the ground trying to figure out what's going on. There is an elite squad there. But this is a country that's had attacks, hacking deaths, but nothing like this size, this scale, and with this military element of attackers who have been throwing grenades at police. One officer killed at this point. And this is ongoing as officials there try to determine exactly who is responsible, who is inside with these hostage takers.

We are going to -- I'm going to wrap it up here and hand it off. You're watching CNN. We'll have more breaking news after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)