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Bangladesh Hostage Situation Coverage; Unconfirmed Reports Some Hostages Are Japanese Citizens. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired July 02, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


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[00:01:31] JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. It is more than 12 hours that we've been following an active hostage situation in Bangladesh. This is CNN Newsroom and that hostage crisis may be over but in the capital Dhaka, a military operation is ongoing after more than 13 hours now.

Government officials say that 12 hostages have been rescued. Those were the government officials from Japan. In fact, the Bangladeshi government is saying very little. We do know the terrorists were holding, well, as many as 20 people inside of a popular cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter. The exact number though is not known.

ATN News is also reporting that a blast has been heard at that restaurant. A witness who talked to police at the scene told us that five of the terrorists are dead, one captured and two may be unaccounted for, though we aren't certain how many gunmen there were, that unconfirmed information at this time.

The siege started Friday night. An eyewitness is now telling us they've just heard another explosion. Andrew Stevens is following developments and joins us now.

Andrew, I'm trying to parse this as best as I can. It seems some people have been rescued but something is still going on.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You're right. Just to get you up-to-date on what you just said, that's pretty much what we know at this stage. An eyewitness is telling CNN that there has been an explosion at the restaurant. This comes probably 10 or 15 minutes after we got our report from local television saying there had been an explosion also on the site. That it tells us there's a separate incidence, two incidents.

And what this could be, Jonathan, is a clearing operation by the security forces. There may well be bombs still inside of that building. There may -- will be booby traps inside that building and it would -- it is a meticulous task sweeping a building like that clean for the security forces to make sure that a -- they have -- everyone is accounted for inside the building. No one's hiding or holding up anywhere at all and there is no danger of booby traps.

So, it is painstaking and slow task but it does say that if the hostages are coming out, they are not obviously or doesn't it -- wouldn't appear to be under a direct threat from the hostage-takers themselves.

So, what we know at this stage and this is coming from the Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary. The Japanese government has been speaking to the Bangladeshi authorities because it has been reported which we haven't been able to confirm that there are Japanese or there might have been Japanese citizens inside that restaurant. What the Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary has said is that - or they were told that 12 hostages have been rescued. Two of those were foreigners. We don't, at this stage, know what nationality those foreigners were.

We are still operating in a very gray area as far as fact at the moment is concern but the best numbers we have and the most accountable numbers we have at the moment is that there were between six and eight gunmen and there were 20 or so hostages when those gunmen burst in to the restaurant in about between 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. local time on Friday.

All those 20 hostages, they were foreign nationals. We don't know how many and we don't know what nationalities were involved at this stage. There has been -- there have been reports on social media. We're choosing, until we get better confirmation, not to report that at the moment but we can say that there are foreign nationals involved.

[00:05:12] It was a very, very popular restaurant for expatriates and this was a diplomatic community, Jonathan, the cafe where -- the restaurant is a bakery cafe by day and a restaurant by night, and it was popular both with young Bangladeshis and with the expat crowd. This area, Gulshan in Dhaka is the embassy district.

And in embassy district in any country in the world, you have the best security of that city as far as the communities are concerned. And so, there would have been some security in the area. What we know is that about 9:00 last night that six to eight gunmen burst into the restaurant shouting, "Allahu akbar" "God is great." Then, came a fire fight with police.

Two police, we know, what we understand, were killed in that exchange. There were 40 injuries. We don't know whether they included passersby, people caught in the crossfire. The militants were armed with assault weapons, hand grenades. And we also are being told it was some sort of explosive devices whether they mean there were hand grenades or they had something else or not. We don't know. But this, for young men, it was clearly a terrorist attack.

ISIS has claimed responsibility. There has been some doubts cast over that and -- but if this was indeed ISIS-inspired, it doesn't necessarily fit the ISIS' sort of operation and that ISIS tends to literally take no prisoners. And indeed, the people themselves are usually suicide attackers but, you know, extraordinarily, we have 12 hostages who have survived and an ongoing situation. Two explosions down the last 15 minutes or so, so, really that's where we are with -- we're up-to-date with what we can tell you officially and semiofficially at this stage, Jonathan.

MANN: The odds were stack against the security forces trying to rescue these people. Do we know anything about the assault? How many forces were involved, who they were, or what they did to get into that building?

