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Brussels Airport Rocked by Explosions, At Least 13 Dead and 35 Injured; Brussels Subway Station Also Attacked, System Shut Down; Belgium Threat Level Raised To Maximum Level. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 22, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: How many people are possibly out there? We talking in the tens, the dozens, the hundreds?

[05:30:00] NIMA ELBAGIR, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we understood from authorities is that even just in the last few days their sense of how big this network was, was constantly evolving. Initially, they said they thought that they were looking for possibly 10, and by that I mean the network around Salah Abdeslam in terms of the conspirators that carried out and supported the Paris attacks.

They then told us that they had gotten a hold of -- not just were searching, but actually had in their custody 30 people that they believe were directly linked and part of that network -- so even for authorities this has been mushrooming. And that is separate to this new network that they believe Salah Abdeslam was a part of that they believed was trying to carry out new attacks within Belgium and possibly across the European mainland.

So, even their perception of how big this is has really mushroomed out in the days and weeks since the Paris attacks. So authorities have found it very hard to give a sense of how many people they're searching for, but they said that they have over 200 active files that they're looking in.

Just to give you a little bit of context, over 200 active files -- both those links to the Paris attacks and those within the separate Islam Radical network that they're looking into. And that's not taking into account those within the communities that they are concerned for fear or for other reasons didn't come forward with information.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nima Elbagir is in front of the Brussels airport for us. It is 10:31 a.m. right now in Brussels, Belgium.

It is 5:31 a.m. on the east coast here. And just to get you up to speed on our breaking news this morning, two explosions in the departure lounge of the Brussels airport. Local authorities, local affiliates, local media are reporting fatalities -- at least 10 fatalities, maybe 13.

MARQUEZ: Right, at least 13 fatalities and 35 possibly severely wounded. ROMANS: We also know there was another explosion at a subway station sometime after those initial two explosions. Authorities are not saying if this was terror -- if this was a coordinated terror attack -- but obviously that is concern and that is why across Europe you are seeing a heavy police and military presence at many of the airports.

You are seeing a disruption in Brussels of the -- a suspension, rather -- of the subway service -- of rail service -- and some confusion over whether the Eurostar trains are running into and out of Belgium. I would encourage anyone who is traveling there to very carefully check whether you should even be leaving your home. The Belgian command center there saying just stay home. If you are in Brussels, just stay home.

Let's go to Max Foster. He is in London. He has been watching the European reaction and we're starting to hear from David Cameron. We're starting to hear from other heads of state about what their reaction will be -- Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Just so, Christine, what you're saying on Eurostar, they have just confirmed that no trains are running to or from Brussels.

ROMANS: OK.

FOSTER: The Brussels customers are advised to postpone and not come to the station. Yet, they say -- the top level cabinet meeting -- a COBRA meeting -- taking place in London, chaired by the prime minister to consider a response and whether or not Britain should react and how they should, actually, support Belgium on this.

We're seeing all of the European nations working together in these instances, as they now realize if it was a terrorist attack it could have been Brussels this time, but it could equally be London or Paris or Berlin on another occasion.

I will also -- one other key piece of information we've had coming out -- and this is from the European Commission saying that all EU institutional meetings have been canceled, both on premises and outside, and only staff with badges can get into any of those EU buildings in Brussels.

That's significant, not just because of the disruption it causes to European diplomacy, but also because there would have been a will within the European Commission not to be disrupted by any sort of terror attack, if that's what it is, because they don't want to be seen to be capitulating to these sorts of incidents. But they've had to today and that's with the security of staff, of course.

MARQUEZ: I think difficult for them to think anything else at this point, given the timing of these two different incidents -- 8:00 a.m., a busy time at the Zaventem airport in Brussels -- the main airport just northeast of the city.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

ROMANS: This is new video you're seeing of the aftermath here.

MARQUEZ: An hour and a half later an attack at the subway station. This is at the airport so those are ceiling tiles that have come down after the explosion. You see people with their suitcases trying to flee the area and get out of that area. You can also, in some of these pictures and videos, see the kiosks. There you see the kiosks. If you were going to walk into an airport and check in you would go to one of those to get on.

[05:35:00]

This was the main departures lounge before security, an area that airports across the world have always been concerned with as a soft target. So, 8:00 a.m., two explosions there, possibly one a suicide bomb, possibly gunfire before both of those bombs went off. Nine- thirty a.m. Brussels time, an hour and a half later in downtown Brussels, a second bomb at a Metro station, this time underneath an EU building.

