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CNN NEWSROOM

Video Attack on Paris Cafes, Restaurants; Survivor Describes Paris Attack at Stadium; Terrorist Suicide Vests Not Sophisticated. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 19, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


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[14:33:00] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Jake Tapper.

It's a terrifying moment and it's difficult to watch. Just released surveillance video from inside one of the Paris cafes and restaurants that came under terrorist attack on Friday. It shows customers running for their lives while a masked gunman opens fire.

CNN's Chris Cuomo now walks us through this chilling video obtained by the dailymail.com.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: You can see glass one does shattering as the gunman starts firing from outside. People running in to escape the bullets. Everyone diving having out of the way and hiding behind walls desperately looking for cover.

The gunman showing no signs of mercy, coming right up to the edge of the cafe, aiming at a woman defenseless on the ground. But in one of the more miraculous moments, either the gun malfunctions or the gunman misfires and the woman gets up and runs away.

From another angle, you can see two employees ducking behind the bar as bullets start flying, one of them managing to flee down a flight of stairs as fear grips the cafe, the other helps a woman who ran inside after the siege began. People seen tossing chairs and tables out of the way to find safety as the attacks continue.

The glass and dust clouding the camera's view of the cafe.

Terror rocking the city of Paris, bringing a lively Friday night to deadening silence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: The soccer stadium outside of Paris, Stade de France, also came under attack. Three suicide bombers set off explosives outside the stadium during Friday's match between France and Germany. They were trying to get inside. They were not able to. They killed one innocent person and themselves.

And Dena Jaber was among the fans who were packed inside the stadium and thankfully survived.

She joins us now from Scottsdale, Arizona.

Dena, thank you for joining us. We're glad you're OK.

Tell us what you thought when the heard the bomb blasts.

[14:35:02] DENA JABER, SURVIVOR OF PARIS TERRORIST ATTACK AT STADIUM: I'm glad to be home safely. That night we were at the game cheering on the team where I was with my cousins cheering on the French team. And only 15 minutes into the beginning of the game we heard a loud boom. I thought it sounded like an exPLOsion, but it never crossed my mind that there could be an exPLOsion outside the stadium. Here I am in Paris and a few minutes later we heard it again. And I turned to my cousins and I said, guys, that's really not right. That doesn't sound normal to me. But no one thought there was anything wrong. We continue d with the game. And only into the second half of the game did e we get messages from friends saying that there were explosions outside the stadium. They were checking to see. If we were OK and that there was shootings and hostage situation going on in the middle of Paris.

TAPPER: And how did you get out of the stadium?

JABER: We finished the game. They didn't make any announcement. We assumed if we were inside and nothing was going on in there that we were safe inside. And so on our way out, we just walked and there was a bit of a panic outside when someone decided to light a piece of paper on fire and everyone began running, but we made it across the street and walked through to the metro safely.

TAPPER: When did it hit you -- when did you realize that you were in a location that three suicide bombers had targeted and the situation could have been much worse than it ended up being?

JABER: On our way to the metro, I was surrounded by my friends and we were in the tunnel. I noticed how much security there was out in the streets, how everybody was holding people tightly and walking and quietly moving around. I noticed -- I thought to myself I had adrenaline rushing after we had ran. I thought, wow, those guys were trying to make it inside the stadium. This night would have been very different for me if that had happened.

TAPPER: There was much more bloodshed going on throughout downtown Paris at several restaurants. When did you find out about all of that horror?

JABER: After we were on our way -- one of our other cousins home sent us a message updating us on what's going on. In the meantime, I was just trying to get messages to family in the states telling them I'm OK knowing if they saw any news knowing I was at the soccer stadium they would be worried. When we heard about what's going on in the hostage situation, we just wanted to stay indoors and watch the news until we knew everyone was OK.

TAPPER: I have to ask you before you go. You're a Muslim-American. You're the daughter of Syrian immigrants to the United States. What's your view, what's your response to what governors and states saying they don't want refugees to come into the United States?

JABER: I'm extremely disappointed. I wouldn't expect the governors to take such a hasty decision and quickly decide to label everyone that is Syrian or Muslim as linked to these incidents considering the fact that many of the people involved in what happened Friday evening in Paris were actually European born and raised. So it wasn't that they had all come across as refugees. There are so many people coming to the United States who were fleeing those terrorists in Syria in the Middle East. They are coming here to start a new life and be safe and to be pointed at and told they are the problem, that it's their fault is very upsetting. I really urge anyone who has doubts about Syrian refugees to take a moment, meet with one of those families and ask them their story. I'm sure if you were to hear what they have been through, you wouldn't think that they were a threat to you.

TAPPER: Dena, thank you so much. We're so glad you're safe.

Brooke, back to you in New York.

[14:39:32]BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Incredible.

Thank you so much to both of you.

Coming up next, a bomb expert telling CNN the suicide vests these terrorists used in the terrorist attacks were not at all sophisticated devices, but they were full-proof. That's next.

