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Terrorist Attack Leaves 12 Dead, 8 Wounded; U.S. Closely Monitoring Events in France; "Charlie Hebdo," on al Qaeda's List

Aired January 07, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers from the United States and around the world. Thanks very much for joining us. We're following breaking news out of France. The country is on its highest security alert after a deadly and brazen terror attack right in the heart of Paris. French police are hunting for three terrorists. At least two of them stormed the office of the satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" and opened fire. Eyewitnesses took video that you're about to see as the attack unfolded just a few hours ago. It's shot from a nearby rooftop, and you can hear the gunfire ringing out, and someone shouting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great." They have also cried and I'm quoting, "we have avenged the prophet."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER (voice-over): This video, taken from another, closer vantage point.

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BLITZER (on camera): You see the gunman running, you hear shots being fired. There's the chilling picture that was also posted on Twitter of one of the masked attackers holding a gun as a policeman lies on the ground. At least a dozen people are confirmed dead; eight people are wounded, four of them critically. The gunmen are still on the loose as of right now. The wounded were put on stretchers, they were taken away in ambulances. Witnesses say the assailants were dressed in black, they wore hoods and were armed with Kalashnikov submachine guns, and possibly, yes, possibly, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Let's begin our coverage with our senior international correspondent, Jim Bittermann, he is on the scene for us in Paris. Jim, tell our viewers the very latest, what do we know?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the latest is that we've seen the president of France go off the scene this morning, cancel all of his activities today, hold a crisis meeting of his cabinet, and now he's planning to address the French people tonight at 8:00.

One of the thing, of course, that is most on everyone's mind here are those three gunmen. We thought there were two, but the interior minister said there were three gunmen that are being hunted now, and we have seen that car that they used to get away -- and you see it in the video, this black car that was at the scene, the getaway car -- they very calmly drive away. That car was found up on the northern edge of Paris just inside the city limit near Port de Pentain (ph), which is in an area of Paris which is somewhat downtrodden. It's an area of Paris that is heavily Islamic in population, and in which the gunman probably disappeared. They got out of the car and left.

No one at the scene had any more information to give to the police, and in fact, one of the things the police have done now is put out a number, an 800 number for people to call if they have any kind of information at all which might be helpful to the police and their investigation. Wolf?

BLITZER: So the presumption is these three terrorists, they abandoned that car in the Paris area, and they're on the loose right now. They were masked, right? So people -- the police, law enforcement, don't necessarily have good pictures, good images of their faces.

BITTERMANN: They don't have good pictures of their faces. In fact, one of the things that happened at the scene was that as the gunman got into the car, you can clearly see a tennis shoe drop out of the car, and the gunman stops to pick up the tennis shoe and put it back in the car.

The logic behind that may be, according to some of the experts that have been appearing on television here, is that they had a change of clothes in the car, and that the reason he was so cautious to pick up his shoe was he wanted to make sure he could change clothes into other kind of more civilian-looking drab when he got to a place where they were going to make their escape.

So the police at this stage of the game really probably have no indication who they're hunting. The other thing it should be added is the witnesses at the scene said that the gunmen spoke perfect French. It's not like they were from outside of France, they were probably French citizens, raised here, and some of those perhaps had been Islamized in the Middle East. Something that the authorities here had been fearful for some time now, Wolf.

BLITZER: But the assumption is, Jim, that they had military training, because this was a pretty sophisticated operation.

BITTERMANN: Definitely sophisticated. They knew, for example, that this would be the time to hit this magazine when the most people would be around. These -- the editors, the cartoonists, the editorialist who would be around at their normal weekly meeting to design the magazine for the coming week, and they knew enough about -- enough intelligence about the habits of the magazine to know that this would be the optimum time to hit and find the most people. Some of the people at the magazine don't even work there all the time, but this was a meeting where they were all getting together this morning around 11:30 when all of this took place.

So it was quite well planned, quite well carried off. There was a getaway car, for example, different from the car they arrived in. So a combination of things that indicates to the authorities that someone, somewhat skillful planned this. Someone perhaps with military training. BLITZER: And clearly not necessarily a suicide attack, because these

guys wanted to escape.

A lot of our viewers here in the United States, Jim, and around the world, they don't know much about this magazine other than it's a satirical, comic type of magazine that pokes fun at all sorts of institutions and religions and people, "Charlie Hebdo." Tell us a little bit about the magazine and among the journalists who were killed.

