. there was a charger as well as other equipment that was found in the car, a national identity card card. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we continue to cover the breaking news. lets listen in to the prosecutor in paris. >> translator: one of the perpetrators of the killedings -- from what we can say, he was involved -- never detained in police custody. other than that there were two

sieges that he was condemned three years, including 18 months of imprisonment [ inaudible ] -- as well as the earlier matter which he had avoided following the information in the suburbs and information that we had against him. also need to say that the terrorist jihadist individuals were trained and we knew that they'd been in syria and yemen. research was -- information was issued about the two brothers cherif kouachi was put into police custody given criminal

infringements which he had carried out, large numbers of investigations investigations, telephone inquiries, police raids took place throughout the evening and the night in order to find the kouachi brothers anywhere where they could be accommodated. thus with this operation, different members were questioned about the kouachi brothers and were detained. with a view to planning preparing acts of terror against other people the first testimonies came from two or three -- the first was a witness

about the events of "charlie hebdo." cherif kouachi's brother. the investigators were looking to find these persons who had to present themselves at the police station on thursday and was also detained in 23 hours. the identification of the brothers which were found by the media and led to the ending of -- it was decided around 3:00 in the morning the two kouachi brothers the following morning around 2:26 a.m. were found -- seen at a petrol station where they attacked the owner, saying the two individuals had gone and

that these two individuals were werewere threatening. there was then high surveillance which confirmed this. i'd like to come back to what happened on thursday morning. a traffic accident took place between two vehicles in montrouge. the police intervened around 7:20 a.m. at 8:00 the police intervened at the scene of the accident having heard gunshots being fired and there were some injuries. a 9-millimeter caliber weapon

was found on the road and the first testimonies appeared about a man who was armed with a clashnikov rifle. there was a victim, a police officer and someone else who was not wounded. these were the testimonies that were gathered and appears to have shot and attacked and wounded a jean dam. the perpetrator of these facts then attacked the driver for escapeing and was then discovered near the station. these are the facts, bearing in mind everything that happened

and the anti-terrorist actions of the public prosecutor's office of paris. the perpetrator was described as someone dressed in dark clothes with a clashnikov and carrying an arm. the witness who saw the perpetrator from close by managed to help draw a descriptive picture of the criminal was then seen near the scene of the crime and then similarities which existed from these different testimonies, we know this today. but this was not about the same crime. in this context, given the

events the threats which existed on the territory and these different jihadist terrorist threats and attacks and the characteristic in which this tragic event aiming at the forces of law and order, the police decided to intervene at the scene of these killings given all these infringements of the law that have taken place. this inquiry was part of the first file of the judicial police of paris under the direct anti-terrorist management of judicial police as well as the director general. >> the paris prosecutor speaking out. we'll continue to monitor what he's saying. happening now, breaking news on the run, three terrorists are dead in two violent shootouts with police.

but a female suspect apparently escapes and a new hunt begins. day of horror a siege of a kosher market leaves a gunman and four hostages dead and the two brothers who massacred a dozen people on the attack on a magazine are killed in a final stand-off. in a chilling last phone call one of the gunmen says he was trained and sent by the terror group. and the u.s. on alert. the fbi warning tonight in events in paris raise serious new concerns about the terror threat in this country as well. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the breaking news amid shattering explosions and gunfire, three terrorists are dead tonight, one suspect is on the run after bloody standoffs with french police. in a paris suburb police kill the two gunmen who slaughtered a dozen people on wednesday's attack on a satirical magazine.

and they stormed a kosher grocery store. the gunman was killed but so were four hostages. and a female suspect apparently escaped. we're learning much more about how the terrorists were linked in a stunning revelation. one of them spoke by phone with a cnn affiliate saying he was working for al qaeda in yemen. and first on cnn, the fbi and homeland security have sent out a nationwide bulletin warning that the paris attacks may have grave implications for the united states. the senate intelligence committee chairman richard burr is standing by live along with our analysts reporters and guests. chris cuomo is on the scene for us with the very latest. chris? >> reporter: wolf all of this would have been unimaginable just a week ago. but now there's a painful reality here in paris about the threat that is posed and the potential for impact. and even though we have seen these two dramatic standoffs

come to a conclusion, the situation is far from over. after a day of chaos, explosions and death, tonight an all-out manhunt across europe for this woman, believed to be the lone terrorist to survive these simultaneous assaults by police on the two locations where hostages were being held. early friday morning, police close in on the two brothers holed up in a print shop near charles de gaulle airport. >> we were standing in front of the door to the factory. i shook the hand of the owner and the terrorist. he introduced himself as a policeman. >> reporter: a french journal resist called the building and talked with a man identified as the older brother who pledged his allegiance to an island leader. >> translator: we are the defender rs of the prophet muhammad. i was sent me cherif kouachi, and anwar al awlaki financed my trip. >> reporter: the brothers reportedly said they wanted to die as martyrs.

at 5:00 p.m. local time they moved out of the building and began shooting at police. as police stormed the building it was a dramatic scene of explosions and gunfire. at the same time a second police assault was launched on a kosher supermarket in paris where a close associate of the brothers had taken hostages. >> translator: the individual immediately entered the shop and fired his weapon. seems he may be the same one who yesterday killed our colleague in cold blood. >> reporter: police say that terrorist killed a policewoman on thursday. but as scores of police moved in and many hostages were being freed, his accomplice a 26-year-old female may have escaped among them. tonight france's president says the risks the country faces from fanaticism are far from over. >> translator: france is not finished with this threat and so i want to call on you for

individual lancevigilance vigilance, mobilization and uni unity unity. >> reporter: the implications are obvious from this situation. but there are so many questions, questions about what this means for the muslim community here for the jewish community here for how they treat terror threats here. a lot of questions have been raised as eyes have been opened to what is the painful new reality that the war on terror isn't just being fought abroad as the president said it is being fought right here at home. >> the president of france francois hollande as you know chris, called the attack on that kosher supermarket on act of anti-semitism anti-semitism. do we know the identities do we know the four people killed by this terrorist inside that supermarket? >> reporter: we don't. but we know a lot of other things that provided some con

contextual value. he could have picked other stores in that area but he didn't. we don't know the identity of the hostages who lost their lives. we do know that he admitted to killing them before this assault to a journalist even though during the phone call with the journalist he stayed away from saying why he targeted that grocery. many believe that the reason is clear. as you well know wolf the idea of anti-semitism being generated out of the muslim extremist community even here in paris is not new. it's been on the rise. we've seen an unusual, woman would say unprecedented number of jews leaving here and going back to israel. the problem is real and palpable. and many believe it was demonstrated by what was done today. the irony of course wolf, is that that store may be kosher but it is also used by many muslims using to fill their religious dietary needs. just a complete shame by everyone's account.

