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Authorities Release Images of Two Wanted Men Connected to Brussels Terrorist Attacks; Investigation into Brussels Attacks Continues; Terror Attacks Expose Belgian Security Gaps. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 24, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Sources telling CNN that a second man is suspected of taking part in that metro station bombing here in Brussels. Investigators are analyzing surveillance video from the subway station that has captured an image of a man with a large bag. So that means the manhunt here now extending to two unidentified terror suspects on the run.

The second fugitive that they've been looking for is this unidentified man. You have probably seen this photo, but let's put it up again because this is the man suspected of leaving the heaviest suitcase bomb behind at the airport. You see him in a hat and glasses in light colored jacket.

Investigators are scrambling to piece together all of these clues in hopes of preventing more attacks. Also this morning the attorney for the captured terrorist Abdeslam has now announced that he is no longer cooperating with authorities and also that he wants to be extradited from here to France.

So all of this as we see chilling new images of the moments after the blast inside the airport. We have this story covered the way only CNN can for you. So let's begin the CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir. So two fugitives that we know of that authorities are looking for now.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That we know of, exactly. That is the key there, that we know of. And we're also hearing that although they have now linked a second man to the metro station, the man you was speaking about appearing on the surveillance footage, they still haven't established is he's dead or is he alive. So they're hunting for a man that could possibly no longer exist.

But a lot of emergent threads in this investigation, so I just want to remind everyone of where we are and also of the horrifying events that unfolded yesterday. Some of this imagery is going to very difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: Just two days after the deadly coordinated attacks on Brussels, investigators are scrambling to piece together the trail of clues who the terrorists were and whether they have other accomplices. Authorities identified two out of three suspects caught on airport surveillance camera before two bombs went off.

On the left Najim Laachraoui. Prosecutors say he's a bomb maker who's DNA was found in the home where the devices used in the November Paris attacks were made. Investigators say the man next is Ibrahim el BBakraoui, 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 at the checking counter and fled. An hour later, a metro station near several European Union facilities also rocked by terror. Investigators have learned that 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. And Ibrahim was sentenced to nine years after shooting at police during a robbery in 2010. This as we are get 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 a 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: You are speaking a little earlier as well about the emerging intelligence gaps we started seeing. We know from local media they are reporting that there is going to be a cabinet meeting specifically speaking about why they didn't get that mental in Turkey, why that message from Turkey wasn't disseminated far enough.

[08:05:04] CAMEROTA: Yes, we'll look forward to hearing what comes out of the meeting. We'll talk to you more in a moment. We have more questions. Nima, thank you for all of that.

Police sirens can be heard punctuating the streets here in Brussels. And it is hard to know if it is just regular business or if it is because of the raids and the manhunt that is under way. CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen has more on the people they're looking for. Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. And in some cases it certainly is raids that have been conducted here in various parts of Brussels throughout the better part of the day. If you stand here on the streets you can hear police cars with sirens going by throughout many parts of the time that you are here.

We actually just went out to check up a possible raid just a couple of minutes ago in the area of Brussels. When we got there the police said their operation had already concluded. And of course we know they are potentially still searching for several people connected to the plots both in Brussels as well as the metro station and of course also possibly linked to the Paris attacks as well.

In the initial stages the main focal point is where I am right now. This is Schaerbeek area. And this was the place which was really the main bomb-making factory for the people who attacked the airport. They took a taxi from here. They made the bombs here. Police later discovered some 15 kilos, which is about a little more than 30 pounds of TATP explosive, which is very, very high powered explosive. It is homemade. It's made out of things you can regularly buy but it does take a lot of expertise to make it.

They also discovered screws and an ISIS flag as well. And they also discovered a laptop. And that laptop, I want to show where they actually found it. It was inside that trash can you see right there. The police believe that one of the bombers may have dumped it in a trashcan before taking the taxi to the airport. And on that laptop they found what they believe was something like the last will of one of the bombers where he said that he believed that the authorities were on to them, that the authorities were coming closer, and they believed they need to act quickly, otherwise they would be arrested.

We've been speculating so much about whether the arrest of Salah Abdeslam was something that accelerated the plot that happened at the metro and also the airport as well, and certainly there could be an indication if one reads that into to what they believe is that will of one of the bombers who took off here from this building, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Right, Fred. It sounds like they wanted that laptop to be found if they discarded it right there in that trash can that you showed us, and for that message to get out. Thank you so much for all of those developments.