STEVENS: Yeah. You're right. They were against it but they apparently chose a strategy of overwhelming force. After trying to negotiate and failing, we've being told -- we're being told that the attackers themselves were not interested in any form of negotiation. So, after trying and failing and we have that Reuters' reporting, a member of the Hasina government, a spokesman say that they had try to negotiate with the hostage-takers.

After failing to do that, (inaudible) into the siege, they attacked, they stormed the building and end in numbers. So, we have heard from the deputy chief of the commandos that 100 commandos were involved in that. That is an overwhelming force against the six or eight hostage- takers. They -- The commando has both police and military, we're being told. They moved in. There was what's described as heavy gunfire for 10 to 15 minutes followed by silence. And then, we started getting reports of hostages being taken out alive. We don't know what condition they're in, what state or how badly injured or is injured at all.

And now, explosions, it's what looks like and I'll say, this is speculation at this stage, what looks like the cleanup operation going but certainly, 100 commandos going in, heavily-armed commandos. Important to point out too, Jonathan, the Bangladesh hasn't seen anything like this before. So, they would not have been particularly -- they wouldn't have the experience in dealing with this sort of big, large scale terror attack. So, they made a call, they went in and hostages have been rescued.

MANN: Andrew Stevens, live for us in Hong Kong working the story. Thanks very much.

Let's bring in Sajjan Gohel now, International Security Director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation live in Tokyo. If we can trust the information we have, they may have captured one of the gunmen. How much could they learn from him? How much would they learn even if they haven't captured a gunman from the weapons or the explosives they've recovered?

The good news is that there are survivors but now there's going to be an investigation. Where does that start? And how many assets does it have?

SAJJAN GOHIL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Well, Jonathan, the fallout from this is going to be significant. This is the biggest terrorist attack Bangladesh has experienced. It had small incorrect incidents of terrorism, Taj the assassinations, people being hacked to death but nothing on this scale involving a siege.

[00:10:08] So, it's very important now for the authorities in Bangladesh to ascertain the nexus of itself. How many layers are there to it? Does it have an international component? Is there a connection to al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent or connection to ISIS? Are some of these people been trained abroad? Are there other individuals out there that are potentially are waiting in activation? There is a network of terrorism inside Bangladesh. It has various strands to it.

One of the problems is being the government has been in a state of denial that they have a terrorism problem. So, with this incident, one hopes it will be a reality check for them and the desire to now actually dismantle the infrastructure.

MANN: Now, dismantle the infrastructure. How much infrastructures will there have to be for an attack of this kind? Could it be assuming however many gunmen went into the building that they themselves organized the attack and its entirety?

GOHIL: Well, what's really interesting is the last two years, al Qaeda and ISIS through their affiliates in Bangladesh have literally been competing with each other as to who can kill more. Some have focused on talking bloggers and academics. Others have gone after torments. Whichever way you look at it, there has always been reconnaissance done. Planning in advance, following people, the attacks may not be very sophisticated but a lot of prep work went into it. And suddenly -- in this incident also, again, you see that a cafe, very popular with the diplomatic and expat community was targeted deliberately. It was designed to try and get maximum attention, international focus. So, it illustrates the problem.

There are two elements also to this, is that you have the Jamaat-ul- Mujahideen Bangladesh, a group that's affiliated to al Qaeda and the -- sorry, that is affiliated to ISIS and then you have the Ansarullah Bangla Team which is affiliated to al Qaeda.

Now, these two entities, it's one of them that ultimately done it and it is for the authorities to find out which one.

MANN: Will they -- I ask that question because there's a suggestion that these may have been self-appointed jihadists who basically would take on the name of one or another organization without having benefited really from their support of training. Do you think ultimately, these were trained, engaged men who carried this out?

GOHIL: Well, in the case of ISIS and its connection to international terrorism in Bangladesh, they have mentioned the country several times in Dabiq, their online general. In fact, they talked about the fact they are going to carry out more attacks, that they were going to increase the tempo, and they are calling for volunteers from Bangladesh to join them.

Now, we seen all over the world that it doesn't need ISIS to direct the plot. It can be inspired when for example the head of external operations from ISIS, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, issues a call online such as he did a few weeks ago, telling his supporters to carry out attacks during Ramadan. We've seen that take place in the Middle East, Turkey, in the United States, France, and potentially now, even Bangladesh as well.