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TAPPER: I'm Jake Tapper, live in Paris. This is CNN's special live coverage in Paris.

Now to the suicide vests that the terrorists of ISIS are known to use. A bomb expert telling CNN that those explosive vets are not sophisticated and may have something in common with the bombs used in the Boston Marathon terrorist attack.

CNN national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick, talked with this expert.

Deb, what did he have to say?

[14:44:39] DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was saying that based on an analysis of the green screen grabs from the video that it has B.B.s or ball bearings. That's the shrapnel that rips through flesh and really takes a number of people out. It's intended to cause maximum casualties.

Another thing this expert told me is these are not sophisticated in the sense you can detonate them, but they are made so they are full proof. So if a suicide bomber were to change their mind, if there's somebody close by, those belts could be detonated remotely. So there's no chance of them walking away, assuming there is a second person who is there and willing to do that in case the bomber gets cold feet. I just got off the phone with a terrorism expert. We were talking

about are we going to see more. And this terrorism expert told me that this is a huge escalation right now. The momentum is on ISIS's side. You saw the MetroJet liner and the attacks in Beirut and now the attacks in Paris. Essentially, when that expert told me is that ISIS was going to provoke and provoke and provoke because what they want is launch these attacks to get their end goal, which is to have boots on the ground in Syria because they want that end of day's war. The magazine where they showed the bomb used to bring down the MetroJet liner, it's one of two posts that is the end-of-days sign posts. They are doing this it to create sort of a prophesy to fulfill a prophesy. Very terrifying. That's what law enforcement not only in the United States but in Europe is up against -- Jake?

TAPPER: Deborah Feyerick, thank you so much.

Next door in Belgium, police are launching a new wave of raids as they hunt for the entourage of a suicide bomber who blew himself up during the terrorist attacks at the soccer stadium. Nine people have been taken into custody in these new raids in Belgium.

CNN Drew Griffin is in Brussels.

Drew, what's the latest?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Nine locations raided, most of them in the predawn hours. Mostly around Belgium in the area.

Jake, many of these locations were raided because of one man, Bilal Hafdi, who is one of the suicide bombers. He blew himself up with one of the vests that Deborah Feyerick was talking about at the Stade de France.

What is really interesting is Hafdi had been a subject of an investigation by Belgium police for months. They began investigating him in early 2015 when, reportedly, they believe, he had gone to Syria to fight for ISIS. What is scary is they had no idea, just like the others, that he had come back. They had admitted that today.

And again, today, despite all these raids, Jake, and all those arrests, nine people, still no sign of the eighth suspect, Salah Abdeslam, who still remains on the loose -- Jake?

TAPPER: Drew Griffin, in Brussels, thank you so much.

This just into CNN. We are learning that an 18-year-old American from Boston was killed today during a terrorist attack in the West Bank. Several other Americans are reported injured in this terrorist attack. The U.S. State Department has condemned the attack saying it remains concerned about the situation and tensions in the Middle East and urging all sides to deescalate tensions.

Back to you in New York -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: All right, Jake, thank you. We'll check back with you in just a second.

Meantime, this grieving husband who lost his wife to the terrorist attack at the Bataclan Theater last Friday says he will not give in to hating the terrorists for the sake of their 17-month-old son. Our Hala Gorani spoke with him. Do not miss this interview, next.

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[14:53:06] BALDWIN: His wife, he called her the love of his life. She was killed in the Paris attacks. So this husband, Antoine Larie (ph), responded with the moving message to her attackers. I want to show you the wife here. She was also a mother, murdered last Friday at the Bataclan concert hall. Three days after that, her husband wrote a powerful post on Facebook and said, "You'll never have my hatred." Let me read you part of this: "Friday night, you took away the life of an exceptional human being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and do not wish to. You are dead souls. If this God for whom you kill so blindly has made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife will have been a wound in his heart."

CNN's Hala Gorani had a conversation with the man who poured his heart out. Here it is.

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ANTOINE LARIE (ph), LOST WIFE IN TERRORIST ATTACK AT BATACLAN THEATER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GORANI: The other thing that you said is (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). "We are only two, my son and me but we are stronger than all the armies of the world," which I thought was so beautiful.

[14:55:10] LARIE (ph): We stand free. We stand with the test of life. We play games with my son. And then, no, they don't win. No. No. We stand.

GORANI: Your son is only 17 months.

LARIE (ph): Yes.

GORANI: So still he doesn't understand.

LARIE (ph): But we share everything. We know everything. We talked about it. And then he cried. He was crying about, because his mother, he misses his mother. So I took my phone and put some music that he was listening with his mother. And we looked at photos. He showed me, this is my mother. "Mama, mama." And then he cries. And we cry together. We don't pretend that we are not sad or devastated. No. We are. But we stand.

Since Friday night, life just died for me. Day after day, I will see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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