Well, members of the U.S. Joint Terrorism task are now helping Belgian authorities with the Brussels bombing investigation. So let's get to CNN's justice reporter Evan Perez live in Washington with new details. What do you have, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Alisyn, U.S. officials are seeing emerging signs that ISIS leaders in Syria had at least a hand in directing the team that pulled off the attacks in Brussels. There is still a lot of investigation to be done. There is no hard evidence of a direct line to ISIS external operations in Syria. What we're talking about is more of a dotted line connection. The broader network behind this attack and the one in Paris shows a much more sophisticated planning operation than western intelligence agencies thought ISIS was capable of.

A year ago intelligence agencies here in the United States had broad disagreement as to whether or not ISIS had external operations capabilities, that the group was perhaps more focused on taking territory and building its caliphate in Syria and Iraq. What they didn't know at the time was that ISIS was already sending trained bombers to Europe. And certainly the Paris attacks put those questions to rest. ISIS appears to have loose control over these attacks. The bombers have some autonomy over where and when they attack. Right now investigators in Europe are trying to figure out the money and the support systems for these attacks and where ISIS is looking to strike next. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Evan, thank you very much for that update.

We want to bring back in now Nima Elbagir and bring in our CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward. Also standing by in New York is our CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. He is the editor in chief of "CTC Sentinel." Paul, I want to start with you, because about this ongoing manhunt here, are authorities just not sharing with us the names of these people and all they know? Or do they not know who these intercepts are still?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, that is not exactly clear at this point. But they are not sharing everything. They want to keep one step ahead of the bad guys, and sometimes that involves not sharing information with the media. But this is a race against time to prevent another terrorist attack in Brussels in Belgium.

[08:10:04] If we know anything about this cell, and this is the very same cell that carried out the Paris attacks, they don't stop until they either get killed in an operation or they get arrested. There is a very determined cell. I think the revolution today that there is another suspect with a large bag who was seen with the metro bomber just before that bombing is alarming news because we know that a lot of these bags that the cell had were filled with very high explosives, TATP. So if there are more bombs out there and more individuals willing to become suicide bombers still out there, it is a race against time now to prevent another attack in Brussels.

Remember with the Paris attacks in November, there was going to be a second wave attack there where two of the plotters were planning an attack on a shopping district in Paris with the world's media all in Paris to witness that. I think there is a real concern that we could see something like that play out on the streets of Brussels in the hours ahead.

CAMEROTA: Heaven forbid. But of course this raises the question about intelligence and intelligence sharing. We heard from Arwa Damon in Turkey that the Turkish authorities tried to alert the Belgian authorities to one of the brothers. They knew his name and that he might have bad intentions. Yet something fell through the cracks. Clarissa, what do we know?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think we're seeing a lot of things falling through the cracks here. And really I think you are hearing more and more people talk essentially about the dysfunctionality of the Belgian intelligence gathering system here. I was just talking to someone who was explaining that in Brussels alone you have six police district. You have 19 different mayors. You have two official languages. You have a complete lack of Arabic speaking policemen operating in largely immigrant Muslim communities. So it is clear.

And earlier you just heard Mike Rogers, CNN contributor, talking about how, quote, "awful" signal intelligence systems are here. Clearly Belgian authorities should have known this brother had been deported from Turkey to the Netherlands. If he was arrested in Turkey there is a very large chance, especially given that he down near the border, that he was inside Syria. And yet somehow that information wasn't shared. So there are a lot of questions here about intelligence failures and the dysfunctionality of the system.

CAMEROTA: Nima, there has to be a lot of soul-searching here among Belgian authorities today because not only does it sound like there is a cultural problem with intelligence. There is a logistical problem. They don't exactly know how to do it. You were saying there is a meeting about this very thing today.

ELBAGIR: There is expected to be a security meeting. But you have to remember this is a country that is so dysfunctional it went 500 days without an elected prime minister. They have enough divisions between the north and south of the country, then you add the layers of the north African migrant population coming in, which we have to stress are third and fourth generations. So this is a Belgian problem. This isn't something that's being imported from abroad. But it comes down what Clarissa was saying, a lack of penetration into these communities, a lack human intelligence.