So, we need to wait and see what's taking place but it doesn't, in many ways, make a difference whether it's direct or inspired. The point is there is a terrorism problem. It needs to be dealt with before it continues to keep growing and keep carrying out attacks against foreigners in Bangladesh.

MANN: Sajjan Gohil of the Asia-Pacific Foundation. Thanks so much for talking with us.

GOHIL: Pleasure.

MANN: And so, this is what we know. Some gunmen at least have been killed. Some of their hostages have been rescued and, as best as we can tell, the Dhaka siege is over. The cleanup continues. We'll be back after this.

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[00:16:08] MANN: Welcome back, the hostage crisis in Dhaka that dragged on overnight from more than 13hours may be over.

Japanese government officials say 12 hostages have been rescued. Terrorists were holding as many 20 people inside a popular cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter. The exact number isn't known, the discrepancy between the number held and the number rescued still is not explained.

ATN News is reporting that a blast has been heard of the restaurant. A witness, who talked to the police at the scene, told us that five of the terrorists are dead, one captured, and two may be unaccounted for.

Again, we aren't certain of how many gunmen there were and that alone would explain the discrepancy. The information, much of it is, this unconfirmed at this time. The siege started Friday night but as best we can tell something has happened. It is over or very nearly so.

Let's get some perspective from Journalist Leone Lakhani who's been helping us cover all of this from Washington. And this has been, I guess, a very rude awakening for Bangladesh which, probably thought, this was not in the cards.

LEONE LAKHANI, CNN JOURNALIST: Absolutely, Jonathan, I'm getting messages from people who were saying, you know, they're relieved to hear the good news about the 12 hostages and that there are indications that this whole operation and this whole ordeal may be over soon. But at the same time, they're also concern about what this could mean. What could -- what this could mean to their everyday lives? Would they be seeing more attacks like this? What will this mean for security? They've never had anything like this before, it's completely unprecedented.

And, you know, the government's been very adamant that they don't have any, you know, al Qaeda or ISIS or foreign extremists in the country. They blamed previous attacks, targeted attacks from the past couple of years on local groups. But, you know, as we were hearing from your security expert, it doesn't matter whether they were local groups or foreign groups or groups inspired by foreign groups. At the end of the day, this attack was organized. It was an organized gun attacked. And it means that they have to, the government has to address that there is an extremist problem of some sort on the ground and they have to deal with it now, Jonathan.

MANN: And the target was such an unlikely one. The Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe, would anyone you know have ever felt (inaudible) danger going to a place like that in Dhaka?

LAKHANI: Not until today. I'm sure from now on, they would. And it is a high profile target. It's a bakery. After 6 p.m., it turns into restaurant. It's got a very European feel. It's got a garden, you know coffee, espressos. It's a very -- it's very unusual for a Bangladesh, for Dhaka specifically. And it attracted a lot of people in the area of quite an absolute area as we've been saying, lots of expats, lots of diplomats in the area.

So, no, it was a very popular area but we can see why it would be a target because it was quite high profile. You had high profile people who went there. It was a high profile neighborhood. And we've -- as we've been saying it's a very density populated city, Jonathan, so, anything that happens in a cafe like that which is high profile on its own because of its customers and the area and because it's in a diplomatic area. So, we can understand why it could be a target. But until today, no one would have suspected anything like this there on the ground, Jonathan.

MANN: What about security? Obviously, you can't make every restaurant or cafe in Bangladesh secure. But, what kind of security measures where in place around that neighborhood and how much of a second look is that going to require now?

LAKHANI: You know, there wasn't security in the sense that, you know, you have roadblocks or anything like that in front of cafe then restaurants until now.

[00:20:02] The security had been stepped up recently because of the attacks we've seen in the past couple of years especially since last September when we saw an attack on an Italian expat as well as the Japanese (inaudible) in the year as well.

So, the government has stepped up a security in any way because it's a diplomatic area with lots of embassies around there. It's a little bit more security that usual. But, in terms of, you know, restaurants, shops, you wouldn't see, you know, roadblocks and police or anything like that in a very -- in a big way but I suspect that may change going forward, Jonathan.

MANN: Indeed, it may, Leone Lakhani, reporting from Washington. Thanks very much.

And so, after more than 13 hours, an overnight siege in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka comes to what appears to have been an end, an intense gunfight in an assault by Bangladeshi commando's leads to the rescue, it's been reported, of perhaps 10 or 12 of the hostages. Most of the gunmen seemed to have been accounted for and most of them are said to be dead. The details though are sketchy and unconfirmed. We're doing our best to report them as promptly and as accurately as we can. And we'll be back with more right after this.