BITTERMANN: Well, it's a very controversial magazine. I mean, it's been controversial for years now, and that's where they make their name. They try to be as edgy as possible. They published the photographs or the designs of -- the sketches of the Prophet Mohammed, which is probably what got them in trouble with the gunmen that were shooting there today, that raised the ire of the various Islamic groups. It certainly did at the time when those were published back in 2011; the magazine was firebombed back then. But they had poked fun at just about everybody, including the pope and the Jewish community. They are very anti-religious and they don't have much of a readership. They basically have a fairly small readership, that's the kind of people that like to see extreme points of view represented. It's not a mainstream magazine at all, but it has been in and out of trouble, and it was well protected until apparently recently. According to a journalist working across the street, there was a police van parked out in front of the magazine 24/7 up until a few weeks ago. There were policemen on the scene, however, that were shot, so clearly they had some close protection even today. Wolf?

BLITZER: We are now being told, Jim, and I want your reaction, a police spokesman in the district there saying that the editor of the magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," and the cartoonist known as Charb (ph) is among the dead in the attack on the magazine's offices during this editorial meeting today. At least three other well-known cartoonists were among the dead. They went under the names Cabu, Wolinski, Tignous. I'm sure you're familiar with these individuals, especially the editor-in-chief, who was among those who were killed.

BITTERMANN: They are quite familiar sights here on television and in the media here. I've interviewed one of the cartoonists, and, in fact, they're very well known because they take these extremist positions and they've caused so much furor here in the past that they've been in the press quite a bit. But nothing -- there's not been a reaction anything like this. There have been protests outside the magazine, there was the firebombing back in 2011, but nothing anywhere near approaching this, and I think that the police and the authorities knew that they would be a target, they could be a target, but I think it was a surprise at the magnitude of this, and the fact they clearly had a lot of intelligence about how the magazine worked.

BLITZER: This follows, Jim, a series of attacks, smaller, obviously, less deadly, in France over these past few weeks, right?

BITTERMANN: That's absolutely right. I think the most serious one and the most related to fundamentalist Islam was the one that took place just before Christmas at a police station not far outside Paris, where two policemen were attacked by a man with a butcher knife, who cried "Allah akbar," God is great, as he attacked them. He was killed on the scene. And then there were a couple of other attacks which were suspected of being related, not perhaps as clearly related to the kind of terrorism that we've seen coming from the Middle East. But authorities have been terribly worried about French young people and French identity card holders who have gone off to join the struggle in the Middle East, either fundamentalized over the Internet or perhaps have been recruited, but in any case, who have gone off with French identity and could slip back into the country virtually undetected, and that may turn out to be the case today but we're not sure just yet, Wolf.

BLITZER: I know the French prime minister had been on the scene now, the French President Francois Hollande is there. He'll be having a news conference a little bit later. We'll of course have live coverage of all of that. Jim Bittermann, stand by.

I want to bring in Bobby Ghosh, our global affairs analyst, the managing editor of the online news site Quartz. Bobby, this is very, very shocking, although with hindsight obviously should not necessarily be all that surprising, given the animosity, given the hatred towards this particular publication by these Islamic extremists.

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: As we know, they've tried this before, they firebombed. We don't know which group exactly, but firebombed this magazine in 2011, and there have been -- the editor you talked about, Stephane Charbonnier, also known as Charb, alas know killed, he was on al Qaeda's most-wanted list a couple of years ago. So yes, this magazine had been under -- they have been on al Qaeda and other extremist watch lists for quite a while.

BLITZER: Did you know him, Stephane Charbonnier, the editor-in-chief of "Charlie Hebdo" ?

GHOSH: I'm afraid not. I regret I did not know him. But he was a very brave man, and very widely known and beloved in French media circles. Probably the most well known French satirist. And France as you know, Wolf, is a country that revels in satire, that takes pride in its iconoclasm of the French media. There are no sacred cows in France, and that's something worth preserving, and this is what Charbonnier and what "Charlie Hebdo" stood for.

BLITZER: And at least three well-known cartoonists with the magazine are among the dead. They went under the pen names Cabu, Walinski and Tignous. This is obviously a shocking day for the entire world, especially for people in France, but for those of us who are journalists, this is pretty shocking as well, because clearly these journalists were attacked?

GHOSH: Absolutely. They did not attack a military target, they did not attack a tourist target. Of course there are plenty in Paris. They specifically chose this magazine. This was, as Francois Hollande said, this was an attack against free speech. It was not simply a random act of violence of terror. BLITZER: And what do you make of the fact that they didn't come in necessarily with suicide vests, they went in there with Kalashnikov, semi-automatic weapons, guns, and tried to kill as many people as possible? But then they all wanted to escape, and apparently they have. They're now on the loose right now. They have escaped, at least for now, though an intense manhunt is under way. It's a little bit different than some other terror attacks, where terrorists go in knowing they're going to die but in the process kill what they would call the infidels.

