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Two Terror Suspects On The Run In Brussels; Families Of Missing Victims Hold Onto Hope; Woman Searching For Boyfriend Missing In Attacks; Fears Of Another Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 24, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:03] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrible beyond imagination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess I didn't know how much one person can love another until you just don't know where they are at.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. I am Alisyn Camerota. I'm coming to you live from Brussels. Michaela and John Berman are in New York this morning.

And we do begin this hour with breaking news on the terror attack. Sources telling CNN that a second man is suspected of taking part in that metro station bombing here in Brussels. It was a man who had left, apparently, a large bag. He was spotted on surveillance video from that subway station. So the manhunt here now expanding to two unidentified terror suspects. The second man being sought is this man. He's believed to have left behind the heavier suitcase bomb at the airport. Also this morning, the attorney for the captured Paris terrorist, Salah Abdeslam, says he is no longer cooperating with authorities and he wants to be extradited to France. Investigators are scrambling to piece together all of these clues in hopes of preventing more attacks. Also, there is new devastating video that has emerged of the moments after the blasts inside the airport.

We have this story covered the way only CNN can. We want to begin with CNN senior international correspondent, Nima Elbagir. Nima, thanks so much for being here. So authorities are now looking for two men.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At least, yes. For two men who were able to evade capture at the site of the attacks. So one man who we've already seen the still image of from the airport and now this second man who potentially, authorities believe, could still be alive. On the surveillance video that they picked -- images that they picked up outside the metro. I just want to remind you and our viewers really of the various threads of this investigation because it's getting very complicated. I also want to remind our viewers of the horror that unfolded. Some of this is going to be quite difficult to watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just two days after the deadly coordinated attacks on Brussels, investigators are scrambling to piece together the trail of clues on who the terrorists were and whether they have other accomplices. Authorities identifying two out of the three suspects caught on airport surveillance cameras before two bombs went off. On the left, Najim Laachraoui. Prosecutors say he's a bomb maker whose DNA was found in the home where the devices used in the November Paris attacks were made. Investigators say the man next to him is Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, the second suicide bomber. Last year, he was deported from Turkey to Holland. Turkish officials say he had a criminal record but couldn't determine any links to terrorism. The third man still unidentified and now the most wanted man in all of Europe. Investigators say he dropped off a suitcase full of explosives near the check-in counter and fled. An hour later, a metro station near several European Union facilities also rocked by terror. Investigators have learned that el-Bakraoui's brother Khalid detonated that bomb in the second car of a crowded train at rush hour. Before the attacks, Interpol issued a notice connecting him to terrorism, but Belgian authorities say that until now, these Belgian-born brothers had been linked to violent crime, not terror. Khalid was arrested in 2009 for carjacking and sentenced to five years in prison. Ibrahim was sentenced to nine years in prison after shooting at police during a robbery in 2010.

This as we are getting another look at the horror that unfolded inside the Brussels airport moments after the blast. A taxi driver capturing this chilling video, filming as he runs into the departure halls to find his son who worked at the airport cafe. Thankfully he survived. He stumbles over debris, bodies buried underneath the rubble. A baby cries in the middle of it all, alone. Her mother lays unmoving. Here, a single rose lay crushed, possibly a welcoming gift for an arriving passenger, now symbol of lives lost in this tragic terror attack. Outside, bystanders coming to the aid of the injured, waiting for medical assistance. Those who are able comfort the wounded, though many inside did not survive.

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[07:05:02] ELBAGIR: What's prolonging the agony here, Alisyn, is that authorities are still grabbling with the process of identifying the victims, so for so many families they are dealing still with the unknown 48 hours later.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. We're going to be speaking to one of those young women in a moment. Nima, thank you very much for all of that.

Well, the sound of sirens still blaring across Brussels. Investigators conducting raid after raid. They're widening their search for at least these two suspects who were connected to Tuesday's bombing, also their possible accomplices.

CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live in the Schaerbeek neighborhood with more. Fred, what have you learned? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well also another neighborhood where a lot of raids have been going on over the past couple of days and literally, when you stand where I'm standing right now which is the place where the police uncovered what they believe is the main bomb making factory for the bombs that were at least used in the attacks on the airport, then you do see a lot of police vehicles moving around. You see police vehicles with sirens that go past here very frequently, and certainly there have been raids conducted, not just in this neighborhood, but in many other neighborhoods in Brussels as well, as, as Nima was just pointing out, the police believe there could very well still be people connected to this attack still at large and still very dangerous.

