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Missed Clues in Brussels Attacks; Smaller Crowds at Large Brussels Market after Attacks; Pakistan P.M. Vows to Avenge Bombing Victims; U.S. Secret Campaign Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq; North American Volcano Erupts Explosively, Detouring Flights; Manhunt for Unidentified Brussels Suspects; Breaking News: Plane Hijacked in Larnaca. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 29, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:23] MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, live in Brussels. One week ago, at this hour, terror attacks rocking the city, two suicide bombers and a third still at large. An hour later, another suicide bomber struck at the Maelbeek metro station during the morning rush. Both attacks have killed 35 people so far. More than 300 were wounded.

Now, the explosions causing significant damage, of course, at the airport as we have seen which remains closed for passenger flights. Hundreds of airport staffers will be testing a temporary set-up for security screenings and luggage check-in. An airport statement said it's too soon to say when the airport might reopen.

Well, Belgium's priority is to catch remaining members of the terror cell. Authorities releasing new video in hopes that the public can identify the third suspected airport bomber. Law enforcement officials telling CNN, there's a list of people Belgian and U.S. authorities believe could be that man.

Meanwhile ongoing police raids across Europe in search of at least eight suspects. But one suspect, known as Faycel C., was released for lack of evidence. Two of the identified suicide bombers were brothers. The police searched their apartment.

And Nick Paton Walsh reports, first, they uncovered troubling details and missed clues that could have helped to prevent the attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the apartment at the heart of the Brussels attacks, where the brothers, Ibrahim and Khalid Bakraoui, lived and made bombs that tore through the metro and airport. This video shows how police left it. But a source with knowledge of the brothers' lives there reveal to CNN, just 10 days ahead of the blasts, explaining to CNN that, as this exclusive video goes, police have sealed off both the top floor where the brothers lived and the one below it. Why? Because the brothers spilled so many chemicals 10 days before the blast that it leaked through the floor into the apartment below. (on camera): The fact that chemicals could have leaked between entire

floors in that building portrays how careless the brothers must have been with the liquids they used to build the bombs and how many signs there were to the outside world that something was amiss.

(voice-over): One man who regularly met the brothers there and doesn't want to be identified for his own safety said they were kind men and only had two beds and a refrigerator in the apartment.

"Each time they went up with things in their hands suitcases things like that," he said, "when you saw that face, you would have no idea they were terrorist. They were good people. I just saw one visitor, just one time."

The man he recognized as airport bomber an ISIS bomb maker, Najum Laachraoui. His expertise was vital to the brothers in preparing the bombs.

He also explained that the brothers kept their working clothes and overalls in the basement of the building.

Another mysterious window into what the brothers did there so long.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well the death toll from the attacks rose on Monday to 35. We are getting a clearer sense of where the victims died and where they were. 15 died at the airport, 13 at the metro, and four others died in the hospital. Several remained unidentified. The most recently identified victim was an Indian national that worked for an I.T. firm. An American couple living in Belgium and were heading home, all died at the airport exPLOsion. A former Belgian ambassador to the U.S. died in the airport attack. The victims were from 10 different countries, 16 from Belgium. And hundreds of wounded come from at least 40 countries.

Well, here in Brussels, one of Europe's largest markets is still quieter than usual following the deadly terror attacks a week ago. But some Belgians are returning to their normal routines.

CNN's Alexandra Field with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Life goes on," he said, "but everything is different now."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: She explains, "Half the vendors did not come to the market.

They have been serving customers in this spot for 20 years. And she thinks --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: -- "People are probably scared to use public transportation after attacks at airport and a metro station."

(on camera): Brussels South Market is one of the biggest in Europe, the vendors come out every Sunday. Some have been coming for years and some decades. They are seeing fewer customers and more police officers, and that has been happening since November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD (voice-over): Before the terrorist attacks, this vegetable vendor says that the people came from everywhere. Now he said that it's local people that come to shop at a market in the middle of a Brussels neighborhood, mostly inhabited by North African immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: "Like everyone else," she said, she has to keep her guard up, she is scared. Even with police nearby. She is still doing her shopping.

"We want to carry on," she said, it will get better as we stay united as Belgians."

"We are born in Belgium, we are Belgian people, we are against what happened."

With so many staying away, profits are down, but after 20 years in business here, he offers --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: -- "We need to have some patience."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: And he said he knew the usual crowds would not come. He is here anyway, because he says --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FIELD: -- "Life goes on."

