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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

ISIS Threatens New York in New Video; Raid Operation Launched in Saint-Denis; Terror Attacks in Paris. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 18, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:17] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight.

ISIS threatens New York showing what they plan to do how and possibly where.

Also, exclusive video tonight which you will see in a moment of the raid here this morning that may have prevented another massacre with only minutes to spare. Another massacre because one of the suspects blew herself up, that's right herself, a female suicide bomber. And just moments ago, we got audio and video of an exchange between police and that woman seconds before she detonated herself. We will play that tonight. Additionally, we will tell you about the new developments detailing how police uncovered the cell, how they found the hideout and the new attacks they believe they have stopped. We will hear as well from witnesses to the raid itself including some that captured it on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): New exclusive images and sound of last night's daring raid. At 4:20 a.m. local time, the operation in Saint-Denis is launched. The target, the suspected organizers of Friday's attack in Paris left 129 innocent dead and hundreds wounded.

French police and military swarm the suburb of Paris zeroing in on one apartment where the alleged ISIS terrorists Abdelhamid Abaaoud is believed to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can actually hear the gunshots.

COOPER: Saint-Denis resident Bensen Hoi recorded the scene from his apartment.

BENSEN HOI, WITNESS OF SAINT-DENIS RESIDENT: They continuous shooting sounded like fireworks. And then the suicide were like fireworks but a bigger scale.

COOPER: As authorities stormed the building, a woman believed to be the cousin of Abaaoud, according to Belgium's day broadcaster RTBF blows herself up. The battle is just beginning. Officers fight their way to the third floor apartment. This woman lives in the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We could see the bullets. The light of the laser pointing our way, really, it was explosions and we could feel the building really shaking. I could hear the guys upstairs running and screaming at each other no, no, shouting, this way.

COOPER: A French commander team also detonates powerful ammunitions according to the source to quote "neutralize ISIS suspects."

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An explosion has just gone off. This is still very much an ongoing operation. This was quite a large explosion in that direction. A second one now.

COOPER: The explosions cause one floor in the apartment building to collapse. The raid expands to another apartment building nearby and a church. Police batter their way through the door. All told, seven men and one woman taken into custody. In the raid at least two terror suspects are killed. The female suicide bomber and another shot by police sniper. But investigators are finding body parts in the rubble of the collapsed apartment building floor, so that number of dead may rise. The question is, is one of them the target of the raid, suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud? DNA testing will give us the answer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, as all that was happening, ISIS put out a video threatening New York City. We are going to show you three frames of it showing a bomb, of a reported suicide bomber who is also showing wearing the bomb and images of crowded locations in New York. Now, you will remember just a couple days ago, the terror group called for attacks in Washington D.C. as well.

Joining us now with the latest is CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

So, what are you learning, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we are learning, Anderson, is that this new video suggested ISIS remains focused not only on France but also Britain and the United States and there are three types of attacks that it appears in this video that they are planning. The first, a car bomb. Second sharp shooters. And third, the suicide belts and when you see the suicide belts, the word USA comes up in the corner. And what you see is first, men praying and then this bomb. That is the bomb. That is the actual belt you see him zipping up his jacket there.

What we are not showing you is the actually material, the detonation cords which are connected to high explosives and then what appears to be BBs. Now, we are told - I spoke to bomb experts who said this kind of device, it appears, carries a pack, a punch, basically of 25,000 feet per second. It would clearly cut an individual in half. But the BBs are what is especially concerning because those BBs act as shrapnel and that what causes a lot of damage. That's the damage that we saw in the Boston marathon bombing, all of those people who were injured were injured because of the BBs and the shrapnel that were inside that bomb. We do know that it's Times Square, Herald Square and other scenes in New York, but they are clearly focused. And again, car bomb, sharp shooters and suicide belts and that's the message they are putting out tonight, Anderson.

[20:05:16] COOPER: And any response from city officials?

FEYERICK: Well, clearly, they are very concerned. They say that New York is always a target, they always take things seriously. They are being incredibly vigilant. You can see some of these new tactical officers that counterterrorism officers. They are heavily armed, heavily trained and heavily equipped to respond to any attack should it occur. But clearly, there is a big owning on the JTTF, on FBI to make sure that they have the right kind of surveillance, the right kind of intelligence so it's not just a matter of responding to the attack but of preventing it, as well, Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Deb Feyerick, thanks very much.