>> a lot of jews and muslims share one thing, they don't eat pork. that's why so many muslims go to kosher grocery stores not only in france but all over the world. quick question about this terrorist, 26-year-old amedi coulibaly, any explanation why he would murder these four individuals, these four people in the grocery store before he even had any hostage rescue operation was under way? >> reporter: several theories have been offered by those close to the investigation, wolf. one is anger and spite. he did not explain it as an extension of his mission. he said that was just about the police but that's one explanation offered. a second one might have been logistical for lack of a better word that when he entered, people tried to flee and he wound up shooting them. those are the two main ones. a third one offered is that he became startled once he was inside people tried to escape after along the way and he did

it or it could have been a lie. the problem with it being a lie is that it turns out that four people did lose their lives. the names, again, though not known at this point. other hostages were wounded as were some of the s.w.a.t. team personnel who entered there to save their lives. >> chris cuomo doing amazing work for us. chris, thank you very much. let's stay in paris. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is on the scene also doing amazing work for all of our viewers. you were at the scene, you were there at that kosher grocery store, the standoff continued for hours. give us some perspective on what was going on. >> reporter: wolf i'll tell you, until a short time ago, this entire neighborhood was on lockdown. in several blocks in each direction, that kosher grocery store just down behind me here. the tension throughout the day was palpable. in the hours leading up to this raid you had dozens of tactical police surrounding this kosher

grocery store. there was a sense that something was going to happen but there would be no warning. and then indeed with no warning, we heard those explosions we heard those gunshots. and i have to say, having been to afghanistan, iraq many times, it was reminiscent for me of sights and sounds i've heard and scene and witnessed there many times. but today i was witnessing right here in the middle of paris on an otherwise beautiful winter day. here was the moment on our air when we heard those explosions when that raid began. now i'm hearing gunfire. multiple shots, automatic fire. i'm going to stop speaking so you can hear it as well as i am. it's continuing. another explosion. this all happening about 300 yards from where we are at this kosher market.

we now have this incredible video, as you know wolf. a tight shot in effect, of the moment when those tactical police entered the grocery store. i've covered a lot of terror attacks. i've never seen quite a video account like this where you see it so well. those first images where you see some of the dead bodies on the floor of the hostages and then later you see the moment when it appears that the attacker charges the police and you see that moment -- we won't show it on the air. but you see right before that moment when that attacker is taken down. one thing to take away from that video, we often have the impression that these operations while they are the most trained groups this french anti-terror group is the delta force equivalent here in france. they're very experienced at these sorts of operations. but we have the false impression that everything is so organized, everything goes according to plan. but you could see in any raid like this that there is a measure of chaos there. no one knows what's going to happen until it happens.

as they say, the best plans disappear the first moment of contact. we saw that there. another thing i might mention, the human cost, the human tension throughout this. one consequence of this neighborhood being on lockdown during and before this raid was that many parents were separated from their children. all the schools in this area were on lockdown. and i saw many parents in the hours before the raid who were pleading with police saying my child is inside the cordon. but the police would not let them inside the cordon. it was only about an hour after the raid when finally those children were let out of school. we were there. we saw them being reunited with their parents. this was a moment of relief. but i'll tell you as well we heard it from the police chief, from the french president on national tv earlier, this is still a city on alert. you have that female suspect on the loose and you have warnings about further attacks. the sad fact is this becoming a fact of life here not only in france but elsewhere in europe and sadly as we've heard, it's this kind of attack that they're

very concerned about happening on u.s. soil as well. >> three terrorists dead. but that female suspect still very much on the loose right now. hayat boumedien. how did she get away? was she inside the grocery store, not inside the grocery store? did she run out when some of the other hostages ran out? do we know how she managed to escape? >> reporter: to the best of our knowledge, to the best of the police information now, they believe she was inside the store and she escaped in the chaos. some looked at the video of the hostages that survived saying maybe one of those is the woman. she went in the other direction. some went this way. but it hasn't been confirmed. just too much confusion at this point. i think we have to have an element of doubt here because, remember on that first day, there was talk of three attackers. the third attacker who turned himself in you'll remember he has an al libi friends of his what says they were with him at the time. so questions about the third

attacker is there someone else the police don't have records on. so there are still questions as to who is at large and where they were as these raids took place, wolf. >> jim sciutto, we'll get back to you. jim's in paris for us. we just heard part of that chilling phone call in which one of the gunmen behind the magazine massacre said he was sent by al qaeda's yemen affiliate, raising serious new concerns in this country. it may pave the way for more action in yemen by the united states, military and the cia. our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, is joining us now. what are you learning? >> reporter: the younger brother, cherif kouachi, said today he'd went to yemen. but that's not the brother the u.s. is focusing on. they're focusing on the older brother, said. the u.s. believes he went to yemen in 2011 received weapons training but not just weapons training. he came to the attention of anwar al awlaki the american-born cleric who is the

leader of al qaeda external operations back in 2011 there before he was killed. he might have even met al qaeda's master bomb-maker in europe, al aseery. what skills did he learn? when he came back to paris, he went underground essentially. people lost track of him. what was he doing between 2011 and this week when this attack was launched? right now, the u.s. is looking at that claim that al qaeda in yemen ordered the attack. but what were the kouachi brothers doing between 2011 and now, wolf? >> and the assumption is they were involved with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in yemen, not necessarily with isis right? >> reporter: that's the working theory at the moment. the u.s. is well aware of all the rumors that were involved with isis. but u.s. officials tell me they can't confirm it.

>> barbara, thank you. let's bring in the new chairman of the senate intelligence committee, republican senator richard burr of north carolina. senator, thanks very much for joining us. let me get right to some of the specifics. a.p. is reporting a member of al qaeda in yemen has now said that they did, in fact direct this attack that they're claiming credit, responsibility for it. what are you hearing? >> wolf i think it's too early to know. we hear the same reports and it's pretty tough to run down whether there's validity in it. you know a group was going to come out and claim credit. what we do know today is we had two terrorist events we now know were linked. that's an incredible thing. we also know that all of the participants seemed to have traveled and were in a country that trained them financed them to some degree but more importantly today we learned they were directed at what they

did. these are incredible things. and it's really going to set the global intelligence community on their ear to try to search out and find what's next. >> do you know what happened to this female attacker, this woman who may have escaped from that grocery store? it's unclear what was going on. what have you been told? >> wolf i think all of law enforcement and intelligence is in the dark on this. hopefully the experts are looking at the video of the hostages that left the grocery. it may be that the stories are inaccurate as to whether she was there at the beginning. it's hard for me to believe with that much law enforcement surrounding that grocery that anybody escaped unnoticed. >> yeah. it would be hard to believe indeed. senator, based on what you know could there be more terror attacks in france because i know the french authorities are worried about that. >> wolf i think every country

right now should be worried. as the head of m.i. 5 gave a speech 48 hours ago that referenced two massive attacks in western europe and possibly the united states, the buzz has been out there. and i think all of the global partners of the united states have been looking. this is the first time we've really seen the direct link between a directed terrorist act and it goes right back to aqap in the arabian peninsula. and clearly we've got a great worry still about isis and the intent that they have. >> we're going to continue our conversation senator, stand by. even as we speak, the fbi and department of homeland security have issued a bulletin saying u.s. law enforcement has to be on alert right now as well. much more with the new chairman of the senate intelligence committee right after this.