Alexandra Field, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The attacks in Brussels have left behind lingering questions of security. We will discuss the way forward for Belgium ahead on the program.

Also, a haunting image from the bloodshed in Brussels, a professional basketball player, his legs shredded. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: I feel proud that I was able to overcome it. But why did I overcome it and others didn't?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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(SPORTS REPORT)

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[02:11:08] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everyone. I'm at CNN Center. We will return to Brussels later in the hour.

But first, we want to get the days other big stories we are following right now.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Now to Pakistan where families are burying loved ones killed in the Easter Sunday bombing at a crowded park in Lahore. That attack killed 72 people, and many of them are children. Authorities arrested a number of suspects during raids in three cities and recovered a huge cache of weapons. The Pakistan prime minister has cancelled the trip to the U.S., vowing to avenge the victims. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAWAZ SHARIF, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): This is my resolve, my government's resolve and the resolve of 200 million Pakistani people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, is covering this story from us from Hong Kong and joins us to talk about the latest.

Ivan, the prime minister cancelling his U.S. trip to focus on the investigation. Any tangible results yet from the multiple raids in addition to the cache of weapons?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All we know is what the military is putting out, which is that the rangers were brought in for these raids in the province. There were a number of arrests made and ammunition found. We don't know specifics of what kind of progress they have made there.

In the meantime, the city of Lahore is still reeling from the devastating attack. So, not only did you have at least 72 people killed and 341 people wounded, in what was clearly a terrorist attack attacking a crowded park full of civilians on Easter Sunday, many, many of the victims were children. At least 24 of those killed in fact were children. And from what we heard from the producer, who is on the ground in that town, is that not only were many children killed and maimed in the attack, but you also have large numbers of children who in the chaos, and in the killing were separated from their families. So at some of the shelters you have children who don't know where their parents are, where volunteers are trying to find where these children might live where their might be surviving relatives, to connect them with. So, we have the possibility of orphans as a result of this terrible atrocity.

Take a listen to what some of the survivors had to say about the little victims of this atrocity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): She was a brilliant student and it's not just one family's loss, it's a loss to our people, to our entire nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): My son was hurt here, and my nephew was hurt right there. It's just that the bleeding would not stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now this is not the first time that children have been targeted by the violent jihad groups in Pakistan. There was a school targeted in a western city and in that attack, more than 100 people killed the vast majority of them school children and that triggered a wave of revulsion across the Pakistan society the prime minister is trying to tap in to that as they are getting over the shock of the devastating attack -- Errol?

[02:15:11] BARNETT: Ivan, as everyone is reeling with the horror of the attack, the sprinter group from the Taliban, who have claimed responsibility for it, have vowed to wage similar attacks like this in the future. They are a persistent for Pakistan. What are they doing to combat them that is different this time around or is it more of the same?

WATSON: Unfortunately, and tragically, Pakistan has a long history from attacks from these groups. The group claimed responsibility for this attack and was targeting Christians and recall it was Easter Sunday. Many were Christians. Many were also Muslims as well though. And the group also vowed to carry out further attacks.

Now, in his address to the nation, the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, made political points and digs, he said that prior to his re-election, that the previous 13 years when he was out of office, that the government looked away, did not deal with this terrorist problem first hand, and he swore that justice, that revenge would take place.

A big question is going to be, how can the civilian government and of course, the powerful military and security forces, how do they come together to deal with this threat of terror in the country? There's been a string of bombings leading up to this awful attack -- Errol?

BARNETT: Yeah, you do not want politics slowing the progress to combating what is going on in Pakistan.

Ivan Watson, live for us in Hong Kong, thank you.

The global fight against terrorism and its coverage continues. Coming up, U.S. and coalition forces launched a dozen new air strikes have been launched against ISIS over the weekend. Ahead, new details on the secret campaign and the locations they are targeting.

Also, an Alaskan volcano erupts, thick ash in the air. Just ahead, the problems it's causing for travelers.

Stay with us.

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[02:20:45] BARNETT: Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, battled ISIS fighters around Palmyra on Monday after driving most of the militant group out of the city the day before. The loss of Palmyra is a set back for ISIS in Syria. The Syrian army says the city will become a launch pad for further operations against ISIS. You are seeing the drone footage shot there. But many of Palmyra's architectural sites have been destroyed. For example, this was the sanctuary before ISIS took over. And we can show you now, what it looks like at this moment. No, I guess we can't. What you are seeing now, recent aerial footage of Palmyra. And you can make out of the destruction and some of it barely recognizable.