We spoke to somebody who was in that building earlier. He said he felt a vibration. In London now, the prime minister will hold a COBRA meeting, the highest meeting that they can hold over concerns of either a terrorist strike or for security purposes. What will happen at Heathrow? What will happen at other airports in other soft targets across Europe this morning, Max?

FOSTER: Well, the two main airports around London, Gatwick and Heathrow, both confirm that they are increasing the police presence. We don't think that that's linked to any intelligence that there might be some sort of copycat here. It's just a response that they now have to these incidents, which sadly they're preparing for, and this does very much fit into that pattern.

And that's what they'll be considering at a COBRA meeting today. Is this a series of military-style attacks on a major European capital because it has repercussions to any European capital? That's certainly what they've been planning for since Paris.

They feel an attack on Western ideals and lifestyles, which was so frightening about that latest Paris set of attacks. It was attacking people in bistros, which really represents Parisian lifestyle, and that was the frightening thing about it. And it could equally be an attack on any other city.

I will just say that if you look at the flights in and out of Europe and around Europe, it's pretty chaotic right now because all those flights going into Brussels, which is a major European airport, have all been diverted to other places like Amsterdam and Heathrow. That's having knock-on effects for all of the flights around Europe, but obviously they can't open the airport right now. They have to respond like this.

ROMANS: No, they have to.

FOSTER: But it's had a huge impact. ROMANS: And even the metro. If you just arrived in Brussels you're having a hard time finding a way to get around the subway station. The rail system in Brussels has been shut down. This comes at a time when there's already been some -- I think political argument over the free flow of people across borders in Europe, Max, and that is something that has been a big and loud debate over the past year or so. And now, here you have this -- a strike at the heart of air travel there.

FOSTER: Well, this is the concern, isn't it? Europe, traditionally, has -- well, within the European Union -- the Schengen zone, at least -- this idea that you can move between countries without crossing borders and going through security checks. Now you have this migration crisis and there's concern that a huge amount of people -- but, amongst those genuine refugees, possible terrorists, and that's a real political debate.

Angela Merkel facing it in the most public way in Germany right now. She had some recent elections where she didn't get the support for her party she as hoping for and that's seen as a reaction, really, to this migration crisis and the fact the borders are open. And, perhaps, some politicians on the fringes suggesting that it makes up more vulnerable to attacks.

But there is, I have to say, a counter argument that we're hearing here in the U.K. right now where we're considering whether or not to leave the European Union. But actually being in the European Union and staying as part of a club which works closely together, actually we're much more secure.

MARQUEZ: And certainly that Schengen agreement and the movement of people into the U.K. has been a very big motivator for the concerns over refugees and concerns over people coming into the U.K. from other parts of Europe.

We spoke to one eyewitness earlier who was in the Zaventem airport. He had already gone through security and said he did not hear the blast but certainly felt its ramifications with hundreds of people running deeper into the terminal area. They were forced to evacuate over the tarmac to get out of the airport eventually, and then were sort of set loose in the town there and is now on foot trying to get out of the area.

A witness at the Metro station saying that he was above the Metro station at a meeting when he felt a vibration in the building. That it is a very busy Metro station -- would have been very busy at that particular hour, around 9:30 in the morning, and that he has then left the building and is on foot trying to get out.

[05:40:00]

All reminiscent of 9-11 here, of 7-11 in the U.K. with the bus and metro bombings -- the coordinated bombings there. A very, very concerning time for Brussels this morning.

ROMANS: Also, reminiscent a bit of Boston, frankly, when you had a major city basically shut down in the wake of a bombing there. VRT, a local Belgian broadcaster, is saying that no one was killed in that explosion in the subway station and that happened inside Metro carriage, which would be inside the train car -- the Metro car there.

I want to go to Nic Robertson. He's in London for us. Nic, you have been following all of these developments -- all of these questions -- still questions about what caused these explosions. But, the international reaction has been one of major assumption that this is some sort of coordinated attack, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and that was the concern going into this weekend with the arrest of Salah Abdeslam on Friday. It was clear that after four months on the run when he was arrested, if ISIS networks were going to have a reaction to it, they would try to put it into effect quickly. There will be a number of reasons for that.

There would be concerns that once he was arrested that other members of the cell could be wrapped up, therefore they knew they would have a finite amount of time to act. That would be an immediate threat in the Brussels, Belgium region. But, obviously, countries more broadly in Europe would be concerned about knock-on and the implications of knock-on attacks from there.

So, this weekend undoubtedly has been one of concern and now realizing that. The fact that the Metro system in Brussels has come under attack will not be a surprise to security authorities there. Going back a decade or so, al-Qaeda, at that time, was plotting to attack the Metro system. We've seen that go on high levels of alert since the Paris attacks. And also, obviously, with the attacks in London in 2005, the concern about the Metro being a target for this type of attack.

