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Pakistani Schoolchildren Killed by Taliban; Final Actions of Sydney Hostages; Intense Manhunt for Shooting Spree Suspect; Memorial Remembers Victims of Sydney Standoff

Aired December 16, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly attack on a school in Pakistan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban gunmen entered the school after scaling its walls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have heard explosions coming from the school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Children are said to be still inside that school.

UNIDENITIFED FEMALE: The death toll is continuing to rise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The siege is over. Sydney remains on high alert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just the kind of guy that ISIS wants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Things like this don't happen in Sydney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are ready to deal with these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just because we don't believe in the bad guys doesn't mean the bad guys aren't trying to kill us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome to NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, December 16th, 6:00 in the East just about. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here. We welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. Right now a school is an active battlefield in Pakistan. Taliban militants in the city of Peshawar have raided a military-run school for kids. We do know that there are 126 dead right now, but it is an active firefight going on. Many of those killed will be students, hundreds more are trapped inside, caught in the crossfire. There are fears that that number is going to go up as we're warning you of that now. The question is, why are they there, and how can they be stopped?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And of course we'll breaking you all of the breaking developments as they come in, so we have just learned that the death toll went up. We will keep monitoring that. Meanwhile, there are more questions this morning about the siege in Sydney, Australia. How were those two hostages killed, and could lives have been saved? And also, could the gunman, who was known to Australian police, have been stopped somehow sooner?

But first, we want to get to the breaking news from Pakistan. Let's go to CNN's Atika Shubert. She is tracking all the developments live for us from London.

Good morning, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning.

This is an absolutely horrific attack. You heard those death toll numbers, and now it appears we're getting information that most of those who died were between the ages of 12-16. And according to a spokesperson of the Pakistan Taliban, said they were specifically trying to target the older children who are of age puberty and above.

It also appears that a number of -- that some teachers were also killed in the attack.

It's a very fluid ongoing situation. It appears that there are still a number of students and staff inside the school. There could be hostages inside.

Take a listen to more information about what's happening on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT (voice-over): Breaking this morning, Taliban militants terrorizing a school in northern Pakistan. At least 100 people killed, mostly children. At least two teachers among the deceased. This crisis unfolding at a military-run school in Peshawar, with dozens of others injured.

It was just before 12 p.m. when a group of gunmen stormed the school after scaling the walls. The Pakistan Taliban claiming responsibility, calling this a revenge attack after they say Pakistan's military launched a major military offensive against them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The military runs a number of schools. They call them the army public schools. Clearly, this was chosen because of its affiliation with the military and also because it was a soft target. There are children there.

SHUBERT: A Taliban spokesman claiming six suicide bombers were ordered to attack the school, their goal: to shoot older students. A security official says nearly 700 students and staff were in the building when the attack began. The students are aged 10-18.

Pakistan military officials say paramilitary forces are now on school grounds, confirming they exchanged gunfire with the terrorists. Most of the students and staff have now been evacuated, but this is an ongoing hostage situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Parents were able to contact their kids through mobile phone. They were getting information, but now the phones have been switched off, and there's absolutely no contact.

SHUBERT: Over the past few months, the Pakistan military has been trying to clear out militants along its border with Afghanistan through a ground offensive. The campaign has displaced tens of thousands of people and killed over 1,600 militants.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Now Alisyn, we also have a few more details coming in on how that attack has been carried out. It now looks that some of those attackers may have been dressed in paramilitary uniforms. That's what allowed them to get inside the school. There are also some reports that there was some sort of event happening inside. So a lot of the students were actually gathered in one place when the attack happened.

CAMEROTA: OK, Atika, thank you so much for that update. Of course, we'll check back in with you throughout the show.

Let's bring in now CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. She joins us live from London.

Christiane, what do we know at this hour?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of what's just been reported is coming through in a breaking news fashion, and of course, we keep having to, sadly, update the number of deaths.

And unfortunately, this is a war that's going on in Pakistan. It's a multiple-pronged war between the Taliban, the Pakistani government, the United States of America, Afghanistan. And then you have internal divisions within Pakistan of how to deal with the actual Taliban. Should there be peace negotiations, which the Pakistani prime minister tried? Or should there be an offensive?