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MANN: Welcome back. It started out as a festive Friday night, a meal to break the Ramadan Fast as the Muslim holy month came close to its conclusion. But as diners were sitting down at a popular cafe in an affluent corner of Dhaka, Bangladesh, gunmen stormed the restaurant.

The Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe was in fact the scene of a siege that took the lives of two police officers, almost immediately and led to long hours of suspense, still not entirely over. That's the interior of the cafe. What it looks like? We do not know. There may have been 20 people held hostage. There may have been six gunmen inside, until an assault by Bangladeshi commandos, a short time ago, apparently ended the siege.

The security operation is said to be ongoing. Witnesses close to the scene have heard explosions that are still unexplained but 10 to 12 hostages are said to have been rescued. The gunmen have been mostly accounted for. Whether they are dead or captured or missing, we still are not entirely sure. The numbers are still uncertain. Official confirmation is still not available.

Andrew Stevens is working the story and can fill in some of the holes. Andrew, how do we know for sure? How much are we still patching together from fragmentary reports?

STEVENS: Yeah, I think this is case, Jonathan, where we aren't getting the information until there is an official press conference or an official briefing of some sort. And that's what going to happen until that area is completely secured.

And, obviously, they still don't feel that they have swept the restaurant efficiently enough to declare an end to this. If you think about, in the last half an hour or so, there's been reports of not one but two explosions. We don't know what they were but it would appear they were probably detonating some sort of ammunitions, some sort of bomb, perhaps, a booby trap. But basically, clearing areas, sweeping the area, securing the area.

[00:25:05] It was only about, what, a little of half an hour ago that we had our own CNN journalist on the ground, Farid Ahmed, confirming that there had been a second explosion from inside the restaurant and that came about 20 minute or so after the -- one of the local television stations reported a blast as well.

And the deputy chief commissioner of the Dhaka police is saying quite clearly, this is an ongoing situation, that news coming out in the last hour or so. So, you know, they are proceeding slowly, methodically, as they have to, to secure that area 100 percent.

But it was a standoff for a several hours before the police made the decision and that may have been on the back of the fact that they weren't going anywhere with negotiations, the reports were and we've heard the talk from spokesperson for the government that they had been trying to negotiate with the hostage-takers and failing so that they made the decision to actually storm the restaurant. That was a, say, report hours ago now.

It was described by the -- the actual group behind the response was the Rapid Action Battalion force which is, it's a unit which is more involved in crime fighting and less so in anti-terrorism, we're being told, but it have the equipment. And they stormed that building in force. 100 also commandos, we're being told, that's made up of both police and military, 100 commandos are storming the building. It was described as intense gun-fighting inside the building for several minutes. That's coming from the deputy director of that Rapid Action Battalion, saying there was intense gun-fighting followed by quite a long pause -- long silence.

We then started getting reports, firstly, unconfirmed from eyewitnesses who were talking to police in the area saying that there were survivors, there were hostages, that's now being confirmed by the Japanese who have been speaking to the counterparts in Bangladesh. And since then, there have been at least two more explosions. So that it's still -- it looks like sweeping the area, making sure it's 100 percent secured, Jonathan.

MANN: Andrew Stevens, reporting from Hong Kong.

And once again, if you're just joining us, the siege in Dhaka may be over but the security operation is apparently, at last report, continuing. Some of the hostages have said to have rescued. Some of the gunmen said to have been killed. We are still awaiting confirmation or even a final accounting that would reconcile the numbers we have. But the horror of 13 hours in the hands of gunmen is apparently over for at least 12 of the hostages.

Our coverage continues after this.

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[00:30:20] MANN: Welcome back. If you're just joining us, Bangladesh's security forces have stormed a cafe in Dhaka where gunmen had seized in a deadly attack. Police say the operation is going now.

Here's the latest. Terrorist were holding as many as 20 people inside that popular cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter, but Japanese officials now say 12 people have been rescued.

A witness spoke to police and told CNN that the commando raid killed five of the gunmen while one was captured, and two were unaccounted for. None of these is confirmed. Witnesses told CNN they heard heavy gunfire but that now, there is an eerie unexplained silence.

The drama began Friday night local time when as many as eight gunmen seized the Dhaka restaurant. It's located near many embassies. It's popular with its patriots.