The picture that emerges at the moment is one that appears to be -- appears to be, at this stage -- ISIS striking back quickly. Does this mean this was hastily put together and other attacks are not so likely to follow, or does this mean this will activate other ISIS cells in other countries in Europe? And, that's the major concern.

David Cameron, today, saying that he is shocked to see this and concerned. I think we can understand that all counterterrorism officials across Europe will be on very, very high alert today.

ROMANS: All right, Nic Robertson, thanks for that. I want to go back to the airport. Nima Elbagir is there for us. She began her morning in Molenbeek, the neighborhood that has been sort of a hub of this terror investigation after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam four days ago -- just four days ago.

And now she's there in front of this airport where these two explosions rang out about 8:00 local time. It is 10:42 local time there. What new do we have, Nima, about the investigation, the cause of this? Any official acknowledgment that this is now a terror investigation?

ELBAGIR: Well, the Belgian prime minister has now asked everybody to remain indoors. So Brussels is, essentially, now in lockdown. They've asked people to avoid travel through the roads. They've asked them to remain inside their homes. They're trying, clearly, to limit any potential for any further injuries -- any potential for any further panic.

And this comes, of course, as they raise that threat level to four, which means that now that people have been asked to stay indoors, it will give them the ability to move, to deploy the Army on the streets, to deploy greater security forces, and a greater security presence. But, this is now the latest just into us. Brussels is now, effectively, in lockdown.

MARQUEZ: And you are at the area of the airport where security services are gathering. What is the scene there? Does it feel like it's over or is this really just getting started?

ELBAGIR: Well, here at the airport it's been very quiet. Police reinforcements, ambulances have been moving. We're around the back near the air traffic security area and this become, essentially, the staging ground for those authority figures -- the ambulances, the police officers -- reinforcing their colleagues inside. It has been very calm, very quiet, and the sense I get is that is very much the feeling that authorities here are trying to engender.

The police cordon was up very quickly. It's very broad. They've kept people are far as possible from that departure building. We're not allowed to get in any closer. They've been trying to move traffic along, trying to limit the potential for gridlock and panic as people end up sitting in their cars. It does feel like here that the situation is under control and it is much calmer than the sense that we were getting much earlier there, Miguel.

[05:45:00]

MARQUEZ: I do want to ask. The people that we've spoken to -- the eyewitnesses and the people who were in the terminal -- were released over the tarmac and then into the town. Are you seeing people in that area, perhaps with their bags, trying to figure out where they go now?

ELBAGIR: People really have been moved -- have been corralled very specifically through certain zones, again, to try and limit that potential for panic. Even though this is the back of the airport we are in a residential area. There are houses just across the road from where I am standing, so it's clear the authorities are trying to get this situation as orderly as possible.

And as they move people through, they're making sure that they do that within a very tightly-cordoned line because in those initial moments after that attack -- those scenes that we've been seeing, the pictures we've been seeing on social media and the descriptions we've been getting from eyewitnesses -- it was very, very panicked. It was a very scary time, and police have tried very much to enforce as much control and order as they can to reclaim a lot of that.

We were talking about this earlier. So much of these incidents comes down to the speed of the response, and that is how authorities try and get the populous calmer and to get people to listen to these instructions that are coming out, like stay indoors. I think you can hear that there are more police outriders coming in, Miguel. Quite a long queue of them.

I'm just doing to step out of shot. We're going to try and get it for you. They're moving into the airport. We're seeing another -- just coming into shot now, a long line of police cars, security officials -- all of them heading towards the airport to reinforce that zone around the departure hall there, Miguel. More police officers coming in, more motorcycle outriders. And we saw a little earlier ambulances and forensic teams going into the airport towards that departure hall area.

ROMANS: And, Nima, we know that there were fatalities in that departure hall area. We just showed you that video a moment ago someone captured on a cell phone -- of just the chaos, the ceiling tiles, the glass. We know there were injuries because of the falling glass and the ceiling tiles. At least 10, maybe 13, fatalities -- the reports are conflicting this morning -- and 35 severely injured.

Let's get to CNN's counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official, Philip Mudd. Phil, they haven't told us this is some sort of coordinated terror attack. They haven't told us that what you see there in the airport and this blast in a subway car at Maalbeak, a subway station, sometime after that were coordinated.

But it is 10:47 in the morning in Brussels, Belgium. This happened at the heart of a rush hour in an international city with international ties. Clearly there is a chase underway right now for information and potentially suspects. What is happening on the investigation side, in your view?