I'm here with senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward and terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.

Paul, I mean, this kind of video is obviously the idea is to instil fear in people and honestly, nobody should give in to this kind of thing. How seriously do you take this threat?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think they have to treat it quite seriously because ISIS is the richest terrorist group in history. It has an extraordinary number of western recruits, more than 6,000 western extremists that traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the various jihadi groups. It is not just present in in Syria and Iraq, but it is also in Libya and the Sinai and all sorts of different parts of the world, as well. And one of the biggest ambitions right now is to launch a terrorist attack inside the United States. I think the most likely scenario that could happen would be for them to send European recruits on planes from places like France, places like the U.K., Germany into the United States. And I think, you know, very disturbing that at least some of these individuals in this plot were not on those watch lists. They could -- it would appear from everything we are being told have gone on planes, come to the United States, built bombs there, bought guns there, launched the attack there. I think that's something that people really need to think about very carefully.

COOPER: Of course, Clarissa, the other option is just somebody who is already living inside the United States who may not actually have a direct connection to ISIS, but who was just wants to get notoriety, who wants to sort of be ideology motivated.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And ISIS has been calling for those words of attacks for over a year now. They put out messages saying if you have a car, run someone over, if you have a knife, stab someone, whoever you are, whatever weapon it takes, you know, go out there and attack someone. And just to piggy back on what Paul was saying, I also think it's very natural for ISIS. This was a propaganda victory for them and they are going to milk it for every last cent they can.

COOPER: Right. I mean, their sense of timing is, you know, is very astud from a public relation standpoint. They know the world is watching this. So they put out these videos making direct threats which obviously going to carry their message more. That's why we don't show these videos. They are showing a few individual screen grabs from it.

In terms of the raid, let's talk about what you witnessed, what people there are witnessing, an extraordinary turn of events because we had been led to believe that this alleged ringleader of Friday night's attacks was still in Syria and yet now police are saying, pretty possible, he is here in Paris and that's who they are searching for.

WARD: That's right. Just yesterday we were reporting that French and coalition forces had tried to target him with airstrikes inside ISIS territory. Now, of course, these raids going on for seven hours this morning, Anderson. More than 5,000 bullets fired by police. And we actually managed to get up on to a rooftop behind the apartment building. You could see the scale of the blast, the windows had been blown out. All the wall was marked with heavy ammunitions. And we could see inside forensics experts inside with cameras taking samples, looking for DNA because of course, we know two people died in that apartment building. We know that one of them is believed to be the cousin of the ringleader about. But we don't know who the second person was yet who was killed. And authorities will be very, very, very keen to find out it was if Abaaoud or of it was, of course, this elusive eighth attack, Salah Abdeslam, is still also on the loose.

COOPER: And Paul, we learned about a direct connection between Abaaoud and Abdeslam from a Belgium official today who said that they had actually spent time in jail together and that's perhaps where they met and that's perhaps where it was this -- the plan was hatched but certainly that is their connection.

CRUICKSHANK: They all knew each other in Mullenbach. They basically grew up together in this part of Brussels. Both those brothers who allegedly involved in the attack and Abdelhamid Abaaoud involved in gangsterism together, robberies things like that. Some of them went to jail, in and out of jail, petty crime. And eventually, sort of graduating towards it would appear ISIS terror.

[20:10:01] COOPER: You know, for all these guys talk of religious (INAUDIBLE) and the religious convictions, I mean, they are petty thugs. They are petty criminals.

WARD: You know, one of the best quotes I heard, Anderson, and this was from a young French guy who was held hostage by ISIS. And he said they are street kids drunk on glory and ideology. And really I think from the interaction I have had from various ISIS fighters that really encapsulate it nicely in what Paul was saying. This is the phase of terror, this so-called hybrid, part radical, part criminal and that is a very toxic route for authorities to try to --.

COOPER: It's also so fascinating because it's not first generation immigrants who, you know, people who have immigrated here turning against the society that has welcomed them or at least allowed them to come here, but it is second generation. It's the kids of those immigrants that grew up here, grew up listening to rap music and grew up part of this society and as you said, petty criminals who have now turned against it.