Now, the United States has wanted the Pakistani military and the government to take the offensive to the Pakistani Taliban in these very remote areas, North Waziristan, et cetera. So there has been this operation by the Pakistan military. And as you heard, the spokesman from the Taliban said that this horrendous attack today was in revenge for this operation against them; whereby hundreds of Taliban, Pakistani Taliban have been killed.

And of course, the United States also continues its drone attacks in that area. And just recently, handed over one of the major, in fact the deputy leader, the deputy in command of the Taliban, to the Pakistani government.

Unfortunately -- unfortunately, the Taliban uses its attacks against soft targets. So whenever you see these attacks, they're often against civilians or against children. And very sadly, the attack of schools and schoolchildren is a Taliban M.O. That is what they do. And we've been seeing it over the years. You know, nothing as brutal as this in terms of the terrible numbers, but this is what they do. And it seems this war, this multi-pronged war is at a very, very fierce level right now. Particularly as they all jockey for position as the U.S. starts to withdraw from that region.

CAMEROTA: Christiane, 126 people. That's the latest number that we have that were killed, most of them children. How does slaughtering schoolchildren advance any group's agenda?

AMANPOUR: Well, you can well ask that. And we all ask that, and we wonder how. They don't care, Alisyn. They do not care. They are not bound by any of the norms that the international law and humanity and normal human emotion would actually demand. They see it as a quid pro quo.

And you saw their chilling attempt to differentiate between very young children and so-called, you know, children reaching puberty. They don't care, and this is what they do. They think that these are allied with the so-called infidels; they are at war with the army. This is an army-run school in the Peshawar area.

Peshawar, very, very important. It's the capital of that frontier, that borderland. It's where the U.S. moves its materiel and supplies into Afghanistan along the Khyber Pass, and it is where the Taliban have been holed up. Plus, in the days of the Osama bin Laden, you know, fleeing from Afghanistan, a lot of al Qaeda was up there, too.

And so this is a war, and they will attack whatever it is they want to attack. And Alisyn, we've seen al Qaeda and the Taliban over the last -- you know, since 2001, 9/11, all they do is attack civilian targets.

CAMEROTA: And so, why this school in particular? Is it the army connection? Do we think that this was an actual target sending a message to the army? Or was this an -- a crime of opportunity?

AMANPOUR: No, this is what they said in a very chilling call, the Taliban spokesman made to CNN, claiming responsibility, the Pakistani Taliban and saying that this was in revenge for the military operations in North Waziristan and in that -- in that area.

And we really don't know the details of what's going on inside right now. How many schoolchildren, teachers, administrators are still being held hostage? The Pakistan military says that they're involved in a rescue operation. Well, so many people have already been killed. We don't know how many still are left in there. Numbers suggest that the school had a 500-student capacity. And the Taliban people say that there are three to 400 still there inside the school being held hostage by their handful, half dozen or so militants. We know that some have been killed. We know that the perhaps 100 or so children have been killed. And we just don't know what is going on inside right now. It's an active situation that continues.

CAMEROTA: So what does the Pakistani army do after something like this? Do they change their strategy and tactics?

AMANPOUR: Hard to tell. They have been all over the place since 9/11. You know, after 9/11, the president of Pakistan was General Pervez Musharraf who was convinced by the U.S., by the Bush administration at the time, to go against the militants, trying to convince Pakistan's government and its military and its intelligence service, the ISIS, that everyone is in this fight together and that the Taliban and al Qaeda are threats not just to the west, but also to Pakistan itself.

But there was very spotty record by Pakistan of going against the Taliban. And huge divisions between the civilian government and the military and the intelligence. And -- and ominously and very unfortunately, very deep concerns that members of the military and the Pakistan intelligence were in collusion with these militants, as well. And it is an incredibly dysfunctional situation there. And this is part of what we're seeing play out right now.