The gunmen exchanged fire with police and two explosives killing two officers, at least 40 other people were wounded. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the siege through its media arm. A U.S. official told CNN al Qaeda is also a possible culprit because it has history of attacks in Dhaka.

Let's get more now on the security operations, Steve Moore has been helping us all through. Steve is a CNN law enforcement contributor, retired from the FBI.

Thanks so much for being with us once again. How much have we read into the fact that the hostages have been apparently rescued but that were still hearing more explosives?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT COORDINATOR: I think you don't need to read a whole bunch into that, at least, as far as it concerns the fate of the hostages. I think that's already been decided, good or bad.

What they're doing is going through and as we mentioned before, there may be booby traps, there may be explosives literally just left behind. And sometimes, terrorists bring in highly unstable explosives, homemade explosives that, you know, you might find a grenade there. You're not going to want to pick it up and see if it's a booby trap. And you can't just leave some of there homebrewed stuff there and you can't to up because it will explode.

So, this is probably an EOD situation where there -- the ordnance disposal people are going in and getting rid of the stuff.

MANN: How much could they learn from what's been left behind? About how they were dealing with or who trained the men they were dealing with?

MOORE: You know, that's an excellent question. I've been looking at this and just marveling at the entail value this tragedy is going to provide because you've got a living terrorist who will be giving the Bangladesh this information. The Bangladesh is -- have some very aggressive interrogation techniques.

And we also see everything that they laid out, all their tactics, all their weapons, all their explosives. So, it will tell us, it almost -- it's almost like a CAT scan of whatever terrorist group is ultimately determined to have conducted this, because you can look in and see their capabilities and where they're getting their capabilities.

Grenades are easily traceable. You don't -- There's no factories, you know, you don't buy them in a sporting goods store. They come from certain military stocks. So, it will tell us a lot whether it's ISIS or al Qaeda. We're going to learn.

MANN: Now, would you expect a wave arrest to follow this whether for political reasons or actually because they'll be discovering more about these men and their accomplices?

MOORE: I would expect a load of arrests, some of whom were related to this attack. In some countries, there is not -- I mean, you heard that they just rounded up 14,000 radicals. I would say that they're probably going to be rounding up thousands this time. And they're going to throw a wider net than you would ever see because they want to find out anybody who knows anybody, who knows anybody, who knows somebody who might be a terrorist. And they are going to do their best to root this out. They are not encumbered by certain things that Western law enforcement agents sees are.

MANN: How quickly would they want to talk to the survivors? These are people who've endured a terrible ordeal. Will they have information that will be useful and is an important to get that quickly?

MOORE: It's important to talk to them as soon as they are able to get information in a lucid fashion. If they are drugged in any way, if they're on painkillers, you're going to want to get whatever you can but you're not going to rely completely on especially in numbers and faces, you're not going to show photo lineups.

[00:35:09] Right now, the -- it doesn't seem to me based on what I know to be an exigent circumstance where they are looking for people. They may want to talk to these people in the hospital and say, "Could there have been six? How many were there?" And show photos of the bodies and say, "Did you see anybody beside these people? What?"-- and they'll be asking, "What language do these guys speak? Do they have an accent?"

They're going to be getting all these information as quickly as they can with the caveat that a lot of these people are not going to be able to just speak to them at this time.

MANN: Now, I'm going to ask a hypothetical question but it's related to the fact as we know them. Six hostage-takers have been accounted for but there was at least one report that there were in fact eight of them.

If two of them are unaccounted for, how much trouble is Bangladesh still in and what do they have to do?

MOORE: Well, first of all, they have to determine if they're looking for two actual people or whether they are looking for a confused description of how many people there were.

I've been in several situations. I was in a -- at a school shooting, when we arrived, they said, it's three guys running around, where it turned to be one guys.

So, there are a lot of mistakes that can be made in the heat of something horrible like this. But if you're with somebody for 13 hours, you might have a pretty good idea. There may be somebody in there who actually took photographs with their camera surreptitiously, who actually did the counts.

The other thing you're going to do is you're going to check every single survivor because terrorists have a nasty habit of posing as victims as soon as the good guys come in the door and they'll lay there and put their hands up and say, "He was trying to kill me," you know, this kind of stuff. And so, they are betting every person the hospital to determine whether they in fact were a victim or a hostage -- or not a hostage-taker.