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french police killing the gunman who took hostages at a kosher supermarket.

a woman suspect managed to flee. back with republican senator richard burr. the fbi and dhs put out a bulletin alerting police all over the country to what they described as sophisticated tactics that are used by terrorists. here's the question are there credible al qaeda in the arabian peninsula plots here in the united states as far as you know right now? >> wolf as far as i know right now, there's not an active plot that we're after. but as paris has proven to us we've been extremely good in the past in europe and in the united states at thwarting attacks that we found in progress. this one slipped there and we've got to reach down through the bureau all the way to the local level and bring local law enforcement in to the process to look if we want to try to catch something like what we saw in paris. >> if this terror group in

yemen, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, aqap as it's called if it's now taking responsibility, claiming credit for the massacres in paris, what should the u.s. do about that? i know that the u.s. targets some of these aqap terrorists with drone strikes. but anything else you would recommend that the united states and its allies do? >> let me just say that we put a tremendous amount of pressure on the organization and we've destroyed its leadership several times. we've got to work with the yemeni government to drive them out of the country, to not give them safe haven. but we've got to also realize that the global intelligence community is going to have to go on the highest alert they've ever been on. our intelligence in this country is going to dig deeper than they have in a number of years to try to make sure that we're connecting as many dots as we can find. and i will assure you that our intelligence community will take every bit of information the

french will share with us and we'll try to make sure that that doesn't have any nexus in the united states. and if it does our law enforcement, the bureau will be on top of it. >> would you recommend an escalation in these targeted assassinations, these drone strikes with these hail fire missiles against suspected aqap targets in yemen? >> wolf sometimes individuals are in areas that they can't be apprehended. and if they're in leadership, then we want to disrupt it. but do understand that if we can bring a terrorist in and interrogate them and learn what they know that might help us better to make sure that the united states and the rest of the world is safe. so i don't think we can go exclusively to just eliminating terrorists and believe that we're ahead of the game. >> we're showing our viewers, senator, some live pictures. these are parisian forensic teams outside that kosher supermarket where four hostages

were murdered by this terrorist who himself was later killed by police as they stormed the supermarket. the president of france francois hollande says this was an act of anti-semitism, this jewish kosher supermarket. is that the information that you're getting as well this was a deliberate attack on the supermarket because it was jewish owned? >> i think it may be too early to make that conclusion. but clearly the individual that committed it that's a plausible reason as to why they might have chosen it. i think that as we look at what's gone on in paris, we've got to make sure that we glean every bit of information so it's the forensics teams that are there, it's the electronics channels that they're going to to go through. we have to make sure that we literally lift every stone that we can from what we find.

>> do you know whether or not one of the two terrorist, cherif and said kouachi, that one of them when he was in yemen back in 2011 actually met with the u.s.-born terrorist, anwar al awlaki who himself was killed by a u.s. drone strike later in 2011? do you know if there was an actual meeting between these two guys? >> we can't confirm whether he met awlaki. and awlaki was eliminated in september of '11. so it's consistent with the time frame that everybody has the brother there, that he might have met awlaki. but here again, wolf awlaki was a prominent figure theren. and it's not like i think he might have met with one person from fran frans and had a lot of contact with him. awlaki was too prominent who have done that.

but clearly he was the voice of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula at that time. >> one final question, senator, who what worries you the most right now in the aftermath of these terrorist strikes in france? what keeps you up at night? >> wolf i've said for 14 years since 9/11 the lone wolf is the scariest thing that we can be presented daily for those of us that are pledged to keep the american people safe. this has brought it to a new level because we've now seen a level of coordination but as difficult a target a lone wolf to thwart out any attack they might carry out, i'm sure we're going to be rewriting the manuel as to what to look for. but we're good. we're the best in the world. and i know the american people are going to be safe based upon what we learn from this terrorist attack. >> senator burr, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. coming up we have new

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breaking news raids by french police and a pair of terrorist stand-offs. one suspect, a woman, now on the run. one gunman who killed a police officer then took hostages at a kosher market was shot dead in paris. four hostages died. police say a female accomplice may have escaped in the confusion. the two terrorists who attacked the "charlie hebdo" magazine office they slaughtered a dozen people. they did die in a final shootout northeast of paris with police. let's get the latest from our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen. he's joining us from the scene of that shootout. what is the latest over there, fred? >> reporter: hi, wolf.

it was really a bizarre scene when that shootout happened earlier today here northeast of paris. i would say this one compared to the one at that kosher grocery store was actually very clean, if you can say something like that, about an operation like this. i would say the actual shootout only lasted probably less than a minute. we know the gunman went out of the building, opened fire on police. the police launched some sort of stun grenade. we're about 400 yards down the road. we heard a damp detonation here. then there were about three or four shots. the police didn't fire very much. it was very directed shots, single fire shots. and then there were several more of these damp detonations and all of it as i said was over within about one minute. as all of this progressed we heard some very bizarre things that happened during that standoff as these two kouachi brothers were inside that printing shop. apparently this morning as they went in there and took that place, there was an employee who came in and actually shook hands

with one of these terrorists. he said he thought these two people were police officers and they apparently introduced themselves initially as police officers. they then told him to get out of there and then he learned these were actually the two terrorists who were being sought after. we now know and we've been talking about it on our air a lot this afternoon that a french television station, our own affiliate bfm, managed to talk to cherif kouachi at some point while he was inside there and he told them that he was sent by anwar al awlaki. so a journalist made contact with him. then we learned in fact there was another person who was inside the print shop who we thought the entire day was a hostage of these two people. turns out they never knew that another person was in there. so this was a stand-off where i have to say the french police here worked very professionally. they cordoned off the area set up checkpoints, they were on top of the situation throughout the better part of the day.