Plus, obviously, the fact that the United States has stepped up its drone attacks all over the place in the last several years; and that also plays into this, into this kind of peaks of incredible violence that we're seeing.

Plus as I said, this is as much revenge as also in Afghanistan where we're seeing this happening, as well, with the Afghan Taliban, targets of opportunity against Americans, against Afghan National Army, against Afghan officials, are as the U.S. and NATO pulls out of there, as well.

CAMEROTA: Christiane, we always appreciate all of your context. Thank you.

Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. We want to know the motivation, but certainly, it is not justification. And we're going to stay on the story in Pakistan. There are developments coming in just about every minute.

Again, 126 people dead already, many of them children. It is an active battlefield inside a school, in a city in Pakistan. We are getting reports that the military are making some progress going after the handful of Taliban that are still in there. But it is not over.

We also want to tell you this morning that we have new information on the final chaotic moments of Monday's deadly hostage crisis inside a downtown Sydney cafe. A dozen captives, held against their will for more than 16 hours. That's when police rushed in. We hear it was a move triggered by the sounds of gunfire inside. Two hostages died as a result.

We are now hearing the actions of those who lost their lives may have spared the lives of others.

Let's get to Andrew Stevens, live from Sydney this morning. Andrew, what do we know?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, good morning to you.

Details are pretty -- pretty sketchy at the moment. But it does appear that those final fateful few minutes inside that cafe did produce at least one hero who paid for that with his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEVENS (voice-over): A bed of hundreds of flowers blanket Martin Place, the site of a deadly police standoff that claimed the lives of two hostages. Each bouquet, a tribute to the bravery that occurred here.

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: This has been an absolutely appalling and ugly incident. That's the only way to describe it.

STEVENS: This morning, we're learning more about the harrowing story amidst this terrifying ordeal.

After a firestorm of gunshots rang out in the heart of downtown Sydney, authorities still piecing together what set off the chain of events, forcing heavily armed police to storm the Lindt chocolate cafe freeing the hostages inside.

COMMISSIONER ANDREW P. SCIPIONE, NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE: They made the call because they believed at that time, if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost.

STEVENS: Some have said 34-year-old Tori Johnson, the cafe's manager, may have grabbed the hostage taker's gun. But authorities wouldn't comment on those accounts.

Shots were heard from the street. During the struggle, Johnson was killed.

Thirty-eight-year-old Katrina Dawson, a lawyer and mother of three, also died.

Johnson's family said in a statement, "We are so proud of our beautiful boy, Tori, gone from this earth but forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we could ever wish for."

For nearly 17 hours before the crisis ended, hostages remained on edge, visible through the cafe's windows, forced to hold a black flag with Arabic writing. Some held at gunpoint, managing to escape, their mad dash to safety captured on local news.

A full investigation into the mind and motives of the gunman, a self- proclaimed Muslim cleric, is under way.

Fearing a potential backlash, fellow Australians are showing support to the Muslim community online. Under the hashtag #I'llridewithyou, Australian Twitter showing solidarity, offering to accompany Muslims wearing religious clothes on public transport as Sydney works to return to normalcy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS (on camera): A lot of solidarity here, Chris, in the flower memorial just a few minutes from where we are, to the people just talking about what's happened the events of the past 36 hours and also questions being raised, too, about the gunman, Man Haron Monis. He was well-known to enforcement in Australia. He had a criminal record. In fact, he was out on bail. But he was not considered a terrorist suspect worthy enough to be monitored closely.

He basically walked into a cafe with a shotgun, took 16 hostages -- 17 hostages, two of which never made it out -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Andrew, thank you very much for the reporting. Part of moving forward will be understanding very well what happened and how it was handled. So we will continue to find out more about who this man was.

And were there opportunities that were missed? We're going to hear from Christine Forster, an elected official and the sister of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. So stay with us for that.

There's a lot of news this morning. Let's get you to Michaela for the headlines.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and a real concerning story that we're watching in Pennsylvania. We are watching this intense search underway for a man suspected of killing six of his family members in Pennsylvania.

