i'm max foster. it's 7:00 a.m. in brussels where a massive manhunt is under way. authorities say the deeper they dig into the bombings, the more evidence they find of bigger and broader plans by isis. counter terrorism officials say more attacks in europe are imminent and isis operatives may have already picked out potential targets. meanwhile, authorities now believe isis bombmaker najim laachraoui was one of two suicide bombers killed at the brussels airport.

the others say his brother, khalid was killed and a massive hunt is under way for the third man seen at the airport. in a moment, we'll get to the report on the military hospital working to identify victims of the attack and we'll be speaking to others throughout the hour. but first, fred pleiken has been in the neighborhood a taxi driver led investigators to after he recognized the airport bombing suspects as passengers that he had picked up. fred has more on what police found the. >> according to the authorities, an apartment in this building, in the district was used as the main bomb making factories both for the attacks on the brussels airport and the one on the metro, as well. the police say that they have recovered some 15 kilograms or almost 40 pounds of the explosive tapt as well as chemicals, screws, which, of

course, are often used to mix into explosive device toes make them even more deadly and an isis flag inside one of the apartments in that building. now, we were able to speak to someone who says that he lived on the same floor as the alleged attackers and he says he barely saw them around. >> translator: i've never seen them except one time i came across one that was skinny. i said hello and i greeted him, but he didn't respond and i never saw them again and i feel scared. >> the raid here lasted several hours. it involved a lot of police officers and police helicopters with what appear to be police snipers glancing through an open door of the helicopter he and repeatedly pointing their rifles. afterwards, forensic teams worked pretty much the entire night. they recovered a lot of things from this apartment building, but they also recovered something in the garbage can outside, a laptop that appeared to contain something like the

will of one of the attackers where he was apparently saying that he pelt the police was on to him and he felt if they did not come through with this plot quickly, that maybe they would wind up going to jail just like salah abdeslam. people fear those involved in the attack could still be at large and could still pose a threat to society here in belgium and here in europe. they also believe some of the things they've recovered from this apartment complex could help them track down some of those people and bring them to justice. cnn, brussels, belgium. >> politico's senior e-corespondent heath joins me now. so many questions are being asked of the security services, of the government, across europe. they promised that they would try to prevent something like this after paris and we find out now the networks are all

interlinked. >> yes. so i think that some of that knowledge of the networks was understood. but what wasn't understood was exactly how willing these networks were prepared to act. some of the things viewers don't necessarily understand is if you're trying to track a suspect, someone who you think is about to bomb somewhere or could have the capacity to do that, to keep on top of all forms of communication, even find forms of communication, you might need 15, 20, sometimes 25 sxertsz to keep on top of all that. we know about 540 belgiums went to syria to train to be radicals. they think about half of them have come back. if you think up to 250 people could be on that list, you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of highly trained agents that belgium doesn't have. >> they don't seem to have the intelligence they need, do they?

>> and they've been underfunding those services. obviously, a lot of that planning happens through digital networks and digital means now. obviously, it's not the same as the u.s. government. it's a smaller country. but think about that, that it's clearly not the sort of -- that the u.s., the uk, france or even other smaller countries around the world would be dedicating to these resources. so you have these smaller european countries who have been trying to develop in the case of eastern european countries or in the cases of countries like belg jump who have been coasting a bit is a fair assessment. they've been able to ride on the coat tails of other countries like u.s. but until these issues have hit home, they haven't had to say, hang on, we need they happen these ten-year plans, we need to double or triple what we're

doing. belg jump has said that now, but to make up for decades of underinvestment, you can't do that in three or four months. you can't rain 200 arabic speakers out of the sky. that's where you need to draw in these other resources. but the belgians are struggling to mobilize all of that now. >> so the answer is to do what america did after 9/11 and get all the agencies to coordinate together. but europe is not the united states. there are separate jurisdictions and if you're from one security agencies, you're not going to open up your books from one from another country, are you? >> that is the starting premise. but what you have that other places don't have is the european union. so the obvious focus point is to try to do this through the european union. but we've seen in lots of other areas, i used to have some knowledge of cyber security, for example. now we know in europe there's seven or eight countries that do that really well. and those seven or eight, mostly the big ones that your viewers would think of off the top of