GHOSH: That's right, they came to kill and not to die. They did not wait for more police reinforcement, for a bigger gun battle. This was not like the two young man in the UK who murdered one of the queen's guards and then waited to be picked up. They didn't, those two people did not commit suicide, but they waited to be arrested. They wanted to make some kind of a perverse statement. These guys had a getaway car, they had a plan to get away from the scene. And that makes it a different order and a different kind of attack than we've seen in recent past.

BLITZER: And they are on the loose right now. They are at large, these three terrorists as we've been reporting. Bobby, hold on for a moment. Barbara Starr is our Pentagon correspondent, she's getting new information. What are you picking up, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one of the questions here in the United States is, what now? With the French raising their security levels to the highest level of alert, what about the United States? A senior official from the Department of Homeland Security has told me the following. He says that DHS is closely monitoring the unfolding events in Paris, and they remain in contact with their French counterparts. He also says that DHS, and I quote, "will not hesitate to adjust our security posture as appropriate to protect the American people."

Now, none of that, as far as we know, has happened yet. No adjustment in the U.S. security posture here at home.

One of the things as Bobby was just saying that the U.S. is watching so closely in this unfolding attack in Paris is that it was specifically targeted. This was against this target. It wasn't against civilians at train stations or out on the street or in shopping malls. It was not a -- one of these so-called civilian targets in that sense. These people knew what they wanted to go after, and they went after it with a great deal of precision and a very well thought out plan by all accounts. That's one of the things that DHS and all of the U.S. intelligence agencies are looking at. Since the attack happened, they've been combing through everything they have looking at intercepts, looking at imagery, looking at information for any clues about who might have been behind this and whether they had any warning it was going to happen. So far, they say they had no clues about it.

One of the remarkable things here, Wolf, is it doesn't exactly fit the profile of any of the previous attacks that had been seen which had been so-called inspired by either ISIS or al Qaeda in Yemen or al Qaeda in general. This is something very different. It's causing a lot of concern. From the U.S. point of view obviously the top priority is to get the perpetrators as fast as possible, find out who they are, where they came from, and if there are any more out there. Wolf?

BLITZER: Well, they're on the loose right now. There's a massive manhunt under way in France. These three terrorists, at least for now, they have escaped. The vehicle they drove away in has been recovered. I'm sure the forensic experts in France are going through that very, very carefully. But these three terrorists remain at large. At least right now. Our special coverage of the dramatic and important events going on in France continues in a moment.

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BLITZER: We're following the breaking news out of France. You're looking at live pictures coming in, you see investigators, police, law enforcement, forensic experts, they are on the scene now at this terrible terrorist attack that killed 12 people, mostly journalists, some police, at the editorial meeting of this French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo." The three terrorists escaped in a black vehicle. That vehicle has been retrieved, but the three terrorists remain at large right now. An intensive manhunt is under way, but those terrorists had masks on, so it will be difficult to find these three. Presumably they blended in someplace in the Paris area. Police though are watching very carefully.

Meanwhile, there are ramifications around the world. President Obama here in Washington is strongly condemning the attack. He issued a statement just a while ago. Let's bring in our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, he is just outside the White House. The president issued a tough statement. What are you hearing over there, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A tough statement, Wolf. I think you can call it an impassioned statement, in fact, from the president of the United States. I'll just read it to you. It says, "I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" magazine in Paris that has reportedly killed 12 people. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the attack and the people of Paris, of France at this difficult time. France is America's oldest ally and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security in the world. Time and again, the French people have stood up for universal values. The generations of our people have defended France and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers. We are in touch with French officials and I've directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice."

So an impassioned statement there from the president of the United States. The question, of course, is whether we'll hear from him directly speaking on this subject. There is at least an opportunity. He flies out to Detroit today to talk about manufacturing and the automobile industry in advance of his State of the Union address. No plans announced for the president to comment on the Paris attack, but at least it's an opportunity, Wolf.

BLITZER: He could do it just before he boards. I assume he's taking Marine One over to joint base Andrews outside Washington, D.C. He could do it before boarding Marine One, or he could simply go into the White House briefing room and make a statement to the American people, indeed to the entire world, about what's going on before he heads out to Detroit, or if he wants to wait until his remarks in Detroit he could open up his remarks with a statement there. We'll wait to hear what the White House decides, but presumably the president will want to speak to the American people, speak to the French allies, speak to the entire world about what is going on, because clearly this is an awful, awful situation with enormous ramifications for other countries in Europe, including here in the United States and Canada.