but we are learning very bizarre twists as to things that went on. in the end, however, it seems as though this whole thing had ended up exactly the way that the french police would have hoped for. the two gunmen are neutralized and the one person inside that building is safe at this point. and at least here in this area none of the law enforcement officials were injured in the raid. >> good point. it's over with over there. fred pleitgen thanks. i want to go back to our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto who's in paris. he has new information we've just received from the prosecutor there. what are you learning, jim? >> reporter: wolf this information coming in just by the minute. so i'm going to run through it as we got it here. first of all, both of the attackers in northeast paris and the attacker who took control of this kosher store down the street from me here were extremely well-armed. let's go through the arsenal present in northeast paris as those two attackers were assaulted by police. they had a rocket-propelled

grenade primed and ready to go, very powerful weapon. two ak-47s, they also had grenades. talk about what the hostage-taker had here at the kosher market. he also had a rifle, grenades, a 9-millimeter pistol. and 15 sticks of dynamite. they were very much holed up they were armed to the teeth to take on some of the best-armed and best-trained counterterror forces that france has. let me give you some more because prosecutors also discovering information about their terror connections. let's talk first of all about cherif kouachi, he was one of the brothers that carried out the attack on "charlie hebdo." the prosecutor confirming that he traveled to yemen in the year 2011 and that the authorities were aware not only of his travel to yemen but also contacts with terror groups inside syria as well. so in addition to cherif kouachi's previous arrest remember he was in prison for

attempting to recruit fighters to travel to iraq. remember that as well in 2005 he was stopped at the border here in france trying to travel himself to syria and then on to iraq to join the fight against u.s. forces there. and in court documents we received earlier today, in his deposition during that case he said that the reason he wanted to go to iraq was to fight and kill americans because he said americans had mistreated the iraqi people certainly very worrisome because we know that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, a terror group he had ties with has its targets set, its sights set on the u.s. i'm going to give you another very interesting piece of information. the prosecutor says that french authorities recorded some 500 phone calls between the wives of one of the kouachi brothers and the wife of the attacker who took the kosher market here hostage as well. remember throughout the day, we were wondering -- we had questions about whether these attackers were connected.

clearly they were connected, not only that the attacker here had called for demanded the liberation of those two men, the kouachi brothers who had taken over the office in northeast paris, but that their wives have been in paris. you're getting a sense of a web of terror here behind these attacks that held the city of paris and its surroundings in tension for three days. as i said earlier, this area that i'm standing here today was in lockdown until a short time ago because that standoff took place just down the street. only now that they're beginning to return to some semblance of normality. >> 500 conversations, phone conversations between the wives of the two terrorists the kouachi brothers and the wife of amedi coulibaly, he was the terrorist who went into that supermarket, is that right? >> reporter: that's exactly

right. 500 phone calls between the wife of the terrorist, coulibaly, who took this kosher market and one of the wives of one of the kouachi brothers. so clear, consistent contacts between the attackers there and the hostage-taker here. >> we'll stay on top of this. stay with us. jim sciutto in paris. joining us in "the situation room," our national security analyst, peter bergen senior international correspondent, nic robertson, our law enforcement analyst, former fbi assistant director tom fuentes, and middle east analyst, robin wright. i want all of you to stand by. we have a lot to discuss, a lot to report on. there's more breaking news. let's take a quick break. we'll resume the coverage right after this. in my world, wall isn't a street... return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement

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we're following the breaking news. the fbi and department of homeland security just putting out a bulletin nationwide warning u.s. law enforcement agencies about the tactics used by the french terrorists. nic robertson, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well the very fact that this -- what appears to be now an al qaeda in yemen trained

operative or pair of operatives here and the fact that they came back to france and were able to throw the french authorities off the sort of scent that they were active terrorists who planned an attack a tactic that they were perhaps intensally using to lie low for a while and then spring back when no one was watching them with this attack is troublesome, because it applies there's a potential for this in the future. and talking to someone who used to deal with anwr awlaki a leading figure in al qaeda in yemen at that time, who heard one of the brothers saying this was an attack for his death, the fact it tells me awlaki was asking him to recruit westerners for this attack and his concern is there could be more sleeper cells in france and europe.

another source says i've been telling you all along, france is a very big target for al qaeda and he expects more for prance and the rest of your. >> i'm sure the authorities in france expect more, as well. these are live pictures by the way, we're showing our viewers from just outside that kosher supermarket in paris. forensic teams now going through. why were these two operations nearly if not completely simultaneous against the two terrorists in one part outside of paris, the second operation at the supermarket? >> i'm not sure wolf that the first operation was initiated by the police. it sounds like the kouachi brothers came out blazing and they decided it was time to go out in a blaze of glory and initiated the shooting and the police responded. and when the terrorist at the second site heard about it they

wanted to initiate the rescue on the second location. so i think the brothers made this happen at the time it happened. >> peter, what is your reaction to reports that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is saying they were responsible for coordinating the terror attack? >> it seems very plausible. quite a number of different reports for different sources about this. i would go back to the magazine where they threatened "charlie hebdo" and people in the united states. there was a seattle cartoonist who instigated an "everybody draw muhammad day." she's been in hiding. >> i assume they have security right? >> i don't know. it's an interesting question. you know she's not in the witness protection program. she's just gone into hiding. but clearly there was a serious

threat against her. and also the somali dutch politician who is in exile in the united states. and also terry jones, the pastor in florida who was burning the koran, he's also been named by this group. >> you wouldn't be surprised, you've covered these incidents for a long time. you wouldn't be surprised if there's more on the way? >> the most surprising thing about paris is it didn't happen earlier. we're now in the third generation of extremists dating back to the early 1980s and we've had them go through, whether it's beirut afghanistan, the gulf algeria during its violent period of civil war in the 1990s, we have produced over 18,000 foreigners that are now fighting with isis. >> 18,000? >> 18,000. 3,000 at least from europe. there are thousands who have trained with al qaeda, whether

it's in north africa or yemen, that there has always been this danger and we're lucky it hasn't happened earlier. but once you've had a sequence of events like this, it triggers a chain of actions and reactions. so i think we're headed for tough times. >> very quickly, there's maybe a couple hundred americans there, as well. >> right. and also wolf not a lot has been said about asia. we know they've traveled to join isis and al qaeda from malaysia philippines, other countries. so this is a worldwide group of fighters that have gone there to become capable, efficient terrorists. >> i'm going to have you stand by. we'll continue following the breaking news. much more coming up in "the situation room." three riftterrorists are dead. also new chilling information from the police raids.