CRUICKSHANK: That's absolutely right. They don't feel part of main stream society. That's what they bitterly opposed to it that's why they are getting involved in gangsterism. As one official told me, these are radicals that have become Islam rather Islamist that are becoming radicalized and that's a very, very important distinction. They are radicals first and there they are Islamize and then they have all these sort of gang skills. They are moving over as one official told me in a super gang over to Syria and Iraq and then that sort of violence really sort of jives with this sort of violent (INAUDIBLE) ISIS, respect through fear.

COOPER: And there is such a nexus of family members, brothers doing it, friends just like as in a gang. It is people who live on the same block.

WARD: This is a big change. It used to be recruiting was done in mosques and people fighting jihad were speaking Arabic in caves and Afghanistan. Now it is happening online. It is happening in people's communities. They are recruiting each other. And that's a much tougher thing to combat.

COOPER: We are going to talk more about this. We're on obviously for two hours because there is so much to cover tonight.

Clarissa, thank you. Paul Cruickshank.

We are going to check back with both of them in the next two hours tonight.

We are also going to be joined by neighbors that who watched and listened as the raid ascend and it went down. Brought us exclusive pictures and sound of the whole thing unfolding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:16:03] COOPER: As we reported at the top of the broadcast, it may take DNA testing to determine whether the alleged architecture of Friday's masseur was killed in this morning's raid on a terror cell in their hideout just outside the city of Saint-Denis. The commando team used explosives in their assault firing thousands of rounds of ammunition. And a female jihadi blew herself up for floor in the building said to have collapse. All of this happening on a street with neighbors watching and listening and capturing those terrifying moments on video. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

COOPER: Axel and Steffy, they were not using their last names, took that video and they join us now. Thanks very much for being with us.

Did you realize what was happening when the shots began?

STEFFY, WITNESSED RAID: Actually, we were not realizing but it was the assault. Axel was thinking it was a terrorist attack.

COOPER: You thought it was actually an attack by terrorists.

AXEL, WITNESSED RAID: I thought they were going in house to kill people and I was shaking and we -- I took 30 few minutes to understand it was an assault from policemen.

COOPER: You finally were able to actually see the police.

AXEL: Yes.

STEFFY: Yes. We called them.

COOPER: You called them.

STEFFY: Yes. We called police and she didn't know what was happening so I took the phone to make her hear the shotguns and she said OK, I hear them. Took some information and she came back to us and said stay inside. Don't move. Close the window and everything. And then we just told the police Special Forces arriving in the streets.

COOPER: You saw the guys.

STEFFY: Yes.

AXEL: That was scary at the beginning.

COOPER: When this went on for hours and hours and hours.

AXEL: Two hours, I think. Intense --

COOPER: Intense.

AXEL: Explosions.

COOPER: Were you scared the whole time?

AXEL: No, in the beginning. We were very scary and after it was like OK --

STEFFY: We calm down because we saw it was Special Forces were taking the thing in control, keeping control.

AXEL: They were going in the street to say to people stay at home so the danger wasn't really in our place.

COOPER: But you could feel the explosions. I mean, you're very, very close in your apartment. You can feel the shaking.

STEFFY: Yes. But I think it was the shocking of the sound that like we were every time, we were hearing a sound like -- it was scary.

COOPER: You lost friends at the Bataclan concert hall.

STEFFY: Yes.

AXEL: And this must have made you think about that all over again. STEFFY: Yes, when you hear all the shotguns like coming, like it's a

sound of it, it makes me feel like all my friends were in the venue, what they are feeling before they die or just like the one who escape, the traumatized --

COOPER: The trauma.

STEFFY: The trauma they have now is a terrible feeling. So for me, I was living something not that important compared to them that what they lived on Friday night. So.

COOPER: What do you want people to know about what is happening here? What do you want people around the world to know?

STEFFY: I want them to know that in France we are more than free. We're really at peace. It's a country of freedom. When you see what people can make behind us --

[20:20:06] COOPER: It is right here at the monument.

STEFFY: It's beautiful. And I just want them to continue to live and not be scared and to go to venue --

COOPER: To go listen to music, to enjoy life.

STEFFY: To have a drink with your friend on the terrace. Everything what people can do and to have a thought of the victims in the world because we lived that in France, but Syrian also victims in their country. So it's really important that we thought for all the victims in this world like it's --

AXEL: We have to do it worldwide. The attacks (INAUDIBLE) everywhere. So we talking too much about France I think.