MANN: So, the operation really is still on going. Steve Moore, it's fascinating hearing from you once again. Thanks so much.

MOORE: Thanks a lot.

MANN: Although ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in Dhaka, it's still not confirmed who was actually behid it.

A short time ago, I spoke with counter-terror expert David Gartenstein-Ross. Hear what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, COUNTER-TERROR EXPERT: And the fact that any hostages had all survived. There could be (inaudible) reports are correct is very good news especially given that no demands were taken especially given that the Islamic State or ISIS is thought of as a primary suspect. Given the fact they claimed responsibility, this is not really a group that wants to allow anyone to survive. And so, that in and of itself has to be considered a good news.

MANN: Does it diminish your expectation that this really was ISIS or that it was ISIS-trained fighters as opposed to ISIS-inspired followers?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: No, it doesn't. I mean, there is something interesting that happened here which is that ISIS has its own quasi official news agency. It's one that tries to appear more objective but is clearly a part of the organization's media strategy. It's called Amaq News Agency.

And they actually claim the attack for ISIS while the attack was still in progress which is not something that I've seen ISIS or the news agency did previously.

Secondly, it fits ISIS' M.O. And the chance that it's not ISIS says, as mentioned before -- been mentioned before in the program, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent is far stronger in Bangladesh. I agree with that, it has been. But this fits ISIS' M.O. and the ISIS has enough of a presence to be able to execute attack like this even though they don't have an overwhelming presence.

And furthermore, al Qaeda has had a much slower strategy in Bangladesh. One which has been focused on attacking targets that are seen as kind of an acceptable minority targets, (inaudible) Hindus or Christians or gay people and not go into war with the state. This attack is a declaration of war which al Qaeda seems to have avoided in Bangladesh today.

MANN: Now, how troubled would you be by the fact that two of the gunmen based on the very, very preliminary word we've had from one police officer, two of the gunmen are accounted for. Would that be a reason why the operation wouldn't be over? They have to be sure they've got all of the men who were holding guns on these hostages? GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Right, your previous guest mentions that six -- eight is a guess, you know, well, you've heard these numbers rating from six to eight. And so, as long as they're not sure if they've gotten all the gunmen, even if they don't know there are two at large, they'll consider the operation to be ongoing as they methodically come to make sure that they're not leaving one of the gunmen behind.

[00:40:05] But beyond that, the fact that there is at least six and quite possibly more involved in this operation and gave rise to another concern which is that when we've seen massive attacks like this in the past, it hasn't just been that that plotters have got all the attackers. There are many who by logistical support or backing up the attackers who proved to be an important part of the plot.

The reason I mentioned that is because even if all together may end up being killed or captured, there probably is a network behind them that help them to get to the point where they ready to launch this attack. And the Bangladesh, the authorities need to be looking very carefully. You've had lots of killings in Bangladesh, most of them have been against symbol targets, but the forces of Jihadism (ph) are very strong there.

And the way these attackers executed strongly suggests that it's not just the attackers who are concerned but that there's a broader network that was involved in helping them to execute this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: David Gartenstein-Ross speaking to us earlier.

Our coverage of the Dhaka siege continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back to hostage crisis in Dhaka, Bangladesh, drag on for more than 13 hours, the hostage-taking is over, the security operation continues.

Japanese government officials say 12 hostages have been rescued, terrorists were holding as many as 20 people inside a popular cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter. The exact number, though, still not known.

ATN News is also reporting the blast has been heard at the restaurant. A witness who talked to police at the scene told five of the terrorists are dead, one captured, two may be unaccounted for. Once again, we aren't certain how many gunmen there were. All of that unconfirmed information at this time. The siege started Friday night, if it's over, it ended roughly 13 hours later Saturday morning.

Let's go to CNN's Andrew Stevens following up on this in Hong Kong. And we're still learning more from Tokyo of all places ...

(CROSSTALK)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we should point out that it's not confirmed there were 20 hostages either that is, at best, uninformed guests. We've been getting that 20 number from a staff, an employee at the bakery who managed to flee soon after the attackers struck.

But now, we're getting new information coming from Tokyo, from the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he was at doorstep, he have been impromptu interviewed on Saturday morning. And he did say then, he admitted there was a possibility that there are Japanese nationals among those hostages.