Joe, stand by, I want to get to Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent. Jim, you're learning more about some of the background that potentially could have led up to this terrorist attack?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're learning that this magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," was on the so- called dead or alive list of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, and, of course, sadly, on the dead side of that column, firmly establishing it as a target of AQAP. But this is early, as we know, Wolf, not definitive because "Charlie Hebdo" also took aim at ISIS. In fact, one of the last tweets sent out from the "Charlie Hebdo" account this morning before this attack was a cartoon satirizing --

BLITZER: Jim, I want to interrupt for a moment, Jim. The prime minister of France is speaking. Manuel Valls. I want to listen in to hear what he's saying.

We'll bring it to our viewers, but the prime minister of France is on the scene, he was just speaking, we'll share that with our viewers momentarily. But sorry for interrupting, Jim. Go back and tell us what you've learned.

SCIUTTO: No problem at all, of course, Wolf. Just one -- this magazine had been on the target list, a public target list of AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but to be fair, it's early, and this magazine is something of an equal opportunity satirist, frankly not just Islam but all religions, also took aim at ISIS, and one of the last tweets to come from this account of this magazine before the attack this morning was one that went after the leader, al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS as well.

One other thing I just want to make clear as we speak to counterterror officials here, Wolf, something they are focusing on is the level of sophistication of this attack. When you look at those videos and you see the way these attackers carried their weapons, fired their weapon, moved from target to target, it showed a level of training which would give a possible tie to one of these established terror groups. Now, you can get that training elsewhere, but it is something that is unusual for your typical lone wolf attack. These three attackers moved very well, they knew what their target was, they knew, in fact -- they appeared to know that their magazine was going to be heavily staffed today, which is unusual for this magazine. Many of the people who work for it aren't often in the office. They moved quickly, they got their targets, they fired their weapons with a level of skill that indicates they had some level of training. That's one focus of U.S. counterterror officials as they seek to help out their French counterparts. Another focus of course is the fact that these terrorists got away.

And just one thing I would note for our viewers who might not know this about Europe, yes, you have borders between France, Germany, Spain, et cetera, but you don't need to show your passport as you move through these borders under the European Union. You can move around Europe very freely, without even showing your ID. It's a problem, it means they can move quickly to get away.

BLITZER: And we do know based on eyewitness accounts, these terrorists, they were speaking fluent French, unaccented fluent French. So clearly they were French, but they did shout at one point "Allahu Akbar," God is great, in Arabic. So we're going to continue to monitor this. We're also standing by. The secretary of state of the United States, John Kerry, is getting ready to speak, he's holding a joint news conference with the visiting foreign minister of Poland. I assume he'll say something about what's going on in Paris right now. Our special coverage here on CNN and CNN International continues right after this.

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BLITZER: Once again, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thanks very much for joining us. We're following the breaking news. A huge, horrible terror attack right in the heart of Paris. A senior U.S. official tells CNN U.S. intelligence agencies are now scrambling to see if there were any missed signs that could have warned the French of this attack. Let's bring in our CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen, and our CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, both of whom are watching this story very closely. Peter, first to you. You've studied terrorism for a long time. What do you make of the details, the fingerprints, if you will, of this terror attack? What does this suggest to you?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know, there was a plan in the works to do something very similar at a newspaper in Denmark, which also published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. In fact, the mastermind of that plan was a Chicagoan, David Coleman Headley. The plan was to storm the building, take hostages, behead people. What we saw unfolding in Paris is -- didn't quite conform to that. It wasn't a Mumbai-style attack, where people went in knowing they would fight to the death. But clearly it seems well organized, and my guess is this was planned many -- this took many months to plan and was not something that was sort of spontaneously generated by some tweet, as some people have suggested.

BLITZER: At some point, Peter, if, in fact, this is some sort of ISIS or al Qaeda or some sort of formal terror attack, you would expect some group to take responsibility, take credit for it, right? BERGEN: Yes, you would. You would expect them to take responsibility

pretty quickly. So I'm sort of -- there is a group called al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has a lot of Francophone members, but they had never successfully carried out an attack in France. That would certainly be one group to look at. Another group to look at is not so much people who are part of ISIS necessarily, but people who are inspired by ISIS. And then anybody who's had Syrian training. We have had a French citizen conduct a terrorist attack in Brussels