Authorities say -- pardon me -- 35-year-old Bradley William Stone killed his ex-wife and five of his former in-laws, including a 14- year-old girl. Police believe Stone is armed and that he is dangerous.

Miguel Marquez is live in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, with the very latest. What do we know at this hour, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know this area just northwest of Philadelphia is terrified at the moment because of this individual who is on the loose. There may have been a sighting of him last night in Doylestown, where they believe that a man who was wearing BDUs tried to hijack a car. That was a failed attempt.

All of this began at 4:25 with a hang-up 911 call. And then authorities went on to discover three different scenes, absolutely grisly, not only his ex-wife, but his ex-mother-in-law, his ex- grandmother-in-law, his ex-sister-in-law, her husband, their 14-year- old daughter, all dead. He also shot their 17-year-old son, who is in the hospital.

This is a man -- they've released two pictures this individual now, authorities have. One of him clean-shaven, one of him with a beard. They say that he was a Marine in 2008. He served in Iraq. He was a Marine reservist. And he may use a cane and/or a walker at certain points. They don't know that he's using them now. They recovered his car. They recovered his cell phone and most importantly, authorities say they don't know where he is right now. But they are looking -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: They're looking and asking local residents to remain vigilant. Miguel, thanks for that update. We'll check back with you when there's developments.

MARQUEZ: You got it. PEREIRA: Turning to Russia now, taking desperate measures to keep its economy from imploding. Overnight Russia's central bank held an emergency meeting, raising a key interest rate from 10.5 to 17 percent in an attempt to stop the rubble from plunging -- the ruble, rather, from plunging even further. Russia's currency has plummeted 50 percent since January, battered by western sanctions and plunging worldwide oil prices.

Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to London to meet behind closed doors with Palestine's chief negotiator. CNN has learned that the Palestinian leadership intends to submit a resolution for statehood to the U.N. after meeting with Kerry. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. to block that resolution.

Bill Cosby's wife speaking out for the first time. Camille Cosby says her husband has been unfairly victimized by recent allegations of sexual assault and is really a kind man. In a written statement, she goes on to say, quote, "A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months. It is the portrait of a man I do not know. It is also a portrait painted by individuals and organizations whom many in the media have given a pass."

Clearly we're going to talk more about that coming up in the show.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks, Michaela.

So we have breaking news out of Pakistan this morning. Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen storming a school, killing at least 126, most of them students. Hundreds more people are trapped inside. We have the latest on this attack for you straight ahead.

CUOMO: We also have new details out of Sydney, Australia. Who was this gunman? Did he have help? And could we have done more to stop him before this horrible, horrible result? There are questions that demand answers. And we will get them from Christine Forster. She's an elected official and the sister of the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We're looking now at part of the memorial for lives lost in Sydney, Australia.

We have new information about the 16-hour standoff in a local cafe that left two hostages and a depraved gunman dead. Did the hostages who were killed save others? And could more have been done to stop this before it happened?

Joining us now is Councilor Christine Forster. She's on the city council of Sydney. She's also the sister of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Ms. Forster, it's very good to have you with us. Our condolences to you and the community there. CHRISTINE FORSTER, SYDNEY CITY COUNCIL: Yes. It's been a terrible 36

hours, Chris, and the people of Sydney, I think, are still very much coming to terms with this. I've just been down to have a look at the -- at the memorial site in Martin Place, and there are still hundreds of people milling around there. Tens of people queueing up to lay flowers at the memorial site. And people, I think, of this city are still in shock.

CUOMO: Well, it is a situation that is going to demand a lot of soul searching about why it happened and how it happened and what it means going forward. So let's see what we can learn about these different aspects.

In terms of how this happened, let's start with those who lost their lives first. What do you know about the actions of hostages inside that may have helped others, but cost their own lives?

FORSTER: Well, look, Chris, I don't know anything more than the general public does at this point. It's still very early days.

What we all know here in Sydney and in Australia is that the New South Wales police and the federal police and the authorities did an absolutely fantastic job dealing with what was a dreadful situation. It's still very early days in finding out, actually, what went on inside the cafe. And there will be a very full and thorough investigation of what actually did happen.