COOPER: Are you scared? Are you frightened?

AXEL: Now?

COOPER: Yes.

STEFFY: No.

COOPER: I mean, we were talking before and it sounds like you're more determined than ever to live your life, to do all the things, to listen to rock music.

AXEL: Yes.

COOPER: Because the terrorists don't want you to. This is an assault on your life.

AXEL: They want to impose their way of thinking and we have to do the same. It's a war. Ideological war, so we do it.

COOPER: Well, thank you very much for talking with us.

AXEL: Thank you.

COOPER: So sorry for the loss of your friends.

STEFFY: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up next, suicide bomber who blew herself up during today's raid. We are going to have more on who she was and the phenomenon of female jihads.

Also this, and the picture of a soda can bomb sent out by ISIS, the terror groups saying this is what took down the Russian airline last month and experts' opinion when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:25:50] COOPER: Hello, in addition to the exclusive video that we have been showing you of the overnight raid in Saint-Denis, we have also obtained video, an audio, one of the pivotal moment just seconds before the female suicide bomber in the terror cell blew herself up. A neighbor's camera capturing the shouted exchange between police and the bomber reportedly Abdelhamid Abaaoud's cousin, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is your boyfriend?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is not my boyfriend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I want to show that again. Police asking where is your boyfriend. The woman shouting he is not my boyfriend and seconds later, the explosion you hear is the woman setting off her suicide bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is your boyfriend?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is not my boyfriend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Just hours later, this was the scene outside the apartment building targeted by French SWAT teams. You can see police combing through the apartment. That was the scene for most of the day.

Our Nic Robertson joins me now from Saint-Denis.

What is the scene like? What is happening now in the building where the raid are placed this morning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, just in the last five minutes there has been another controlled detonation from inside the building. The police say that they found ammunition that haven't exploded, their own ammunition from that raid. They had a controlled detonation.

I will just step out of the way so you can see what is happening down there on the left hand side, you can see police officers going in and out of the building. That every SWAT you see the officers in the forensic suits coming in and out of the building. We heard the prosecutor earlier saying that the bodies in there were hard to retrieve because the building was not structurally safe.

There is a team of carpenters that are working in that building. They are hauling in huge planks of wood to sure it up. The process of going through the building to try to recover whatever remains are in there, which are possibly going to help the police through DNA evidence to identify whether Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in - as they move in to arrest people there or if it someone else that died inside that building. That process is still going on.

But police tell us this work right now could take up to 24 hours. And as we heard with that controlled detonation, this is not particularly easy work. There are concerns the structure explosives are part of their worries right now, Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, it's just such an incredible turn of events that, you know, as we talked about with Clarissa Ward earlier, just yesterday we already hearing that Abaaoud more than likely was still in Syria, that a month or so ago he had been targeted by U.S. by French bombers and now the idea that he was able to get back into Europe, into France is really extraordinary given that he is on police radar and has been wanted for quite some time.

ROBERTSON: What is particularly extraordinary about it is that over the past 36, 48 hours, his name has been associated with the attack on Friday. His face has been all over the newspapers, all over television, and certainly people in this city will be incredibly aware of what he looks like. So for him to come into this city or to be seen in this neighborhood, there were reports earlier that he might have gone to prayers early in the morning, were sort of seems to beg a belief that somebody could be so bold is to believe that their face is so recognizable now and is being seen by tens of hundreds of thousands of people in this city, that they would be out on the streets here or even getting themselves into an apartment holdup.

So I think there are a lot of questions about this, Anderson, about his whereabouts still. But obviously, for the police, that is very, very major ongoing question that the DNA analysis here will shed some light on.

COOPER: Yes, Nic Robertson, thanks very much.

We want to bring in CNN intelligence and security analyst, a former CIA officer Bob Baer. Also Mia Bloom, professor of security studies at UMASLOL, and author of "Bombshell, the Many Faces of Women Terrorists" and Julien Theron, political scientist and analyst at University of Versailles and the University of Paris. Julien, thanks very much for being with us.

JULIEN THERON, POLITICAL SCIENTIST, UNIV. OF VERSAILLES: Hi. COOPER: I mean it just seems like this kind of nexus of people involved in this has just grown exponentially over the last 24 hours. Initially, it was thought there were just eight people involved in this attack, directly involved in this attack on Friday night. Then there was a report that there could be a ninth, a second person in the vehicle spotted with Salah and now, there is this whole other group in Saint-Denis.