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: There's a couple of things happening going on in parallel. The first is, on the scene there's a police investigation. That is securing the site, determining whether you can find forensic materials from the bombings.

But behind the scenes, from an intelligence perspective, this is the most frustrating time in the investigation because you're going to get a volume of incorrect information -- erroneous information -- but also the most important thing. You don't have details yet that allow you to open the investigation in full. For example, the first question you're going to have -- who are the suicide bombers? As soon I have them I'm going to find their e-mail, their phone, their friends, their apartments.

So, in the hours to come there will be an investigation on the ground, but the intelligence guys are going to be sitting back saying I need a grain of sand to start to build the investigation. The frustration is those grains are really hard to sort through in the first hours.

ROMANS: Very hard to sort through. What kind of international cooperation are you thinking is happening here because we're seeing a lot of security tightened at international airports? Clearly, they must be learning lessons about how to work together to try to stop the flow of people across borders after something like this happens. MUDD: Yes, lessons go out the window in circumstances like this. That is, regardless of what the rules are, threat and dead people drive cooperation among security services. So, whether you're in America, Great Britain -- whether you're in Western Europe -- there are rules you operate under.

Right now, in the case of imminent threat, you do not want to be sitting around tomorrow and saying I failed to pass that piece of information because there was a regulation against it. Security services, regardless of diplomatic cooperation or lack of cooperation, are going to work together now because they cannot afford to be in the day after saying I didn't pass that because a rule said I couldn't.

[05:50:00]

MARQUEZ: Phil, there are now reports of 10 people dead in the Metro station bombing in downtown Brussels. You talk about these attacks and certainly we have seen this for some time. I take it this is the sort of thing that terrorists want.

We had 9-11 here in the U.S. March 11, 2004, the multiple coordinated attacks in Madrid. On 7-7 -- I apologize, I misspoke earlier and called it 7-11 -- 7-7 in the U.K., multiple coordinated attacks on buses and train stations there. The Charlie Hebdo attack, clearly, which was one place, but then the Paris attacks which is a hugely coordinated multiple attacks across Paris, and now this. I take it this fits the hallmark of all these attacks in what ISIS wants to do.

MUDD: It does with one significant difference, and that is this is in-your-face from ISIS. This is saying you've followed us around for months and you still couldn't stop us. Not only could you not stop us, we attacked the same targets that we told you we were going to attack for years. That is iconic transportation targets -- airports, metro stations.

So I think this is, in some ways, different than Paris because ISIS -- and presumably their followers in Brussels -- are saying you can never stop us. It's also a message to the community and to the government of Brussels saying you better figure out a way to accommodate us and to ensure that you stay out of Syria because you'll never stop us.

ROMANS: Phil, according to RTBF, the Belgian prosecutor is now confirming the Brussels blast was a suicide attack. You made a great point earlier that bomb-making materials, the suicide vests -- now the hunt is for where these explosives came from.

MUDD: That's right. In every one of these cases you've got to step back and keep cool. That's one of the hardest things to do. One way to do that is to ensure that instead of looking at every strand of information, you break this down into its elements. Where did the money come from? Where did the documents come from? Where did the people come from?

And, most significantly, in some ways, where did the explosives come from because those kind of explosives people are hard to find, and whoever built the explosives is at the core of the plot. So, initially, you've got to break down the investigation and start following every thread so that you don't step back in every investigation and just say let me start from ground zero. That's impossible.

MARQUEZ: With the Paris attackers they found that the explosives were TATP, which is fairly easy to make if you know what you're doing and know how to do it. And, apparently, they had a fairly high degree of sophistication in making their vests --a suicide bombing, then, at the airport this morning.

You talk about the fact that this was in-your-face from ISIS. One hesitates to criticize the Belgian authorities at this point but it's hard to see it any other way.

MUDD: It is. There's two elements you've got to think about here. First is let's determine first what the facts are and whether these folks were hiding in wait. For example, I want to make sure we understand -- and this is very difficult at the outset of the investigation -- the difference between what we think and what we know. It's one of the first things that goes out the window.

That is, are we sure these people are connected with the fellow who was just arrested, Abdeslam? Are we sure this is ISIS? You've got to look at this and presume that it is, but if it is, there's going to be a lot of security professionals, and there is a brotherhood of us who are going to look back and say, man, we have respect for you but how did you miss this? This is significant.

ROMANS: Phil, stick with us. I want to be clear here. There are a lot of early reports, some of them conflicting, but this has been a terrible morning for Brussels. There are fatalities in that airport. There have been conflicting reports about whether there are fatalities in that Maalbeak subway station, but we know there has been loss of life. We know there have been injuries -- many, many injuries.