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happening now. breaking news. after a day of terror, a female

suspect, who is she? is she poised to strike again? hostage horror. four captives are killed before police move in. guns blazing, taking out the other terror suspects. were they trying to become martyrs? one suspect reveals his ties to al qaeda in a phone call to french news media. the group reportedly claims responsibility. i'll speak to the journalist from the station that interviewed him. u.s. alert. the fbi and the department of homeland security issuing a bulletin to law enforcement all across the united states about the unfolding french drama. what are police in this country being told to do. we want you in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following the breaking news the terror nightmare

gripping france. hostage drama ended with the death of three terror suspects. the fourth suspect, the girlfriend of one of the men killed by police, is now on the run. 17 victims have died in three horrifying days that stunned the world. and now we're learning new information about ties to al qaeda and possibly isis. one suspect visited yemen in 2011 and there's now a report that the al qaeda affiliate in that country is claiming responsibility for the attack that started all of this. we're covering all angles of the breaking news with our correspondents our guests including a french journalist who interviewed one of the terrorists. let's begin with our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. what's the very latest jim, that you're hearing in paris? >> reporter: wolf new information tonight about the arsenal of weapons that these terrorists had at their hand. the two men who were responsible for the blood bath at "charlie hebdo" hat a rocket-propelled

grenade primed and ready to fire as well as grenades. and the hostage taker here at the kosher market had automatic weapons, 15 sticks of explosives weapons more suited for a war zone than the center of paris, the capital of france. witnessing that raid as it unfolded here just a few hours ago and a few hundred yards from it the sights the sounds more suited to war zones i've covered. all this as three days of terror in this country ended in a frightening few minutes. two sense standoffs in two parts of the city. the first at a printing shop in the northeast, another at a kosher grocery in the east. parisians holding their breath for hours. but authorities were waiting for their moment. several loud explosions gunfire, and in a flash, near simultaneous raids bring two hostage standoffs to a rapid and a violent end.

the first standoff near charles de gaulle airport. the assailants the kouachi brothers. cherif kouachi answers a call from a french television station. we were just telling you we are the defenders of the prophet muhammad. i was sent me cherif kouachi, by al qaeda in yemen. the result there summed up in a tweet by the french ambassador "the two terrorists are dead. the hostage is alive." those two terrorists the same brothers whose attack at the offices of "charlie hebdo" magazine on wednesday left 12 dead and began three days of attacks, manhunts and hostage taking. a witness describes his nervous encounter this morning with one of the terrorists. >> translator: we were standing in front of the door to the factory. i shook the hand of the owner, michelle and the terrorist. he introduced himself as a policeman.

>> reporter: minutes after the first raid in east paris, we witnessed the second operation live on cnn's air. now i'm hearing gunfire. multiple shots, automatic fire. i'm going to stop speaking just so you can hear it, as well as i am. it's continuing. another explosion. an untold number did not survive. the hostage taker, amedy coulibaly, dead. his companion, hayat boumeddiene, escaped in the confusion. both were wanted in the fatal shooting of a police officer in paris on thursday. that attack just a few hundred feet from a jewish school. on friday with shoppers preparing for the jewish sabbath, witnesses describe a terrifying scene. >> translator: we heard someone scream in french i think, then in arabic. followed by the arrival of

police officers and they started to get down hide behind cars and they started exchanging fire. >> reporter: a western intelligence source says amedy was a close associate with said couch -- with cherif kouachi. and more new information tonight about the attacker's ties to terrorist organizations, but also the ties amongst themselves. authorities saying they had ties to terrorists not only in yemen, but also in syria. but among themselves this interesting note, that in 2014 there was some 500 phone calls between the partners the companions of one of the kouachi brothers who took the -- who stormed the offices of "charlie hebdo," and the hostage taker here at the kosher market. 500 calls between their partners and it occurs to us as we were discussing that fact wolf one reason why they might do that if the suspected

terrorists knew they were being monitored by authorities, they might have their companions speak to each other so those calls wouldn't be monitored. >> what are they saying if there are others potentially involved other than this woman who managed to escape that there are others involved in this cell? >> reporter: they don't know frankly. and this is one thing they're checking out right now. prosecutors making clear they've arrested some half a dozen other people in the last 4, 48 hours as they investigate how far this web extend t. these were two very well armed groups. you might need help to do something leak that so that's a question they're asking. how do you get a rocket-propelled grenade into france? these are real questions, and they also say they're chasing the money trail for this

attacks like this would have required financial support. >> i'm sure they're chasing everything to find out what happened. jim, stand by. i want to bring in our senior international correspondent fred miken. what are you seeing and the latest you're picking up fred? >> reporter: this town is starting to get back to normal after it was a tense day here. the interesting thing that happened after the rate it was very different than the one jim witnessed there. this happened almost under perfect condition it is you were the authorities. that print shop is in an industrial area. it didn't take the police very well long at all, and we noticed the operation was underway when we heard a burst of gunfire coming from the direction of the print shop. we heard a burst of gunfire. then a damp sort of detonation. then a couple of single shots,

about three or four single shots. at that point, you heard another two detonations and that was it. the whole thing took less than a minute. jim was saying that the raids were almost simultaneous but it appears right here they came out and opened fire on the police and the police decided to begin their action. one of the things that we have to note is two police officers were only very lightly wounded. so in total, it was an operation that went very well for the police right after the raid happened. there were helicopters that landed there on the premises of that print shop. medical evacuation helicopters were not needed. there was a lot of commotion afterwards but things quieted down after about an hour. this entire area wolf it's a very large area around charles de gaulle airport, was on lockdown. people were told to stay inside. we were set up right here in front of a school where kids

kept screaming out, we are charlie, that school was on lockdown, as well. the kids couldn't go out. this whole village here, needless to say breathes a sigh of relief. but officials very relieved how the operations went down here. the person in the building got out unscathed, wolf. >> the two terrorists said they wanted to die. they got their wish. fred thank you very much. we're also learning more about ties to al qaeda, possibly some ties to isis as well. let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr, work thing part of the story for us. what are you learning barbara? >> reporter: the obama administration is racing to figure out the details of what the kouachi brothers were up to. they thought one of the brothers had gone to yemen.

now they're looking at the possibility both brothers traveled to an al qaeda strong hold. u.s. officials believe when said kouachi spent several months in yemen during 2011 he got more than just weapons training. he got the attention of top leadership of the al qaeda affiliate there, known as al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> it tells me that he had access to senior levels of the al qaeda organization in yemen. who else had access? was he there with somebody? did he travel with somebody else? number two, it tells me that awlaki was in contact with people we didn't know about. >> reporter: the u.s. is trying to put the pieces together. the working assumption is that kouachi met with anwr awlaki the american born cleric who led external operations. it would have been months before awlaki was killed in a u.s. drone strike. the u.s. is also trying to

determine if kouachi may have met with aqap's master bombmaker, according to u.s. officials. kouachi may have received some bomb making training. with a french passport, and the ability to return to europe he was a prime aqap recruiting target. >> there were a thousand questions here that an intelligence professional is going to have to sift through, and we haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg yet. >> reporter: u.s. officials believe it was only said that went to yemen. but hours before he died his younger brother, cherif, told french media he too traveled there. >> translator: i was sent me cherif kouachi, by al qaeda in yemen. i went there and sheikh anwr awlaki financed my trip. >> reporter: cnn has not confirmed the authenticity of the recording. the details of said kouachi's