THERON: Yeah, it's a whole network. Actually. So, we thought there was only three teams, one at the Stade de France, one at the Batacklan's concert. And the last one shooting on the bus. And there was actually a fourth one then in Saint-Denis hiding in a kind of safe house and the French television reported that they were planning some other attacks on the airport and on the mall at La-de-France. So, it has not been confirmed, but a general prosecutor said that the attacks were imminent meaning that on these points, the intelligence and security service acted promptly with good intel and that was hopefully the case.

COOPER: Yeah, and Mia, I mean the suicide bomber in this raid, you say she is the first ever known female ISIS suicide bomber, it's obviously there have been others suicide bombers from other groups in other conflicts. But did -- I mean, do we know that for a fact and if so, what does it actually say about ISIS?

MIA BLOOM, PROFESSOR OF SECURITY STUDIES, UMASS LOWELL: So, ISIS has been very clear that there is not a front line role for women. They have put out a number of documents, both in English and in Arabic saying that women have - for the most part very secondary role. They are there for cooking, cleaning, childcare. They use them almost as a form of currency as they gift them to the male foreign fighters. So, these are not women who get to be suicide bombers and even the Halani (ph) sisters have gone on social media to say, oh I wish I could be allowed to be a suicide bomber. So, in fact, this would be the first time we saw an ISIS woman. Interestingly enough, my colleague Charlie Winter just in October discovered within the ISIS chatrooms a document that had been circulated by a Sheikh Mansour that basically explained what is the small and few categories, in which a woman could be more proactive and one of the categories, in which a woman could detonate an IED was if she was about to be attacked in her own house. So, here's an example where this fits the very limited categories, where ISIS is allowing women to be on the front lines.

COOPER: It's fascinating. And Bob, and this raid, we understand it came after wiretap by French and Belgian security agencies after that tap indicated Abaoud's female cousin was at the residence. That combined with cell phone or cell phones that were recovered in the wake of the attacks on Friday. It seems like that's been a huge break for investigators.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Yeah, Anderson, exactly. What the break is, of course, were the attacks on Friday because now the French have something to go on. Before these people were simply suspects, they hadn't committed crimes, they weren't necessarily connected because they are using encrypted communications and the rest of it and once the event curves, it's easy to put the pieces together and you can reconstruct the metadata and get these people. And, of course, once they saw the nature of the attacks on Friday, the suicide bomb, they had to be very careful and use extreme force.

I mean doing a takedown of a house when people are inside with suicide vests, you just have to use absolute total force to do this and in this -- by the way, this is why they are blowing explosives in place is, because these explosives are so unstable TATP, and in these raids, inevitably, we are going to be a mess.

COOPER: Julien, the idea that Nic Robertson mentioned there are some who believe that this alleged planner went to prayers this morning. The idea that he could go out publicly, if in fact it's true that he went to public prayers and not have other people report him in, it does point to the distrust between many in some Muslim neighborhoods here in Paris and law enforcement.

THERON: Well, the distrust that we're speaking about is not always the case. There is some most radicalized, indeed, in France, but these, for instance, I read the reports saying that Abaoud may have not been to the mosque, actually. That meaning that's a lot of the background is criminal background, for instance, some of the tourists have criminal background in Belgium. Meaning that's there is a thin line between criminality and jihadism.

[20:35:07]

COOPER: It seems that a number of these, particularly young men, come from some sort of petty criminal background, robberies and the like and we were talking about this a little bit earlier, they really oftentimes, they are within families, they are brothers or they grew up in the same street. It's sort of an extension of gang life, almost.

THERON: Yeah, and it's not surprising that since 2012 for instance, the raid, the kind of anti-terror SWAT, the very high level of SWAT that we have works with the anti-gang brigades, and I think that's kind of symbol that actually two worlds melting and even for the weapons, for instance, they got some AK-47 and explosives and so on, which is typically criminality, some of them sells drugs and so on, which is not at all related to the -- how could I say? Very pure religion that they want to show and we know that ISIS is using the amphetamines, kept tack on drug so we see that there is a translation between the jihadi galaxy from al Qaeda where the origins, there was theologians in al Qaeda and Yemen and so on, to ISIS, which is more linked, less theological and more linked to a criminality.