The United States has been carrying out its own secret campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNFIRE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syrian government forces have retaken the historic city of Palmyra from ISIS.

(GUNFIRE)

STARR: Important ground for Syrian President Bashar al Assad to hold against ISIS if he wants to regain control.

(SHOUTING)

STARR: U.S. Special Operations forces have their own secret campaign against ISIS leaders.

The killing of ISIS' finance minister, the second senior leader in days. Omar the Chechen, the so-called minister of war, killed by the U.S.

ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet. STARR: Much of it is taking place in one particular area, the

corridor between ISIS's stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq and the town of Tel Afar (ph) is now a critical focus for coalition strikes with ISIS now moving large amounts of equipment, personnel and money between the two locations.

The first goal, get Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city in the north, back from ISIS. This, Marine Corp Firebase Bell (ph), the front line in the coming U.S. effort to get Mosul back. CNN has obtained the first images from the fire base, a precarious position. Marines have fired dozens of artillery shells to defend themselves and protect Iraq forces.

(GUNFIRE)

STARR: The Pentagon insists it's not a new ground combat mission.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. GENERAL: It's not a fundamental shift in our approach to support Iraqi forces. This is no different than what we have been delivering.

STARR: Sunday, ISIS fired two more rockets at the base.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's a continuous threat in Iraq, is being under rocket or mortar barrage from anywhere you are.

STARR: Staff Sergeant Lewis Carton (ph) killed in an initial attack after the base was established was returned to his family.

The full assault on Mosul may be months off, even as air strikes continue and Iraqis move through nearby villages.

But before the assault can begin, the White House has to make a decision that has been on hold for weeks, sending hundreds of additional U.S. troops as trainers and advisers.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. GENERAL: We have a series of recommendations that we will discuss with the president in the coming weeks.

STARR (on camera): Hundreds of additional U.S. troops could be headed to Iraq. How many are there right now? Well, the official number from the Pentagon is about 3700. But defense officials will tell you, the real number, closer to 5,000. Many are there on so-called temporary duty.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now if you are traveling or plan to, listen up. One of the most active volcanoes in North America erupted explosively on Sunday, forcing hundreds of flights to reroute near Alaska.

Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with the details.

These things scare people that have flights booked, because your plans may be ruined. But give us the scoop.

[02:24:45] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Yes. Fortunately, no cancellations so far, just rerouted around the ash. That's the good news. It was at a warning and now it's at a watch. So it's dwindling a bit, at least the threat.

Look at the photographs. This is taken by a meteorologist on the plane named Cold Snap. What a cool name.

(LAUGHTER)

Take a look at this. Photo, looking at the perspective, the ash cloud is going up 40,000 feet high. Incredible eruption around the chain there. And about 40 known active eruptions in recent decades in the region. You see the perspective. You have to travel 1700 kilometers further north and east. So of course, flights out of the United States and Canada, and out of Alaska, towards Asia and parts of Russia will be impacted by this as flights are taking an alternative route with the ash cloud extending to the south. Look at this town, Cold Day, Alaska. Folks are brooming off the debris that is on the porches and vehicles. People think of ash when it comes from your fireplace, but it's different from a volcano. We are talking about abrasive, glass material, natural glass formations and, of course, rock particles that are lofted in to the atmosphere. When they get in the higher levels of the atmosphere, that is a major concern. You bring a jet engine and turbine, we know the ash particles cool off the higher they go, but once they enter the turbine, they began to rapidly melt, this will bring them back down to being sticky on the back engine and they are disrupt I have -- they are very disruptive. That is what we are watching, for that reason.

BARNETT: Good stuff.

Pedram, thank you very much.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

BARNETT: We now want to bring you information coming in to CNN at this moment. Not a lot of details, but we want to let you know, that police in Larnaca have confirmed to CNN that a plane has been hijacked. That plane is currently there at Larnaca Airport. You are seeing the aerial image as it appears. That's all the information we have confirmed from police at the moment.

Stay with CNN. More information on the other end of this break.

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[02:30:22] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BARNETT: Want to get you the latest breaking news information, just coming in right now. Larnaca police confirmed to CNN that a plane has been hijacked and currently at the Larnaca Airport. This is all that the police press office can be confirmed at this moment. We have more information we are getting in from Reuters, a bit of additional information, saying it's an Egypt Air flight with 55 passengers aboard.

HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, in Brussels.