But perhaps like you guys are hearing on the other side of the world, I've also heard stories of heroism. I don't think that what has gone on in the cafe has been confirmed yet. But I've heard that the cafe manager, Tori Johnson, tackled the terrorist and in the process of that, lost his life. I don't know whether that is actually the case, but that is certainly something that I've heard.

But as I said, there will be a very thorough investigation, which may take weeks and months. But we hopefully will know eventually, at the end of the process, actually what did go on.

And there's no do about it that every single one of the people that were held hostage in that place, just a few meters from where -- from where I am today, right in the heart of this beautiful city, every single one of them are heroes.

And Australia absolutely, every Australian, I think, is feeling the pain and the grief, and our hearts absolutely go out to them for what they've been through and to the families of the innocent victims of this horrible event. I think every Australian is just feeling their pain now and just wish this had never happened.

CUOMO: The world gets very small in these situations because everybody fears the same thing. And the question becomes why. This man was somewhat familiar to local authorities. Not necessarily as a potential terrorist, but as someone with extreme views. What do you know now about what was considered the risk of this individual before this? FORSTER: Well, I mean, we're certainly -- we know now that this man

was out on bail, that he had been charged with serious criminal offenses. That he was mentally unstable it seems.

And I think, you know, I feel like many other people. I feel my sense of outrage that this man was walking the streets and was able to perpetrate this horrible crime on innocent victims. And there are questions being asked. And our leaders, our premier, Mike Beard, has said that there will be a review, as I understand -- there will be a review of bail conditions to find out how this has been -- how this has occurred.

And everything about this horrible incident has to come under the microscope and it will in a very thorough and very urgent way. Because what we in Australia, we in Sydney don't want ever happening again is another incident like this.

Cuomo: But it's very difficult to stop, isn't it? This lone-wolf phenomenon. Mental health, instability. These all create a randomness that demands that our leaders start looking at these situations differently. That means in your situation, all the way up to your brother, who's the prime minister.

Now he said, "Tragically, there are people in our community ready to engage in politically motivated violence. The events in Martin Place show that we're ready to deal with these people professionally and with the full force of law." But unfortunately, this happened after the fact, dealing with it. What do you need to change there, to maybe make something like this less likely going forward? Should men like this be on a watch list?

FORSTER: Well, I think obviously they should be. And I think from what I know, the federal government is doing -- is taking every step, every precaution it can to insure that people that pose a threat are being watched, are being held in check, are being dealt with, with the full force of the law. They are doing that.

The prime minister has given his assurance to the Australian people that he will do everything he can to keep us safe.

I suppose what has happened transpired over the last couple of days, inasmuch as it's been a dreadful eye-opener for the people of Australia and certainly the people of Sydney, I guess it will make us all more vigilant and more aware that possibly these terrible things can happen.

I think, you know, Australians and Sydney-siders have perhaps up until now had a certain innocence that this couldn't happen here, and that's why I think we're still largely in shock, trying to come to terms with this.

But I do know that it will make us as, as Sydney-siders, more aware that we have to be vigilant; we have to be on the lookout. And we know now that something dreadful like this can happen in our beautiful city, our beautiful, free multicultural, welcoming city where nothing like this has ever happened before. Now it has. So people will go about their business, go back to their ordinary lives, but they'll be on the lookout, I'm sure. And four and a half million sets of eyes looking around our city to make sure that this doesn't happen again will be very helpful.

CUOMO: It certainly does change the idea of what normal is in daily life. And again, our thoughts and prayer go to the people in Sydney. We hope that you're able to find a way forward as quickly as possible.

Ms. Forster, thank you very much for joining us. Good luck to you there.

FORSTER: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn. You know, you can't change the fact that it happened. You can change policy. You can change law, but something like that will have an indelible mark on that community.

CAMEROTA: Of course, and everyone looks for a way forward with whatever can be learned.

Now Chris, as you know, we have breaking news out of Pakistan, Taliban fighters attacking a military-run school. At least 126 are dead, most of those students. Hundreds more possibly trapped inside. We have the very latest.

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