COOPER: You know, Mia, to Julien's point, I mean, you know, for all the alleged religious backing for these guys, there really are just petty thugs and criminals and they really don't have much knowledge about religious text.

BLOOM: It's absolutely true that we've seen ISIS go through different cycles of recruitment. At the beginning, when they needed a lot of people, what I would call to be that they are labor intensive. They were going after gang members, people in jail and people with a really bad past. Then they went after starting in July of 2014 doctors, engineers, people with skills. It looks like now they are in the new cycle where as they are expanding, they need more people again.

So, the different kinds of recruitment is reflected in different propaganda messages. Some of those propaganda messages we've seen from ISIS, they are just, you know, beheadings, they are disembodies heads, they are graphic, they are violent, but the other propaganda messages we've seen with, you know, soft lighting and pictures of children that are playing in the streets is a very different message. That's to recruit the doctor and the lawyer, not to recruit the person who is in a gang or coming out of jail.

COOPER: Bob, I want to ask you about the bomb that ISIS claims is responsible for the downing of the Russian plane. We have got the photo that ISIS released, soda can, a wire, some sort of switch, does that look like something that could actually take down a plane?

BAER: Oh, absolutely. It just takes a couple ounces of military explosives put against the skin and if it had been a baggage handler, there are some reports out that it was, all he would need to do is take it and insert it next to the skin and like I said, a couple ounces and electric detonator and arming switch and some sort of timer knowing the plane would take off on time. It would be very, very easy to take down an airplane.

COOPER: Frightening stuff. Bob Baer, I appreciate you being with us, Mia Bloom. Julien, thank you so much for being with us, really. I appreciate it.

Just ahead, a "360" exclusive, new details about the attack inside the Bataclan Concert Hall. Two young people, survivors, describe how they managed to get out alive and what the attacker said as they were carrying out the killings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:27]

COOPER: Tonight we have new details about the deadliest attack five days ago here in Paris. 89 people, as you know, were murdered, massacred and many more wounded inside the Bataclan concert hall where rock concert was under way. Among the survivors, a young couple who lost track of each other in the midst of the chaos. Isobel Bowdery and Emily (inaudible). Isabelle survived by playing dead, by not moving. She wrote about it later on Facebook. She said holding my breath trying not to move, not cry, not giving those men the fear they long to see. I was incredibly lucky to survive, but so many didn't. Her boyfriend ran when the shooting started and hid, crammed inside a bathroom with dozens of other terrified people. They've been separated even before the shooting began. Here's some of what he wrote on Facebook, "there are so many things that crossed my mind, above all the idea of death, death at 24. All the while I was thinking of Isobel, and I called all those dear to me to tell them everything that went without saying, but which I had never taken the time to tell them."

While, the carnage was unfolding around them, neither knew if the other was alive. In an exclusive interview tonight they describe in detail what they saw and what they heard and what they will never forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: When did you realize something was happening?

ISOBEL BOWDERY: We heard sounds. And we thought they were fireworks.

COOPER: You thought it was part of the concert.

BOWDERY: Part of the concert. Quickly we realized it was something serious.

COOPER: Did you know it was shots?

BOWDERY: It was quickly, quickly realized it was shots. You could smell the gun powder. You could hear the terror of people screaming. You knew it was gunfire.

COOPER: Was it constant?

BOWDERY: Constant, non-stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During ten minutes. [speaking foreign language].

COOPER: Did you see them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [speaking foreign language]

[20:45:00]

COOPER: Did you hear them talking to each other? Did you hear them saying anything?

BOWDERY: I heard sounds, but I don't know if they were in French, but I didn't understand what they were saying. They were very calm.

COOPER: They were calm?

BOWDERY: They were calm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [speaking foreign language].

COOPER: Everybody tries to imagine what they would do in a situation like this. When were you thinking different things in your mind of what to do? What was going through your mind?

BOWDERY: Complete shock. I think that's the first thing. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this was happening.

COOPER: It didn't seem real?

BOWDERY: It didn't seem real. Felt like a nightmare. Felt like the worst horror film. I just -- I remember the stories and you just, you don't know, you pretend that you've already been shot. You pretend you're dead and that's what I did.

COOPER: Did you worry they would see you breathing?