connection to awlaki are critical because officials say it may give them hints if the al qaeda organization has other operatives in the west waiting to attack. so a key question right now is was this original attack against the magazine in paris, was this inspired by al qaeda in yemen or was it directed by them? was this some sort of sleeper cell in paris? wolf? >> that is the key question right now, barbara. thanks for your good reporting. let's get more now on the terror suspect on the run. cnn's brian todd is joining us with new information. brian, what are you learning? >> reporter: tying the two pairs of terrorists together this hostage drama that took place in paris today, closely connected to these two brothers, the kouachis who were tracked down after the magazine attack today. the suspect who was killed in the market amedy coulibaly, he was with the same circle of terrorists. but it's the woman, coulibaly's

girlfriend who law enforcement are tracking tonight. the question is how dangerous is she? it's now her face alone on wanted posters. 26-year-old hayat boumeddiene. police say she's an acome police of suspected terrorist amedy coulibaly, who is connected to the two brothers who attacked "charlie hebdo" magazine. amedy coulibaly was killed by police. there's now a massive dragnet for hayat boumeddiene, who police say is a suspect with coulibaly in the killing of a policewoman thursday. a western intelligence source tells cnn they lived together and the two once traveled to malaysia together. >> we don't know if she was involved in some sort of cover or because she was radicalized along with her boyfriend and got sucked in working together at some level. >> reporter: the french newspaper published these photos of them together. cnn cannot independently verify

the authenticity of the photos. she once told police they had practiced firing cross bows in the countryside of central france as apparently shown in these pictures. hayat boumeddiene had been in a relationship with amedy coulibaly since 2010 and she was interviewed by counterterrorism police that same year. analysts say while the number of female jihadists is growing, their male counterparts still consider them valuable cover. >> many of them have wives and girlfriends. you don't appear to be alone, young, angry man. you're walking with a woman. >> reporter: we just learned from the paris prosecutor more solid in fact that connects hayat boumeddiene and her boyfriend to the kouachi brothers. the prosecutor just said officials are aware of more than 500 phone calls made between hayat boumeddiene and the wife of the suspect of kouachi.

>> what are your experts telling you about how she might have escaped? >> colonel james reese says he's experienced these hostage situations. she's probably going to try to find some member of the cell if she's working with a cell there to give her a safe house, some money. she may even try to cross international boarders. obviously, france is massive and the boarders may not be all secure. >> it's a massive woman hunt in this case for her. brian, thank you very much. let's get more now. joining us from paris, an anchor with the french news channel. tomas, thank you very much for joining us. what else can you tell us about this female suspect? >> the worrying thing, wolf we know very little about this young lady. her name is hayat boumeddiene, 27 years old. she's been with one of the terrorists for a few years, for at least four years, 2010.

she's described as a religious woman. her neighbor said very little about her. she hasn't been seen or spotted in the past few weeks and what we know also tonight, what we found out tonight is that she probably had some contacts with the other terrorist partner, because of her phone records. several calls have been traced from the two phones now. that doesn't mean she knew them but at least the phones were connected between the different partners. >> is there a suspicion, i assume there is this is part of a broader cell a broader network and there are other terrorists at large right now that may have been involved in what these dead terrorists were trying to do, is that right? >> well, yes. absolutely. it's one of the police's main fear tonight. clearly, hayat boumeddiene is one of their top priorities. her picture has been released. a phone line has been opened to

the public if they spotted her. she could very well attempt to leave france if she has a french passport she can cross the border to italy to spain, to other countries around europe fairly easily. it's very difficult to stop someone. what the police fear tonight is she decides to pursue her partner, what her partner has done until now, or she night try to avenge him. we know he was heavily armed. explosives were found today at the site where her partner was killed. she could be armed and dangerous. >> you were there at the scene of that paper factory, that industrial area where the two kouachi brothers were holding a hostage or were stuck inside and they walked out with their weapons blazing. explain what the raid was like. walk us through what your eyewitness accounts showed you. >> well first of all, you have

to understand that's very important that everything happened very quickly. we had been on the manhunt for about 60 hours. most journalists present there were expecting this siege to last a few hours or a few days. it started in the morning, 9:00 a.m. in the morning french time. nothing really happened until right before 5:00, you know 5 to 5:00 p.m. and all of a sudden we heard fire shots, we heard automatic rifles i'm sorry two explosions, we saw some smoke, and then very quickly we saw some special forces on the roof walking apparently serenely towards the factory where the terrorists were hiding. a few minutes after that a helicopter landed. and we found out the two terrorists had been killed a few minutes after that. as for the hostage or believed hostage, while the person was able to leave the factory

unharmed we thought the person was held hostage by the two terrorists. actually that person was working there managed to side on the second floor of the building under a kitchen sink. >> so these two brothers decided at one point to walk out of that building with their weapons and they started firing at the police presumably knowing they were going to get killed, right? >> well frankly, that's still very unclear. what we know tonight is that one of the brothers was hurt was wounded following a fire exchange with the police that same morning. so this morning actually. now what their state of mind was at the moment where they step out of the building we don't really know. we don't really know who started firing even though the police says that the two men stepped out of the building. but obviously they're dead. so we only have one version of the facts tonight. so we'll stick to the police

version. but we don't really know in details what happened. once again, we were -- the whole area was sealed. it was very difficult to have visuals on what was happening. >> do you know whether they were inspired by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, al qaeda in yemen, or they were specifically directed to undertake this operation against the satirical magazine by terrorists in yemen, do you know if there was just an inspiration or a direct order? >> well they did claim that it was, you know both inspiration, because they claimed they were working for al qaeda yemen. they said at several occasions. now, whether this was an order from the organization that's still unclear and that's for the future to tell. but at the moment we don't know if they decided to do that

themselves or if it was a direct order from anyone in yemen. >> thomas misrachi thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it very much. >> thank you. >> much more breaking news coming up. we have new details about the part of this nightmare that french officials are calling an anti-semitic act at that kosher grocery store. we're learning new information just coming in. stay with us. you're in "the situation room."

we're following the breaking news the search for a female terror suspect on the run right now in france. three other suspected terrorists, they died as police moved in trying to rescue hostages that had been taken. now there's a report that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is claiming responsibility for the terror massacre. let's get some more now. joining us from paris, cnn's hala gorani. peter bergen. phillip mudd and cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes.