There are reports the Belgian prosecutor quoted in the Belgian state media that this was a suicide bomber at the airport. Clearly, a terrible morning for Europe. A terrible morning for Belgium. And this is being treated, at least in international lives at this point, as some sort of a coordinated terror attack, although we have not had official confirmation that this was a terrorist attack, but a suicide vest from the Belgian prosecutor leads you in that direction, including Nima Elbagir. She's outside the airport -- in the back side of the airport. What can you tell us on this dark morning for Belgium?

ELBAGIR: Well, we're now hearing from Belgian media that they believe that at least 10 were killed in that train station attack in Maalbeak. We're working to confirm it ourselves. It's very difficult to get ahold of any authority figures at the moment. It is a real time of confusion and worry. European countries are seeking out, trying to establish if their nationals are safe.

Already, the Dutch Red Cross has set up a Website called "I Am Safe," asking Dutch nationals who were in Belgium to check in and let their families know that they're safe. And across Brussels this is what's happening. People are reaching out.

[05:55:00]

I've been receiving messages this morning asking if I've seen other friends here. It is a real time of heartbreak and worry for those in the Belgian capital, and the Belgian prime minister is asking all Brussels residents to stay indoors. This city is now essentially on lockdown.

MARQUEZ: And it's a very good point and I'm sure it will be some time. There is some new video coming out from that attack at the train station where we believe as many as 10 people may have died. It shows emergency workers working on individuals who were clearly at the train station this morning on their way to work, on their way to home, getting on with their day on a Tuesday morning around 9:30 a.m. in Brussels, Belgium, which turns into a triage area just outside the train station.

It was above an EU Commission building. We spoke to one person who was in that building when the explosion went off and he said he felt a vibration in the building.

ROMANS: We're going to go now to Richard Medic. He saw the aftermath of this Metro station explosion. Richard, are you there on the phone?

RICHARD: I am, hello?

ROMANS: Hello. This is Christine and Miguel at CNN in New York. We've been following this story for the past couple of hours. What did you see there at the subway station? What can you tell us about the situation?

RICHARD MEDIC, WITNESS TO METRO STATION ATTACK, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (via telephone): I came after the explosion or explosions and saw a police cordon. Maalbeak is very close -- the station is very close the European institutions, a few hundred meters down the road. There's one long road that has the European Commission and European Council, so this is just down from that. There were ambulances there, fire, police. They basically cordoned off the area so we were just behind that.

MARQUEZ: Mr. Medic, you have been dealing with this. I presume you live in Brussels. Brussels has been dealing with this since the Paris attacks. What is it like to be in a city this morning that is on lockdown?

MEDIC: I think after the Paris attacks we've been expecting that something like this would happen, and it was just a matter of time due to the events this week in Brussels. I did think we can expect this (ph) and certainly we haven't changed our daily routines. I walk past the European Commission every day to take my daughter to day care. She's 2 years old and we walk past soldiers with guns and heightened security, and people checking badges a lot more than they used to.

But, I think most people go about their daily routines. It's a place where there are a lot of internationals here working at the European institutions and they talk about it, but they go on with their daily routines, I think -- most of us.

ROMANS: Richard Medic, our best to you and your family.

MARQUEZ: I hope you hugged your child a little harder today when you dropped her off.

ROMANS: It's a tough morning -- tough morning in Brussels. Thank you for talking to us about it. We're going to have "NEW DAY" this rolling coverage right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. We're covering a series of deadly explosions rocking Brussels. Two blasts at the airport, another reported at the city's Metro system. As always, we advise that early in a situation like this, the numbers of dead and injured are premature, but here's what we can tell you.

At least 13 people lost their lives at the airport. Dozens are badly injured. That's at Brussels airport departure hall. All flights, obviously, canceled. Arriving planes being diverted. Belgium is on shutdown and, of course, now word of another explosion. Alisyn, to you for that.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: At least 10 people dead there, Chris, at this separate explosion in this nearby Metro station. You can see that aftermath. Belgium raising its terror threat to the highest level. These attacks come four days after the main suspect in the Paris November attacks was captured in Brussels. Europe now on high alert.

So, let's begin our coverage with CNN's Nima Elbagir. She is live at the Brussels airport. Nima, what happened?

ELBAGIR: Hi, Alisyn. Well, as you can see, we're on the back of the airport near the airport security building. This has become the staging grounds for the reinforcements -- police, ambulance, forensic teams. All have been parked here and heading into the airport. The situation at the departure hall now appears calm. That really wasn't the case just an hour or so ago.

Eyewitnesses described to us some horrifying scenes.