CAMEROTA: We went to Molenbeek yesterday and what we learned is that police do go into the neighborhood. It is not a no-go zone as some people have referred to it. But then people are very reluctant because they are scared or they just don't want to share information with the police. So they haven't done enough community outreach to get the information even when they go into the neighborhood.

ELBAGIR: Or when they have shared this information, we spoke to mothers. One mother two weeks before her son left for Syria went to the police and said "My son is leaving." They did nothing. The magistrate put him on a watch list. At the airport the authorities told her he's over 18.

CAMEROTA: Paul, I want to ask what about we've learned about brothers. Once again we see two brothers connected in this terror plot and the carrying out of this. We've seen it before. We saw it in Boston. There were two brothers with the marathon bombing, and on and on. What is it about that dynamic of brothers that makes this easier?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, if you are keeping it in the family, you have perfect operational security. We saw that with the San Bernardino attack. They weren't brothers, obviously, but man and wife In that case and that attack in California in December. So you have very good operational security if you can keep it in the family.

And obviously siblings influence one another. And so if you have an older brother, they can persuade a younger brother to get involved in this. A lot of younger brothers hero worship their older brother. So we see several cases of brothers being involved in these attacks, whether it is the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, the Kouachi brother, the Boston bombings, many more examples beside keeping jihad in the family.

[08:15:05] There was one case where there were actually nine brothers in a family in Beirut getting involved in jihad. So, just two brothers is - is not unusual.

CAMEROTA: Isn't that interesting?

WARD: I think it also speaks, Alisyn, to the way means of radicalization and recruitment have changed. You know, back in the 90s when Al Qaeda was sort of the king of the castle, you were looking at recruitment happening in mosques. Jihad was kind of an abstract concept. It was men in flowing robes speaking Arabic in caves in caves in Afghanistan.

Now recruitment is happening online. They call it bedroom jihad because often parents don't know, families don't know. It's happening - peer groups. You grow up, your best friend, he goes to Syria, he sends you a picture of him posing with a Kalashnikov and so on and so forth. So, it's a completely different method of recruitment. And it's much scarier because it spreads like wild fire through these small communities of families and also friend groups.

CAMEROTA: I mean, it's so interesting. We've heard so many people have suggestions and they have the solutions and they have the answers, deal with imams, get the moms (ph) to talk to the police, get the police to do it. But yet somehow they're not able to quite put it into action yet.

Thank you very much for both being here. We really value your expertise and we'll look forward to developments as you get them.

Let's in the meantime go back to John and Michaela in New York for more news.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we want to talk about the human toll of that Brussels attack. Still no word this morning about the fate of several Americans that are missing in Brussels two days after the terror attack. Family members here in the U.S. are desperate for word about their loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrible beyond imagination.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Family members and friends of the missing in the Brussels terror attacks still holding on to hope that their loved ones will be found. Alexander Pinczowski and his sister, Sascha, were on the phone with their mother while checking in for their Delta flight to JFK.

JIM CAIN, FUTURE FATHER-IN-LAW OF VICTIM: The phone sounded like it went underwater and then - and then went dead.

PEREIRA: 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.

EMILY EISENMAN, BOYFRIEND MISSING IN BRUSSELS: It's been the worst days of my life. I just -- I guess I didn't know how much one person can love another until you just don't know where they're at.

PEREIRA: 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 Shults, 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're found alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (on camera): A press officer from the Belgian prosecutor's office says as of this morning none of the dead have been identified with certainty. It is particularly problematic, John, to identify those remains.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's so hard, it's so hard for the families here, right? Thanks, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Agonizing.

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, we have some other news we're watching right now. Two major efforts to retake cities from ISIS in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN (voice-over): The military there claims it is beginning operations to retake Mosul, that's Iraq's second largest city. ISIS has controlled Mosul for two years. And in Syria, national media reports there that forces are - national forces are entering the city of Palmyra which ISIS seized in May. Syrian regime forces captured a strategic hill top position on the outskirts of the city yesterday.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Back here state side, North Carolina lawmakers overturning an ordinance that allowed transgendered people to use men - men's or women's restrooms. The city of Charlotte let people use public bathrooms for the gender they identify with. However, critics claimed the ordinance would or could endanger the safety of women and children. The new state law, now signed by the governor, also keeps local governments from passing non discrimination ordinances.

BERMAN: President Obama declaring a new partnership between the U.S. and Argentina. The president wraps up his visit to the South American nation later today after telling Argentina's new president that America is behind him.