tom, how should law enforcement be approach thing search for this suspected female terrorist? >> they have to approach it wolf that she may have other friends and accomplices that might not be as small a cell as what was indicated so far. she also may have access to a great deal of weapons explosives, rocket-propelled grenade. we don't know that everything they had in their possession was used in the attacks. there's probably more out there that she would have access to. >> phil mudd do you believe these raids were simultaneous at the factory, as well as the kosher market were they simultaneous for a reason? >> yeah i think they were. we know obviously the two cells are connected. you've got to make a guess that both are potentially communicating with one another or even watching tv and realizing a raid is going on. if you don't do them simultaneously and one of the others learns that the other cell has gone down i think the risk to the hostages goes up.

that person is going to say, the jig is up either i kill the hostages or they're going to come in and kill me. >> hala, the french president called the attack at the kosher grocery a horrific anti-semitic act, his words. you're in paris. explain what's going on. i assume the jewish community in france is concerned about -- this isn't just the only attack on a jewish institution, there have been several over these past weeks and months. >> there have been several over the past weeks and months. and in march of 2012, mohammed mara went on a killing spree and in front of a jewish school in the south of france, killed three children who were coming out of that school. you mentioned francois hollande and the previous french president said the country

stands in solidarity with the jews of france. last year in 2014 7,000 french jews left the country. that was twice the number of 2013. many people are saying that they feel targeted that they feel like they may not be safe anymore. so that's why many of them, and there are thousands that are packing their bags and leaving france. this anti-terrorism plan that's now in please in france in fact, is deploying thousands of security officers to protect very sensitive targets, including synagogues and jewish schools. one person i spoke to today who lives on a street where there is a jewish school said that there is a large security presence to protect that school there. after this attack on the kosher supermarket in paris today, that

anxiety level is going to increase. >> peter bergen, hard to believe, but for these terrorists, they think what has happened over the past couple of days is a huge propaganda for themselves. >> indeed. and they will certainly learn from this attack. it's sort of a combination like the boston marathon attack which was spread out of three days and generated media coverage and the mumbai attacks that was generated over three days. people will be watch thing and they will be learning. >> phil mudd there were hours and hours of unsuccessful negotiations that led to the raid. the three terrorists are dead, but four people inside that kosher supermarket, they are dead as well. we don't have their identity or their names. i assume we'll get that fairly soon. the fact that these terrorists are now dead that's a loss of potentially valuable intelligence, right? >> i wouldn't say valuable, i

would say critical. you have to think of the intelligence picture here as a mosaic. you can look at their computers and find what they posted on facebook maybe e-mails to potential associates. but there's now a critical piece of the mosaic we'll never see. two questions, one, who was part of the network potentially over the last years in france? did somebody recruit you? did somebody pay for your ticket ticket? second when you were in a camp at yemen, did you see anybody else from north america or western europe who trained with you? you can't get that piece of the mosaic from electrons. you have to talk to a human being and so now we'll never see that picture. >> that's one of the reasons they would like to capture this female terrorist suspect alive. much more breaking news coming up. also new information about al

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we're following the breaking

news. this is new video just coming in. this was the raid at the factory where the two brothers cherif and said kouachi were eventually killed as they came out, their guns blazing. let's watch this for a second. [ gunfire ] indeed. i want to go back to paris. jim sciutto is joining us with more information. what else are you learning, jim? >> reporter: wolf just some fascinating details about how the police investigated this as it was unfolding. we're just learning that one of the ways police identified the

attacker the hostage taker who took over the kosher market here in the east of paris his name amedy coulibaly, is from dna contained on a raincoat he left behind in the car. after the shooting at "charlie hebdo" magazine on wednesday, they left behind a car. they found his i.d. card and they identified him via dna left on that raincoat. so police scrambling investigating, even as these attackers were still on the run. some more information about something we reported just a bit earlier, that is contacts that took place between the wife of one of the kouachi brothers, cherif kouachi, and a companion of amedy coulibaly, that companion, of course, is the woman at large tonight. her name, hayat boumeddiene. she was calling 500 times in 2014 the wife of cherif kouachi. so there were clear contacts between the attackers here and

the attackers who were killed northeast of paris today in that video you're showing right now. the thought occurred to us here, why would the companions speak to us so much? it is possible that those terrorists thought or presumed that they were being monitored by police, so they took the step having their companions speak to each other. but police were aware of those communications, as well, wolf. >> i just want to be precise, jim. the dna that was found in that abandoned -- that black vehicle that was there at the magazine that was taken away and one of the i.d. cards found inside you're saying that amedy coulibaly, that his dna was found inside that vehicle, as well? >> reporter: no, i'm saying that the dna identified coulibaly -- you're right, wolf let's be clear. there was an i.d. left behind from kouachi in one car. coulibaly was identified from

dna from a raincoat that he left behind. apologies for not being clear there. but just remember, as this was going on there were questions as to how confident police were in the i.d.s of these attackers. one way they identified one of the cherif brothers an i.d. left behind. the way they identified amedy coulibaly was from dna left behind. that's how they got the certainty. during this they said they had ways of knowing. and this was one of those ways. >> jim stand by. i want to get back to you. this just coming into "the situation room," as well. the state department here in washington just issuing what they describe as a worldwide caution asking all u.s. citizens in their words to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security in light of the recent attacks in paris. tom fuentes, i guess that's prudent to go ahead and tell

americans who may be traveling around the world right now, be careful. >> typical cautionary warning to go out like that. >> do they do that even though there's no credible direct plot that the u.s. is worried about? >> they do. if they had a credible, direct plot they would get it, they would take it out. they think it could happen and that's when they put the warnings out. >> this comes on the heels, phillip mudd earlier in the day the fbi and department of homeland security issued a separate bulletin to u.s. law enforcement, local, state, federal all over the country saying you've got to learn the lessons of what happened if france. everyone seems to be going on a little bit of a higher state of alert, right? >> that's right. in this situation, you've got to do the initial, what you've seen the initial sort of warning to american citizens overseas and domestically. but there's something that's got to follow on and that's looking at the specific tactics, the travel routes the kind of

associates these people had in a place like yemen, based on the intelligence from this case. so the first general warnings as tom said are standard. we've got days or weeks to go to know if this will result in more action. >> hala, you know that country well. you speak the language. if this were to happen in the united states, what's happened in paris over the past few days there would be a tremendous anger, a tremendous desire to go ahead and try to get even, find these people who were involved. what's the mood over there in paris right now? do they want the french security service, the military, the police to retaliate specifically against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula? >> reporter: i'm not hearing that and we didn't hear that when people gathered spontaneously on wednesday evening after that horrific

attack against "charlie hebdo" that left 12 people dead. i think people are a little more divided on what the response should be longer term. in terms of how their government should monitor possible terrorism suspects whether or not they should increase surveillance take away more privacy rights. france is a very different country that the united states in that respect. even though their intelligence services are very much on top of terrorist networks and certainly they've foiled attacks. they may not say so publicly, but we hear so from our sources this is something they do regularly. even though all of that is true, when you ask ordinary french people or parisians here even after this attack they all say, to varying degrees, we must be careful with the response, that what has angered so many in the wake of some of those leaks in the last year or so in terms of what the nsa surveillance program is about in the united states that here the people say

we should be careful in terms of what we take away in terms of privacy and how much power we give the government. that being said the anger and grief is palpable and we'll have to wait and see in the wake of this one. >> we'll see what the retaliation is if there is retaliation. hala, thank you very much. thanks to everyone else. to our viewers, if you want to find out more about the outpouring of support for those directly affected in these terror attacks, go to cnn.com/impact. new disturbing information. one of the french gunman was caught trying to join the fight against u.s. troops in iraq a decade ago. much more right after this.