But this place right here was really the focal point of the investigation for a very long time and in many ways, it still is, Alisyn, because this is where they found a lot of bomb making material, a lot of ready explosives that could have gone off as well. In this apartment alone, they found more than 30 pounds of the explosive TATP, which is homemade but still very, very deadly and also quite difficult to make and they believe that the people that detonated the bombs at the Brussels airport made the explosives here, called the taxi to pick them up to the airport, took a lot of suitcases with them in which the explosives were inside, and then conducted the attacks there.

What police also found here outside of the building was a laptop that appeared to contain what police describe as something like the final will of one of the attackers where he said that he believed he needed to very quickly because he thought that he'd be arrested at any point in time. He was also connected, by the way, to Salah Abdeslam who, of course, until a couple of days ago, was the most wanted man in Europe in connection with the Paris attack and also with the cell that conducted the attacks here in Brussels.

CAMEROTA: OK Fred, thank you for all of the developments from there. We will check back in with you shortly.

Meanwhile, one of the two brothers who bombed the Brussels airport was deported last year by Turkey and government officials there say they warned Belgian authorities about him. How did Ibrahim el-Bakraoui slip through the cracks, then?

CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is live in Turkey on the expanding trail of clues there. Arwa, what you have learned?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, he was detained where we are here in the city of Gaziantep, very close to the Syrian border, a known hub for many of the ISIS networks where they collect their fighters, an area that many people do transit through. Now according to the Turks, he was put under surveillance, we don't know exactly why. He wasn't on any sort of list back in mid- July. They then informed the Belgian authorities after they decided to deport him because of the suspected ties to terrorism because they believed that he was trying to cross into Syria to join ISIS as a foreign fighter. They said that after a few days, the Belgians informed them that while

he did have criminal ties, they could not definitively say that he had any ties to terrorism. He was then deported back to the European Union and subsequently released. That intelligence that Turkey had provided, potentially vital and life-saving intelligence, was not followed up on, and what is especially frustrating for the Turks, and something Europe and Turkey are both going to have to address right now is that believe it or not, this is not the first time that Turkey has provided key intelligence on individuals that has not been followed up on by respective European nations that has then resulted in violence in Europe, to include one of the Bataclan attackers during that horrific massacre that took place in Paris.

Turkey's president saying that Europe needs to begin to consider Turkey as a key ally, a key regional and broader ally when it comes to the battle against terrorism, saying that Europe cannot do this without even greater cooperation with Turkey at this stage, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Arwa, just so frustrating to know that there might have been a clue and so senseless. Thank you for that update.

We want to go now to Michaela in New York. She has much more on the human toll of this terrorist attack. Mich --

[07:09:57] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, several Americans, Alisyn, remain missing this morning two days after the terror attacks there in Brussels. An American couple living in Belgium may not have survived the airport bombings. Their family members here in the U.S are not the only ones waiting for definitive word about the fate of their loved ones.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrible beyond imagination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family members and friends of the missing in the Brussels terror attacks still holding onto hope that their loved ones will be found. Alexander Pinczowski and his sister Sasha were on the phone with their mother while checking in for their Delta fight to JFK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone sounded like it went underwater and then it went dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 21-year-old Bart Migom was set to fly to see his girlfriend in Georgia. While waiting for a text message from him, she decided to call. No one answered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been the worst days of my life. I guess I didn't know how much one person can love another until -- until you just don't know where they are at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Andre Adam also at the airport. He was with his wife, Danielle, waiting for a flight to Miami. Danielle was found injured but her husband is still missing. Their daughter's angst captured in this Facebook post, she says, each ring makes us hope for information.

This missing couple from Tennessee, Stephanie and Justin Schultz, were walking back from the security gate after dropping off Stephanie's mother when the bombs went off. On Wednesday, there was hope that the couple had been found. Justin's brother said his family was contacted by the state department and told the couple was on the injured list, but later, a Belgian social worker called his mother saying that information was incorrect. The brother tweeting he was disgusted by the mistake and to keep praying as their family hopes they are found alive.

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CAMEROTA: All right. One of the people that you just saw in that piece is Emily Eisenman. You just heard her talk about her boyfriend, Bart, who is from Belgium. He was supposed to fly to the U.S. to visit her on Tuesday and she joins us now live from Georgia.

Emily, thanks so much for being here. When is the last time you spoke to Bart or got a message from him?

EMILY EISENMAN, BOYFRIEND UNACCOUNTED FOR IN BELGIUM: It was March 22, around 1:00 in the morning, right before his flight.

CAMEROTA: And what did it say?

EISENMAN: Well, I had two contacts with him. It was a phone call and it was just -- he was telling me he was on his way to catch a train to go to the airport and that he was going to let me know once he got on the train and once he arrived to the airport so I did get the message that he arrived on the train, but that was the last I have heard of him. I never heard that he made it to the airport and, yes, I have not heard of him since then.