their head, they don't like shares information with the smaller countries. they're not going to hand over their critical information to bulgaria. yet a country like belgium, they can be the weak link in the chain, someone who is packing into a nuclear power station, somebody who is going to -- infrastructure like the airport that we saw this week in brussels. so these bigger countries now have a fundamental choice to make. pull the smaller ones up to speed, share more information or do all of that and use a conduit like the european union to stop these tragedies in the future. >> thank you so much, indeed. stories have been pouring in, as well, about the victims of the brussels terror attacks. leopold hesch died in the metro station explosion. he was a law student. those who knew him described him as brilliant and kind.

olivier delespesse died, as well. he was on his morning commute to his job. sasha and alexander pinczowski was waiting to board a flight to new york. their mother was on the line with one of them when they dropped. just imagine. their families haven't heard from them since. atika schubert joins me from brussels. she's been following the story of survivors. but also, all these people who are unidentified. >> absolutely. it's very difficult to identify many of the victims. and a number of hospitals, including the royal military hospital that we visited yesterday is trying to help identity many of those killed. unfortunately, because of the power of the blast, many of their bodies are so badly mutilated that the only way to identify them is either fingerprinting dna or dental

records. so it's a really tough shjob. >> in terms of how the hospitals are responding, i mean, there was a pretty incredible response, wasn't there, in the immediate aftermath of this terror incident. if there's one thing that did come out well from this, it's how the response was hammed, actually. but they're still responding, aren't they, and they're still struggling. >> they are still struggling, simply because, you know, you consider that hundreds were wounded, but more than a hundred still remain in hospital. we're talking about injuries like burns, which take a long time to treat. shrapnel wounds that often require multiple surgeries. and it's not just doctors pressed into this. we also met yesterday a hotel manager who actually turned his lobby into a triage center. the red cross basically came in and said we know you're helping people, but we need to help more and were able to bring people in from the metro station and decide who to save first, essentially. and it was incredible to see a

hotel lobby completely transformed into this. so everybody really tried to help the best way they could. but it's -- it was especially tough for medics and hospitals, as well. >> and in terms of those missing people, what sort of system -- shattered the belgium city of brussels. hospitals are still coping with the influx of victims. we're standing outside the royalty military hospital here in brussels and this is where at least 80 of the victims from the airport blast were brought to suffering from multiple burns and shrapnel wounds. >> the entrance was transformed into an emergency ward designed to be used in war or natural disaster. many now have been transferred to the specialized burns unit. though the hospital is working with investigators to identify the debt. yan vase was among the first medics at the airport. >> what was the first thing you saw when you got to the scene?

chaos. dust, chaos, people shouting, crying, all people crossing help here, over here. i've never seen it before. it was a war zone. >> for 20 years, he has served as a military medic in places like afghanistan, but he has never seen anything like this. a bomb that investigators believe was packed with nails and bolts. >> i saw a lot of people with holes in their body. the people were hit by pieces that flew around. i saw children with -- with wounds, penetrating wounds so it has to be some explosive device. things are floating around with a great high power. >> outside the hospital, soldiers stand guard. the belg jump flag flies at half-staff. >> do you also have a picture of your girl friend? >> 25-year-old salamani is

searching for his girlfriend. they have a 1-year-old son. >> what kind of a person is she? >> she's very shy. she's short and she's strong. >> she's a strong person. >> she's a strong person, yes. >> jonathan has set up a facebook page for information. he says she was studying to be a botanist and on her way to school when the bomb ripped through the train car. her last iphone location was near the metro station. >> are you worried that maybe she's been injured and may be unconscious? >> i don't think. i don't think. i don't -- i don't want to think about this. >> and hospitals across brussels, the heartbreaking search for answers continues. >> just to show you how difficult this is, only three of the 31 that were killed have been identified and there are four wounded that have been been identified because they're still

in a coma. so it is a painful search for family members with, max. >> atika, thank you so much. we continue to try to find who those unidentified are. it's a horrific situation for the families wait to go hear. british authorities, meanwhile, say they have foiled a terror plot in london. police say two university students in their early 20s were planning to kill soldiers, police officers and, as well. next on cnn, a look at what the brussel attackers may have left behind before their deadly rampage. we have details on some surprising findings that we're getting from our investigations. the and clean and real and looking good and sandwich and soup and a new personal best. and a little help and soup and sandwich and study group.