Now, we know there are foreigners but we don't know who at this stage. The deputy chief cabinet secretary in Japan earlier had said that -- had confirmed that 12 hostages had been freed and two were foreign nationals but we don't know -- well, they didn't say what nationalities they were.

So, we're slowly piecing together what the Japanese's side of this is. We're now hearing from the chief cabinet secretary, he says there is a high possibility that Japanese were among those hostages. We don't know whether they have -- they survived or not at this stage. But it's still very difficult to get a true picture of who was inside the cafe at the time.

[00:45:14] We know, as I said, roughly 20 people were there. It was a mix of expatriate workers there and local people as well. This is a very popular place, particularly popular among young Bangladesh as well. It's called the Holey Artisan Bakery. It was a sort of European style eatery, if you like, in the diplomatic enclave which is itself is a very upmarket pub of Dhaka.

So, it did attract that sort of clientele and it was 8:30 -- between 8:30 and 9:00 when the attackers struck. A paper would have been breaking fast then. We've heard from Arabic guests in the (inaudible) that it would have been a busy time in that area at the time. And it is a relatively small restaurant too, between 20 and 30 places for diners there. So, perhaps, 20 people were in the restaurant at the time, Jonathan.

But what I can tell at the moment, it does looking increasingly like Japanese nationals were in the -- were in the restaurant, were in the Holey Artisan Bakery when the those attackers struck.

MANN: What's your best information about what's happened to the hostages since?

STEVENS: Well, all we know at this stage, we can confirm is that they have -- some have been taken to hospital. We don't know what condition they're in. We know that they were taken out, this is again from the Japanese, they were rescued, they were taken out from the cafe and taken to a hospital.

But the -- we had been told, in the storming of the restaurants, the gunfire was described by the deputy director of the Rapid Action Battalion that people went in to storm that restaurant. And remember, there were about 100 people involved in the storming of that restaurant. So, the gunfire was described as intense at the time. And that went on for perhaps 10 minutes or so. "Intense gun-fighting on" as a direct quote from the deputy director of that reaction force. So, that was intense gunfire while the hostages were still inside the building. We don't know what the stage of the injuries are. We don't know where -- sort of who survived and who hasn't. All we can say at the moment is the Bangladesh authorities have been confirmed to the Japanese authorities that 12 hostages were rescued, of we think 20 who were inside at the time.

MANN: And just the completely the chronology, there was that intense gunfire, there was silence, and then, what? One explosion, two explosions still unexplained.

STEVENS: Yes. Intense gunfire then reports eye -- you heard them first from eyewitnesses on the ground, they had been speaking to the police who were surrounding the -- who'd called engulfed the area was impossible to get eyes on of the eyewitnesses there because there was such a heavy police presence.

But we were hearing from eyewitnesses saying they had been told that there had been this attack and that hostage-takers had been killed. And then, it all went quite and then we started hearing reports of an explosion, local TV started reporting an explosion was heard, followed by our own man on the ground there, Farid Ahmed, confirming a second explosion about 10 minutes afterwards.

But what we know -- what we assume at this stage and which has been sort of supported by the experts you've been speaking to, is that this was much more likely a cleaning-up operation, a sweeping, securing that space, getting rid of any uncontained ordnance, any booby traps, that sort of thing. So, that's where we are at the moment. It does now, though, appear to have been completed. It's over. We're still waiting promptly for official confirmation of that but that's where we are at this stage, Jonathan.

MANN: Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. And we'll be right back with more right after this.

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[00:50:56] MANN: The siege in Dhaka ends apparently with an assault, Bangladesh's security forces storming a cafe in their country's capital where gunmen had seize hostages in a deadly attacks some 13 hours earlier. Police say the operation is ongoing.

Here's the latest. The terrorists were holding as many as 20 people inside that popular cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter. The exact number is still unknown. The Sri Lankan government says two of its citizens were among the rescued hostages. Japanese officials say a total of 12 captives have been freed.

A witness spoke to police and told CNN that the commando raid killed five of the gunmen while one was captured and two were apparently unaccounted for. None of this is confirmed. Witnesses told CNN may heard heavy gunfire but now, there is silence. The drama began Friday night, local time, when as many as eight gunmen seized the Dhaka restaurant located near many embassies, popular with its patriots. The gunman exchanged fire with the police and throw explosives killing two officers. At least 40 other people were wounded.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the siege through its media arm. A U.S. official told CNN al Qaeda is also a possible culprit because it has a history of attacks in the Dhaka.