CAMEROTA: And you estimate that he arrived at the airport at about 7:30 or he would have arrived there and that, of course, was right before the bombing. He was coming to the airport to come to visit you in the states. I know that Bart's parents have now come to Brussels, or maybe they were already here, and they're looking for him. Can you tell us what they have found or what they are trying to do?

EISENMAN: Yes, Bart's parents are in the military hospital. They spent the entire day there yesterday just standing by and waiting on the smallest information they could get of Bart. There's still no information to be found. His name has not been listed on any injured list or any fatality list. His body has not been identified and their family is just waiting in hope.

CAMEROTA: What information have the Belgian authorities been able to give you and to his family?

EISENMAN: Not too much. They did -- a policeman went to their family's house and took a DNA sample of Bart and has been trying to work with that as much as they can, but so far they have not found any evidence of him, and that's all that they know so far. And between that and just waiting at the hospital, listening to the most current and updated action of who is being found or the most updated list, other than that, there hasn't been any other information.

CAMEROTA: We know that some people are reportedly in comas. I know that you and his parents are probably hoping that he is unconscious or that that's why he hasn't been able to communicate, but Emily, I'm just wondering, you are 21 years old, and how you are processing these last few days and everything that has happened since Monday?

[07:15:07] EISENMAN: Yes, this whole process has been very, very hard on me and my family and Bart's family. It just -- it seems so unreal that I am actually experiencing this. You hear these things on the news and you just never think it's going to happen to you until it does, it's just a whole 'nother life and this is what my life has been just for the last two to three days, it has been absolutely devastating. It has been -- my mind wanders into dark places but then I just see a glimpse of hope, I just hold on to the relationship I have with Jesus and knowing that Bart, he is very strong in his faith as well with Jesus, and I just keep looking to that, and that is just -- that's the most comfort that I have been receiving.

CAMEROTA: And what can you tell us about Bart? What do you want to share with everyone who's watching and listening?

EISENMAN: Bart is -- he is a very godly man. He will do anything for anybody else. I wouldn't be surprised if he was harmed because he was trying to save somebody else in this event. He is a strong godly warrior and I think that is just who -- that's the title he would want everyone to know him by, is that he loves Jesus with all of his heart and that he -- wherever he is, he is completely safe because he is in God's hands and I am sure he doesn't want me to worry, and he doesn't want our families to worry. Yes, he just is very, very strong. Very strong both physically and mentally, and that gives me a lot of comfort as well, but still not knowing is very, very hard.

CAMEROTA: Well, he sounds very special, Emily, and you and Bart are in our prayers and our thoughts this morning. Emily Eisenman, obviously we'll check back with you and we are hoping for good news. Thank you so much for joining us.

EISENMAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get back to John and Michaela now in New York.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So much strength. All right, thanks so much, Alisyn.

Breaking overnight, the Iraqi military says the operation to retake Mosul from ISIS has begun, that's their claim. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city. Army officials say that Iraqi forces have liberated several villages outside the city already. They call it the first phase of operation conquest. ISIS has controlled Mosul for nearly two years.

PEREIRA: Australian authorities say it is highly likely plane debris recently found in Mozambique came from Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Both pieces of debris are consistent with panels from the Boeing 777. Investigators now want to examine a possible piece of a plane engine found on a beach in South Africa. The fate of MH 370 and the 239 people on board is still unknown.

BERMAN: Baseball world mourning the death of Joe Garagiola. Garagiola spent nine years as a player but was best know for an iconic 57 year hall of fame broadcasting career that included three decades as the voice of NBC baseball. He also co-hosted the "Today Show". He filled in for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight show". He was a staunch crusader against smokeless tobacco. Garagiola was 90 years old, a true broadcasting legend, and by all accounts just a terrific guy.

All right, back to Alisyn in Brussels.

CAMEROTA: OK guys, so the breaking news this morning is that there are at least two terror suspects still on the run here in Brussels. So with word of this, how to deal with the concerns of even more terror attacks here and across Europe. Can authorities prevent another attack? What are they doing today? We will be right back from Brussels.

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[7:23:29] CAMEROTA: Fears following the terror attack in Brussels are not limited to this investigation. U.S. officials say it's likely there is a wider network supporting what we saw here in Brussels as well as other plots. So how big of a web of terrorists are we talking about and why is ISIS so effective in recruiting young people to carry out attacks?

Greg Mathieu is the president of the foundation for democracy and a government and a former Belgian government official, and Ryan Heath is the senior E.U. correspondent for POLITICO. He lives here in Brussels. Gentlemen, it's great to have both of you here to try to give us context of what we are seeing in Brussels and everything that we have been talking about.