It was one week ago that terrorists attacked this city and here now the latest on the investigation. Authorities searching for that third suspected airport bomber. They are hoping that witnesses will come forward and identify the man in the video you see there. Now, he is one of five bombers in the attacks and still at large. Police know three of the attackers are dead, but the status of a potential second metro bomber is unknown.

Meanwhile, four more victims died in the hospital on Monday from their injuries, raising the death toll to 35. More than 300 people were wounded.

Joining me now is Greg Matthew. He is the former chief of staff of Belgium's minister of energy, economy and trade, and a former -- the military foreign affairs advisor as well.

Let's talk about some of the structural issues we've been discussing over the last weeks, the problems with counterterrorism, the gaps of passing of information. How bad was it as you look back over the last week and look what went wrong?

GREG MATTHEW, FORMER BELGIUM CHIEF OF STAFF FOR MINISTRY OF ENERGY, ECONOMY AND TRADE & FORMER MILITARY FOREIGN AFFAIRS ADVISOR: It was very bad. I will take one example, the -- the minister of the interior, ordered after the attack in the airport the closure of the metro system, and it was not listened, and then it goes to the Brussels territory and then the agency managing the infrastructure. And everyone is saying, no, we didn't get the order. We called the crisis center. We asked what to do and they say you have to wait, but there was no commander in chief in that case. We are under attack. And then the people are discussing, who is the boss? So nothing happens. At the end of the hour, there's a bomb at the metro.

HOLMES: That just seems utterly ridiculous, and extraordinary that the city is under attack and there's no one to say, shut down the metro. It did not happen. It went through layers and a bomb goes off.

MATTHEW: It's ridiculous, and sad. Sad to imagine that people's lives could have been saved if this proper decision making system was in place. I mean, we are in the complex country. We have five parliaments, we have four governments. This is all about who is responsible, who is having the competency of dealing with the matter.

HOLMES: Even on the local police level, as I understand it, you have a dozen different districts in the city. Each with its own police force, some speak different languages. Some won't talk to each other. So information is not even spread between them on that street level.

MATTHEW: That's correct. We are in the bilingual capitol. So, you have nine different police services operating in the city. It's too much. You should have a centralized system. And also, what happened last week during the attacks. They have a special communication system. This is called -- it was broken. It didn't work the day of the attack.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Literally broken?

MATTHEW: Literally broken. They could not communicate between themselves or the emergency unit. We are in the 21st century.

HOLMES: What do you see is going to change out of this? You know, structurally?

MATTHEW: Well, I hope it will change, but from what I see, two days after the attack, the politicians managed to recover quickly and to go in to disputes and to go in to what we call linguistic disputes. One is accusing the other who is accusing the other. It's nonstop and I'm experiencing that for the last 30 years. It is enough.

[02:35:07] HOLMES: You have been involved in government for a long, long time. What do the people here, the people on the street, your friends and family, what do they say about it? Are they angry? Or are they used to it?

MATTHEW: They are angry and used to it. This is the country we live in. But they are angry about, listen, politicians spending time, years and years to discuss the separation of power. We want more economy. We want more security. We want more jobs. And we don't want more separation of power. We don't want more discussion about who is doing this or doing that. At a certain point it should stop.

HOLMES: At the end of the day, too, it is no secret that this country has sent the most foreign fighters per capita to Syria and Iraq to take part in jihad to fight the terror activity that we are seeing. Would not Belgium had expected something like this? And it seems at many levels they were caught by surprise?

MATTHEW: No it was not surprise. It was not a surprise. In January, 2015, we stopped a terrorist cell, if you remember. It is known for a number of years that there's people leaving in the country to fight in Syria, and they are coming back. That shows we need more intelligent services here and more technology.

HOLMES: What happens to them when they come back, by the way? Are they not taken in to custody or interviewed?

MATTHEW: No, there's now a proposal that they can be captured and put to identify and localize them. It's not in to power until now. So, no, they are in the city. They are anywhere. Not followed, because to follow one, you need sentence intelligent officers. There's hundreds of them. This is not enough.

HOLMES: That's one of the criticisms, the lack of investment over the last 25 years or so.

I want to thank you for coming in. Greg Matthew, former military foreign affairs advisor.

MATTHEW: I have to send it back to Atlanta and Errol Barnett now -- Errol?

BARNETT: Thanks, Michael.

I want to get you all new information coming in to CNN as it relates to the breaking news we are covering. A high jacketed Egypt Air flight has landed at Larnaca Airport. It's in Cyprus. It was on route from Alexandria to Cairo. Current reports say there were 60 people on board. All of it is early information. It could change in the hours ahead had. Details surrounding the incident are unclear.