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we're following the breaking news the search for a female terror suspect on the run in france after the deaths of three others, including the brothers blamed for wednesday's massacre. cnn has learned one of the brothers has been well known to french authorities for at least a decade. our senior investigative correspondent drew griffin is joining us now. you've uncovered some more very troubling information. what have you learned? >> the tales revolving around that younger brother will raise questions how the french and anti-terrorist officials could have lost surveillance and quite frankly dropping the ball on what court documents look to be a very dangerous person. in 2005 cherif kouachi was caught by french authorities just as he was trying to travel to syria. if an effort to join the fight against american soldiers in iraq. in his own words, from a

deposition in this 400 page court report kouachi describes how his perceived injustices in iraq drive his hatred and willingness to die. i was ready to go and die in battle. i got this idea when i saw the injustices shown by television on what was going on over there in iraq. i am speaking of about the torture that the americans have inflicted on the iraqis. kouachi is one of several men radicalized and recruited at this now demolished paris mosque. and now incarcerated radical cleric preached hatred here and told muslim men they had a duty to kill. cherif committed himself to this idea in 2004. he told his friends he was going to syria to fight. cherif says he came to the idea of jihad through the well-known spiritual leader who has been long associated in france with supporting jihad and terrorism. the documents say when police

interviewed his accomplices, they stated kouachi said he was ready to firebomb and to destroy jewish shops in paris. when officials confronted kouachi, documents say he told police something else. that's not exactly what i said. i don't hide having proposed anti-semitic ideas. but i would note that i never really would have done that. the documents said cherif said the wise leaders in islam called upon him and his friends and if they die as martyrs in jihad, under a section called motivations of influence, the prosecuting documents say for him, kouachi, any place on earth where there is such an injustice is justification for jihad. what was going on in iraq was, in his eyes, such an injustice. wolf as to why or how french officials lost track or stopped watching a guy with this kind of

radical islamic thinking a former director of the espionage department for paris told us last night, there are plenty of them and few of us. but i must tell you, given all we've learned today about travel patterns act the second brother, about training in yemen, about the acquisition i don't think the french people will be satisfied with an excuse like that and we may be heading to a total revamp of how they handle their intelligence. >> some have suggested that for the people of france what has happened over the past few days is like 9/11 what happened here in the united states. drew thanks very much. let's continue our analysis. joining us our military analyst, mark occur ling and paul cruickshank and fran townsend. there are a lot of guys out there, and gals we should say, like these terrorists who have now been killed in paris.

>> that is right, wolf. but i think we have to be fair. it is right, we're going to go back and look at what the intelligence was and what should have happened but it is true to say say, it is nearly impossible to follow all of them that come back. and are they all operational. it is not whether or not they are combative, but whether or not they are operational. >> was there an intelligent blunder here? because these guys were well-known to french authority but not under surveillance. >> and wolf that is what they'll have to go back and look at whether or not they should have been. but it takes a lot of people. they can't possibly cover everybody who has been radicalized and they have to make judgments. here it was wrong. but did they have all of the information, domestic and foreign to make that judgment. we don't know that.

>> and the fear paul is they were quiet for a few years and may be part of a sleeper cell that could be activated as they were. >> it seems right. and now both brothers travelled to yemen in 2011 and they come back to france. and after meeting with al-awlaki al-awlaki, there is a big time gap. it is not clear why the case. did they put some plan or ice or come up with this on their own. steve. >> general, we'll get to you in a moment. we're following the breaking news. the search for the terrorist suspects still on the run. france's terrorist nightmare, unfortunately, is far from over. ♪ music ♪ ...the getaway vehicle!

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general hert ling you spend a lot of time as a commander in europe can you speak about the anti-muslim sentiment and how it feeds potentially into these kind of terror attacks we've

just seen? >> i think it is significant. the muslims from europe immigranting from countries is significant and the most significant in france and affects several other countries. and if you only take a percentage of the 8 million in france and say there is only a small percent that is extremist and even if you take one, one hundreds that is a multiple number of extremists. >> these guys were well armed. they had kalashnikov and pretty sophisticated weaponry. >> that is right. and what people in the united states forget weapons -- you don't have access to the guns in france and western europe that you do in the united states so it begs the question what was the infrastructure that supported them. how did they get them and move the guns and trained on them?

this is very different than getting access to guns in the united states where we have the access and the right to bear arms. that is not the case in france. most police officers don't have guns. >> the rocket propelled launchers and i expect there is more out there. >> how did they manage to get rocket propelled launchers. that is a huge question in this investigation. this is unprecedented for terrorists in europe and the west to get ahold of these kind of weapons. they would have had to have contacts and money and a support network. huge questions for the french right now. >> so what does the u.s. do now, as it sees what is going on not only in iraq syria, with isis journal hert ling but in yemen. i know there have been drone strikes but is it final for more action based on what we are seeing in france? >> well wolf we're seeing terrorist activities all over the world.

you can take al qaeda, northern part of africa boko haram in africa. you have a choice of a lot of terrorist groups all of which are special operations command is contributing in a fight against. it is hard to say today the most dangerous target is an order to a bunch of french potential terrorists to do something from aqap and should we shift our attention to them. it is difficult in a plan against terrorism. >> the terror threat is growing, fran not receding? >> that is right. and i think in some way americans have to accept this type of an attack is so easy such a low-hanging fruit for the bad guys that it is almost inevitable here. your intelligence and law enforcement authority are doing everything they can to provent -- prevent it but it is difficult. there are very few opportunities

to interrupt the operational chain. so this is fre -- very frightening. >> fran townsend paul cruickshank, general hert ling. thank you. that is it for me. this is wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" tonight, breaks news. dramatic video tonight. [ gunfire ] >> french police storming a grocery store to free terrified hostages. the hostage taker killed in gun assault assault. and the accomplice still searched for and how did this woman escape? intelligence officials said there are mass planned attacks on the west. let's go