Greg, I want to start with you, because yesterday you told us about the town of Molenbeek, the neighborhood here in Brussels of Molenbeek, that is considered this hotbed of extremism. You said you go there every week and you've never met an extremist and that it's a nice place. We didn't believe you so we went ourselves.

GREG MATHIEU, PRESIDENT, FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY AND A GOVERNMENT: And you're still with us.

CAMEROTA: Now we saw what Molenbeek is about. There are -- there were the warmest, friendliest, most welcoming people that we have met and they talked to us and they were happy we were there, however, we know that there are extremists, and there are radicals and there are terrorists that are from there. How do you explain what is happening in Molenbeek?

MATHIEU: I am not hiding that, that there are terrorists there as well as in Forest as well as in (ph) Woluwe, as well as in Antwerp -- they are everywhere and this is the world we have to live with today. We cannot locate them in one specific place, close the place and that's it. This won't disappear in the next week. [07:25:03] CAMEROTA: Right. It's always confusing when you hear,

oh, there are two terrorists on the run, there are two fugitives. No, there are actually hundreds of people here who are radicalized who may want to do harm. It's not just two. Do we have a sense of how big the terror cell or many terror cells are here in the Brussels and Belgium area?

RYAN HEATH, SENIOR E.U. CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: We can't define it that tightly but we are quite certain that more than 500 Belgians or Belgium residents left for Syria to be train to be radicalized, and authorities think that around about half of them, at least, have come back. And what there isn't is a great scrutiny or a day to day surveillance of all of those individuals. There's not the legal structure for that. And then within that 250 or so people, a significant number are clearly going to be involved in planning further attacks or further illegal activity.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that legal structure because something has gone wrong, clearly, in Belgium, by definition, since there was a terrorist attack, something went wrong. What do you think is lacking in the legal structure here to try to get to the bottom of these terror cells?

HEATH: Well, it's a question of competing value systems at some levels. But what is certainly missing is some more flexibility to be able to conduct surveillance or searches of people who really are suspected of imminent attack or very serious activities. When you can't access a person's home after 9:00 p.m. or before 5:00 a.m. --

CAMEROTA: Hold on a second. Explain that. Police here cannot go into a suspect's home after 9:00 p.m. and before 5:00 a.m.? Why?

HEATH: Because a law dating back to the 1960's, I think, our Belgian friend will be able to tell us more about, was designed to protect the privacy of the family. The law hasn't really been updated since then and it was one of the reasons that it was difficult for the police to really crackdown during that terror lockdown, that perfect opportunity to root all of this out, they didn't have the ability to get into the places they needed to where the people were hiding.

CAMEROTA: Greg, you were in government. What is that about?

MATHIEU: Well, you know, when you need to put surveillance and scrutiny on one individual, you need 10 people. If you want to monitor 7/24, you need 10 people. We have 700 people working in the state security. It's not enough.

CAMEROTA: But is it a situation of resources or is it a situation of ideology where in Belgium there's a hands off quality, the privacy of the individual is more important than the terror investigation?

MATHIEU: I think it is both. We have a lack of budget, we have a lack of investment in the security structure, and we are a bit too kind somehow. When people are attacking us with guns, we cannot react with stones and wooden sticks.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that after what happened here on Monday, something changes in the Belgian government?

MATHIEU: Changes, not really yet, but there is a group of people in the government, and there is a package of laws that are waiting to be voted on in the parliament.

CAMEROTA: It would make law enforcement more --

HEATH: But here we get into a real cultural difficulty where if you look at what's happened since November here, in other political cultures or environments, you might have seen some heads roll, metaphorically I mean, not literally, where people would have said, I'm putting it on my shoulders that I could have done more and resigning. Or the prime minister would have said, you have not done what you needed to do, you are out. You don't have that culture here in Belgium and what we have come to at this point, now that we're seeing hundreds dead and injured, is that that's in some way the price for deciding that you're going to prioritize these in principle values or these abstract thoughts of what privacy is or how we should manage our society and tolerate difference, but there is a consequence sometimes and that's what we are seeing in these attacks, and there will have to be some kind of new settlement.

But we are not seeing any real urgency from the Belgian government there. They've got long term plans in place and that's absolutely necessary. You don't fix it with a band-aid or with a raid. You need a long-term strategy to root out this radicalism, but what we don't have is those short term tools to soften its attack.

CAMEROTA: It sounds like this is going to take a long time and it's much more complicated than just finding these two fugitives that are on the run this morning. Ryan, Greg, thank you. Great to get all of your expertise on this.

Well, the politics of terrorism is now front and center here, and of course in the U.S. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump both pushing to profile Muslims. Hillary Clinton and President Obama slamming those comments. We'll discuss the impact on the 2016 presidential race, next.

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