Turning now to other news, a U.S. congressman says a well-known terrorist from Russia organized the attacks on Istanbul's airport earlier this week. One of the 43 victims was the chief of pediatrics at a Tunisian military hospital, a professor of medicine.

CNN's International Correspondent Nima Elbager has more.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN'S INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The men who orchestrated this horror and unleashed it on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport Tuesday may now be known. Two of the suicide bombers who carried out the plot are being named by Turkey's state news agency.

Citing an anonymous prosecution source, it reports Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov carried out the attack. As for the man who directed the operation, U.S. officials tell CNN Akhmed Chatayev, an ISIS lieutenant Chechen is likely behind the plot.

MICHAEL MCCAUL, (R) TEXAS: He's traveled to Syria on many occasions and then became one of the top lieutenants to the minister of war for ISIS operations.

ELBAGIR: Chatayev is notorious with the entire network, going by the nickname Akhmed One-Arm.

JILL DOUGHERTY, KENNAN INSTITUTE ADVISORY BOARD: He's missing one arm, used that, reportedly used that fact to argue when he went to Europe to get refugee status, he said, I have been tortured by the Russians. The U.S. placed him on the terrorist list just last year but he's been around for a long time.

ELBAGIR: Investigators are digging in, trying to find out more about the man seen running to the terminals brandishing weapons and detonating suicide bombs.

Turkey's president today condemning their actions and vowing to fight

RECEP TAYYIP ERDO?AN, TURKEY PRESIDENT: Terror and terrorists do not have religion, do not have nations, do not have a motherland. We are going to fight them with our soldiers, with our police, and with our village guards.

ELBAGIR: 24 people including 15 foreigners have now been detained according to Turkey state media. Police are also asking local residents about the security image showing the three men believed to be suspects.

Turkish authorities told us, they believe the three attackers hold up for a month in apartment in the Fatih district in Istanbul.

The three men, they say came directly from Raqqa. The investigation unfolds families are burying the loved ones.

But Fathi Bayoudh knew ISIS all too well. His son had reportedly joined the group as a medic last year. A family friend says Bayoudh had been in Istanbul to help negotiate his son's rescue from the terror group only to have extremists take his life instead.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN.

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[00:55:13] MANN: As families mourn their loss in the attacks, our Jomana Karadsheh has the heart-breaking story of one of the youngest victims of the Istanbul bombing, a young Palestinian girl who escaped with her life but lost a parent.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three-year old Rafeef survived the horror of Tuesday's attack, but her mother Nisreen did not. No one can explain to Rafeef what happened or where her mother is. Members of Turkey's Palestinian community are taking care of Rafeef, keeping her distracted and smiling.

Her mother Marvan can barely speak. He lost his wife. His friend Hamid (ph) lost his wife too. Hamid's still on hospital in critical condition. His three-year-old son Rayan is on life support.

The two Palestinian families arrived from Saudi Arabia where they lived for short holiday in Istanbul. As they prepare to leave the airport, the terrorists struck. Rafeef was in her mother's arms when Nisreen was shot dead. Rafeef was hit by shrapnel in her leg.

They come to say they came to fight a military (inaudible). They walked amongst us. They could see children, Marvan says.

The family like so many here are Muslims.

People who claimed to be Muslims with no mercy. I will teach my daughter not to hate, to love everyone. I will give her the best life, he says.

On Thursday night, Marvan returned to the airport to put his wife's coffin on a plane. He led an Islamic prayer for the dead. Marvan has promised Nisreen he would take her home to the Palestinian territory to celebrate the Muslim festival (inaudible) with their family. Instead, they will gather to mourn her.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Istanbul.

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MANN: Israel says its aircraft test have targeted Hamas sites in Gaza after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory in Israeli's city near its border.

We're seeing images of the rocket strike now. Citing government sources, the Jerusalem Post reports the rocket hit an empty pre- school. It said no casualties were reported but the building sustained what he called significant damage.

The rocket attack followed Israel sealing off parts of the West Bank to lock down in response to a series of attacks on Israelis there including the stabbing death of an Israeli-U.S. teen in the settlement.

You're watching CNN. We'll be back in a moment with more on the breaking news from Bangladesh

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue with our ongoing breaking news in the siege in Bangladesh. Well, everyone, I'm Natalie Allen live from CNN --