BOWDERY: Yeah, I was so worried. The fact that I didn't cry is shocking given how scared I was, but it was important not to move, not to flinch, not to do anything that would alert them to the fact that I was still alive. And as much as the terror and the anguish was in that room, there was a lot of love. There was a lot of positivity in such a tragic, tragic place.

COOPER: How do you mean?

BOWDERY: You just felt it. Everyone was there. There were innocent lives. They were there for the exact same reasons. We were at a concert. Minutes before the attack, everyone was dancing, everyone was smiling, people were happy. And then when the gunmen came in, it all changed. But the people didn't. The people who followed their families, followed their friends, that's what you do when you're so close to death and it's all you want to be is you want to be with your family, you want to be with your friends. You want to tell them you love them. And you -- [crying] sorry and you don't want them to think of the pain you're going through. You don't. And picturing their faces and saying and this is the only thing I did was I said out loud I love you and I didn't say their names, I just pictured their face and said I love you. I whispered.

COOPER: You would actually whisper that out loud.

BOWDERY: It was important. It was important that if I was going to die, if the next bullet was for me that I left saying I love you. So I said it to every single person I ever loved. And in that way it felt, it felt okay to die because I had love in my heart and I reflected on a great life.

COOPER: You wanted to die with love in your heart?

BOWDERY: Yeah, I didn't want them to have their horrible actions determine the end of my life. I didn't want them to win. I wanted, I wanted the people I loved to win, to know that they blessed me with incredible life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: She said she wanted to die with love in her heart. We're going to have more of this interview in the next hour of "360." First, in light of ISIS showing that bomb that they say took down MetroJet 9268 we want to dig deeper into the threat against air travel here and why two flights were diverted late last night. Also, much more on just how small and easily concealed bombs can do so much damage. The question, how to keep them off planes. We'll talk about that ahead.

[20:50:00]

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COOPER: Well, the hours long terror raid was going on here today in Paris, ISIS released a photo claiming to show how it destroyed that Russian airbus over Egypt last month. We showed you the photos we've been discussing tonight. They said they hid the bomb inside the soda can. You can also see what appears to be the components of it. The photo was published in the latest issue of the extremist group's English language online magazine. That's right, they have a magazine. The downing of the Russian plane and the Paris attacks, obviously, have a lot of people on edge and officials scrambling to try to take precautions. Just last night, back in the U.S. two Air France flights headed to Paris were diverted due to bomb threats. Our aviation correspondent Rene Marsh joins us with more. What do we know now about those threats?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we know that the FBI has been called in to start this process of tracing that call. It's unclear at this point if this same person called in those threats or not. But two Paris-bound Air France flights were targeted. The plane was searched and no threat was found.

COOPER: And the bomb that ISIS says took down the Russian airliner, I know you've been talking to people about it. Do they actually think that device can make it through airport security in the U.S.?

MARSH: Well, I spoke with several bomb experts today who essentially say when you look at the soda can, you look at the wires, and also the battery that's included in this device, it would be very difficult to get that through our current screening procedures at security check points just because of the metal signature of all of those items that a metal detector or scanner would indeed pick up that metal signature.

[20:55:20]

MARSH: So, they say that they don't believe that this could get through the check point. It would have to be a situation where somebody gets it around the security check point, smuggling it on board that aircraft, Anderson.

COOPER: Although, but certainly, I mean there have been checks, you know, tests done of TSA security and metallic devices have gotten through on those tests. And we've done stories on that.

MARSH: Right. You know, in theory, if someone is doing what they are supposed to be doing and following the protocol, you're absolutely right that that should not be able to get through, but what you're talking about is the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General's undercover operation that they did testing select airports across the country. And when they did that using fake explosives, fake bombs, they were able to get 95 percent of the time, get those items through the security check point.

So of course, that's an issue when someone at that check point is not following the procedures, it indeed can get through, but that's different than the actual machinery and the actual screening mechanisms being able to detect it. Those should be able to detect it.

COOPER: Right. Yeah. And obviously, a security system is only as good as its weakest link. Rene Marsh, I appreciate the reporting.

Up next, exclusive video of the early morning raid on a terror cell just outside Paris. An assault that ended with eight captured, two dead including a female suicide bomber. You'll hear what she shouted at police before detonating herself, as well as more on the new ISIS threat against New York. Stay with us.