Let's bring in the correspondent, Ian Lee, who is following the breaking news story.

Ian, what can you tell us?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like you said, details are sparse. We are hearing though, that roughly 80 people were on board this domestic Egypt Air flight, that was going from Cairo to Alexandria and it landed in Larnaca, according to police officials there. We are hearing that there's one person, one hijacker, although we cannot confirm it. That's the initial report. It's one hijacker on board. But, again, this is all very preliminary information. Egypt has come under heavy scrutiny for the airport security after last October a bomb blew up a plane. This is a later blow to them. That the plane originating from Cairo would have been hijacked.

BARNETT: Ian, talk to us about the climate in Egypt, as it relates to terror and the airports? It was recently that the president acknowledged that there was a -- that terrorism was a factor in the recent downing of a plane there in Cairo. Just describe the climate in the country right now and perhaps its reluctance to acknowledge terrorism.

LEE: There's been a heavy security operation here. It's visible, the level of security. I was actually just got back to Cairo yesterday. Going through the airport you do see a lot of heavily armed guards. But it's not so much the visible security that you see. It's the quality of the security and that's what is going to be the major question. Yes, they can have guys that check points, and they can have guys with guns everywhere, do they know what they are doing, can they do, do they know what they are looking for when it comes to this sort of security level? That is going to be the real question going forward.

But, Egypt, does say, it is fighting a war on terror, it does have ISIS militants that are active, and it has been carrying out a military operation against them. But there's not been much progress. The military has had a lot of set backs. Hundreds of people have been killed in this battle. But, it looks like and we don't know, I think it's important to say, we do not know that this is a terror, what the motivations behind this hijacking is. It could have a number of motivations. We do not know if it's ISIS or who it is frankly. That is one of the questions we will look in to going forward.

[02:40:39] BARNETT: Just to remind our viewers of what we are covering at this moment. We are covering breaking news, just coming in to CNN, that an Egypt Air flight, with dozens of passengers on board, the exact numbers are not clear. Has been hijacked. It's now at the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus.

We have Ian Lee on the phone with us as we gather more information from it.

In the state run newspaper, the flight was reported to be going from the airport and on its way to Cairo. The number of passengers is not clear. It seems to be fewer than 100. Who is likely to be on the plain as a passenger?

LEE: Yeah, all this information is just coming in really sparse. I have flown out of both airports. Usually people, Egyptians, either going to visit family or having to work in the other areas, will go out of the airport in Alexandria. You will not see many tourists taking the flight. It's a domestic flight, a lot of Egyptians taking the sort of flight. The motivation behind this will be something we are going to look in to. Because when you do go through a security at the airport, whether it's in Cairo or whether it's in Alexandria, it's the same security that international and domestic flights take. We will be looking in to seeing just the motivations behind why taking a domestic flight, especially ones where they are not large planes. They usually are around 100 people or less. So, these are questions we will be looking in to going forward.

BARNETT: Ian Lee on the phone with us from Cairo.

We want to be transparent to our viewers. At this moment, there's more questions than answers. What we do know is that an Egypt Air flight that was on a domestic route within Egypt has been hijacked. That plane at the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus, we are not sure how many people are on board, or the motivations. Stay with CNN. We will have more information for you on the other end of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BARNETT: We are turning now to our breaking news. A hijacked Egypt Air flight has landed at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus. The Airbus 320 was en route to Cairo from Egypt. There were more than 50 people on board and at least one armed person hijacked the plane. Who the person is we are unclear.

Let's bring in Ian Lee who is on the phone from Cairo.

Any new information you've gathered recently that you can bring to the viewers?

LEE (voice-over): It's all still pretty preliminary. With that information, that this was a flight that was going from Alexandria to Cairo, that it would be a flight that would have mainly Egyptians on board, you would not see many foreigners, this sort of domestic flight. It's one of the smaller airports here in Egypt. Security there is -- they have three rings of security at that airport. But the questions are going to be how exactly did this person hijack the plane and what are the motivations behind it. Is it terror related or something else? Right now, Egyptian officials confirming that the plane has been hijacked and it was going from Alexandria to Cairo, that at least 50 people were on board and the airplane was an Airbus A-380.

BARNETT: As we wait, Ian, for more information on this breaking story, let's at least speak about recent incidents with terror that the country has experienced as it relates to air travel. It was February that they acknowledged that the Russian aircraft which went down last year, was a result of terrorism after being reluctant to say it for weeks. Do they not have a grasp of the terror problem or are they not admitting it?