And look at this, this is getting a lot of attention. President Obama dancing the tango. And not badly, frankly, at a state dinner in Buenos Aires last night. The lady in the shimmering gold dress says that the president was a very good dancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN (on camera): Let's go back to Alisyn in Brussels.

CAMEROTA: Okay, John and Michaela, thank you.

[08:20:01] So, you've heard this conversation we've been having all morning. Could the Brussels carnage have been prevented if all law enforcement shared intelligence and they had been talking to each other? It's so important and it would help finding the suspects and stopping more attacks. So, why aren't they able to do it? What is the answer? What are the solutions? We'll have that conversation when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: With the reported link between the attacks in Brussels and Paris, intelligence officials are trying to figure out the size of this terror ring and how to stop more attacks. There is also concern about intelligence sharing between two countries, or the lack of it. We now know that the el-Bakraoui brother, the two behind Monday's attacks, were on the radar of Belgian authorities.

Let's bring in Patrick Klugman, he's the deputy mayor of Paris. Mr. Mayor , thank you for being here.

PATRICK KLUGMAN, DEPUTY MAYOR OF PARIS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Were you surprised to learn of the connection between the attacks in November in Paris and the attacks Monday here in Brussels?

KLUGMAN: Well, of course I wasn't surprised at all because we all knew that Abdeslam (ph) was the most wanted person in Europe, probably in the world and that he was probably hidden in Brussels or fleeing from Brussels and being Belgian himself.

CAMEROTA: As we've learned, the Paris attacks from November were plotted and planned here in Brussels, in particular in that neighborhood of Molenbeek. Are you confident that the Belgian authorities are doing, or were doing, all they could in terms of intelligence and in terms of infiltrating those terror cells? Because clearly something failed here.

[08:25:17] KLUGMAN: Of course. Belgian authorities are doing what they -- the best they can do. But we in Europe, we are facing the most unusual, the most unconventional, the most unknown (ph) war since war exists. We are facing our own citizens, and we are learning by each attack, by each terrorist hit more about what we are facing.

Of course Belgian authorities are doing their best. Of course we are sharing intelligence. Of course we are cooperating on the judicial ground, but it's not enough for sure. But it's not a matter of lack of will or determination, just that we have to get to know what is the war we are facing now.

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course the Belgian authorities are doing the best they can, as are the Parisian authorities. However, something has gone wrong, and what we've learned here over the past few months is that there is something wrong with the assimilation and the embracing of these cultures into France or in Belgium. And these communities, for instance, in Molenbeek, feel ostracized and police feel as though they can't make inroads into these communities. So, what is the solution for that?

KLUGMAN: Solution, of course first, on a large scale and on a long term scale, it's better integration, it's to break these areas (ph), whatever the country is, same in France, same in Belgium, where we concentrate people with same origins and a lot of problems. Now have to deal with social mixty (ph), inclusive cities, and this is probably one of the best level of solution for the future.

But for now, for the emergency situation, of course we have to share more closely intelligence. Police have to get to work together in very close links (ph), much more closer than they're doing now. But it's too easy to criticize, and I don't think it will make things better.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Mayor, I know that you came here to Brussels yesterday. In fact, you were here in the public square behind me, the Place de la Bourse. Can you tell me what that experience was like and what you shared with your Belgian counterparts here during that?

KLUGMAN: Well, you we came to meet (ph) mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, to show solidarity from Paris. As you know, we were hit - even we were wounded as if we were hit ourselves, but the main frame (ph) of the discussions we had at the city of Brussels was how a city can live after that, how do we prevail? What do we have to take care of?

And our advice was to take care of kids, both teenagers because teenagers have to be looked at, because they can turn very easily and to be manipulated. But also the younger kids, younger kids we have to learn from their fear, from what - (inaudible). And the people wounded, the family of the victims, they need constant assistance for a very long time, and that's what we learned from the Paris experience. The assistance we are giving to these people has not stopped since November, so you can imagine what's the importance of the needs. Social, psychological , on every ground.

CAMEROTA: Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman of Paris, we appreciate you being on NEW DAY. Best of luck in Paris as well. Thank you.

KLUGMAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up, the 2016 presidential race and the war on wives. Mrs. Cruz and Mrs. Trump both becoming political targets on the campaign trail. How did that happen? Are the candidates' spouses suddenly fair game? That's next.

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