LEE: There's been growing feelings about the terror situation. There's a visual security presence all over the country. You have people with check points and a large security operation going on. He will restore security, asking, why hasn't the president done that yet. There's criticism. They have added more fuel for the critics to attack him with that this was able to happen, especially since they had the October bombing of a flight that went from -- that is going to add criticism, Egypt was insisting that the airports were safe, that people should come back, and visit Egypt, tourism is a big industry here. Egyptians wanted to guarantee they were safe. And with this latest incident, it will raise questions how they secure their airports.

[02:50:46] BARNETT: As we wait for answers on what the motivations are, we will wait for confirmation on that. Tell us, this aircraft, left from the airport in Alexandria, what is the security like there? What would it take, we are just showing the viewers now, the flight path that the plane ended up taking after being hijacked. It takes the path up to Cyprus, what is the security like at the airport, how could this happen?

LEE: Well, recently traveled through that airport, there's roughly three levels of security. Your bags are scanned at least twice, you go through a metal detector, and a pat down. It's a small regional hub. There's international flights out of there, but a whole lot of the flights -- but a lot of the flights go to Cairo. The Airbus was an A-320. I need to correct myself. They operate domestically and a lot of them inside Egypt. As far as security, the real question is not so much the amount of security, but the quality of security. Do these people who are screening bags who are checking people, do they have the proper training? Do they know what they are doing? Do they know what they are looking for? This has been a big question since the bombing of the plane, the Russian metro jet plane last October. Is the quality of the security good enough or is it just the quantity that we are seeing without the quality?

BARNETT: Ian Lee, on the phone with us in Cairo, as we gather the latest information on this breaking story. An Air Egypt flight, around 60 passengers, was hijacked and on a

domestic route, it moved up from Alexandria, and went north to Cyprus, it's now at the Larnaca Airport, local police confirming that the aircraft has been hijacked and there's at least one armed individual on board.

Ian, with the news that the president is acknowledging the Russian plane was downed by terrorism recently, what was the reaction to that admission?

LEE: Well that was the big question for a long time, you have the United States, you have Russia and the U.K. coming out fairly early in the investigation of the crash saying it was a terror attack that ISIS carried it out. ISIS came out and claimed responsibility, showing a picture of what they say is the bomb. But during the whole time, Egypt remained quiet. We would press the officials and they would say the investigation is still under way. And then the president during a speech acknowledged it was a terror incident months later. And the Egyptian government had criticized people for calling it a terror attack, saying that they still didn't know. So there was a lot of criticism on the president, on the Egyptian government for taking so much time to call it a terror attack, a lot of people questioning whether they had the right motives, and securing the airports or were they more worried about making sure maintaining, that tourists were still coming here, but there has been growing criticism against the president here about the security situation. And this is just another incident that will add to that growing criticism.

BARNETT: Ian Lee on the line with us from Cairo, as we cover this breaking story of an Egypt Air flight that was hijacked from Egypt, and currently at the Larnaca Airport in Cyprus.

Stand by, Ian.

We're getting more details. I will read it as I see it. They are confirming 81 passengers on board. The pilot reported a threat from a passenger claiming to have an explosive belt, who forced the plane to land. It had initially taken off in Alexandria on its way to Cairo, and it's an Airbus 320, there's an Egypt flight, 181. The new details are that the pilot called in the threat, saying a passenger claims to have an explosive belt and forced the plane to land.

I will bring you back in with the new information.

If an individual was able to get on know an aircraft with an explosive belt which is the claim at the moment. It's serious enough to take the plane and have it there at the Larnaca argument, what does it mean?

[02:56:02] LEE: Well, that that is just more damning to the whole situation that an explosive belt could possibly have been brought on board that airplane, that is something that Egyptian authorities were saying they were taking extra measures to look for in the screening process. They actually showed me recently the new machines that they had to detect the explosive devices, if that is the case, it will raise issues of how seriously the security situation is being taken at the airports. Also, right now, we still need to figure out of the motivation behind this. Is this ISIS related? Is it a terror attack? Is this somebody else with a grievance? That will be the big question. Especially --

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BARNETT: Well, Ian, here's what we will do. We will give you a moment to check your e-mails and make calls and get new information. We certainly are in contact with the government, the aviation authority.

And we will bring all of you, our viewers, new information on the breaking story, a hijacked Egypt Air flight in Larnaca Airport in Cyprus, after the short break. Stay with us here on CNN.

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