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. when it happens in paris, when it happens elsewhere, you tell yours, it won't happen here. to see it happen 500 meters from here, it's not good. >> as a citizen of brussels, it hurts to experience something like this. trirchl is coming close in a scary way. brussels is a beautiful city. we are not going to let our lives be dictated by terrorists.

>> you're watching cnn special coverage of the terrorist attack here in brussels. and police are searching for this man and possible acome hiss, as well. a federal prosecutor says he placed a bomb at the airport and left. officials are concerned tuesday's attacks are part of a bigger plot. they've been collecting evidence and anti-terror raids all over the city. we're getting more information as well on the explosives attackers used in brussels. in a police raid, officials found 15 kilograms or about 50 pounds of the explosive tatp exposedly belong to the bombers and in this case pa nick peyton walsh has more on this. >> children screaming. is this the aftermath of a tapt bomb? officials found 15 kilograms of the explosive where an alleged

bombmaker was hiding out. it's a home made explosive with a sinister nickname, motor of satan. it's sensitive to heat, hole tile and can potentially cause extensive damage. experts say it's cheap with ingredients that are easy to come by. >> 90% of the stuff we have here, you don't need a license to buy. i can go in the truck right now about half an wore away and come home with probably 90% of this. >> brussels is not the first time tatp has been traced to terrorist attacks. last november, ibrahim dead nated it as part of the paris attacks. one component, tatp. july 2005, bombs explodes throughout london. 52 dead, more than 700 injured. investigators discover the home made bombs contained tatp.

september 2009, a man is arrested for plotting to bomb a new york city subway using tatp. he gets the greens he needs at a colorado beauty store, a lowe's and a walmart. >> you're not going to generally get these people based on what they purchase. >> he says tatp ingredients are so readily available, buying the items may not raise suspicions. that's why intel is key. >> majibul asazi was involved in boiling tapt in a hotel room in aurora, was not identified for the ingredients he was purchasing. he was identified because of good intelligence in monitoring e-mail accounts where he came up. >> that was nick peyton walsh reporting. i want to talk more about tatp.

let's bring in steve moore, a retirery supervisory agent with the fbi, as well. steve is live for us in los angeles. how much have the law enforcement community been dealing with this type of explosive in recent times? >> well, i don't think it was even seen until the 1980s the. and so we're just playing catch up in learning what this stuff is, how easy it is to synthesize or how difficult it is and how difficult it is to move around. it actually is almost -- well, it's very dangerous to even the terrorists, thank goodness. >> why is it so attractive to isis? >> it's attractive to isis because you can get this stuff without -- you can get the precursors without having licenses, things like that. the problem they have is that the hydrogen peroxide that they need and the acetone, while they can get it, the hydrogen

peroxide is not concentrated enough. so that's what the boiling was about that the reporter was talking about. the boiling is to condense the hydrogen peroxide to a more weaponble concentrations. >> so when you look at the aftermath of what happened here in brussels, do you think that was an effective bomb making t kit. >> yeah. and this is the thing about tatp, if you don't know how to use it correctly, it will kill you on one end of the perspective or it won't go high order of the other end of the spec truck. if you heat it up, it will kill you. when you see somebody make tatp go off, of this high order, they knew what they were doing. they didn't pick this recipe up

off the internet and say, i'll try it. this person was tricked. >> and in terms of trying to cut off that knowledge or that supply of the various ingredients of this explosive, how do law enforcement deal with this? it doesn't necessarily raise alarm bells when you buy the raw ingredients. >> no. and that's the thing. you can go to any hardware store and pick up acetone by the gal ron. i happened to do that two weeks ago for a painting project. you can get hydrogen peroxide anytime you need it at any drugstore. the thing about this, however, is when you start synthesizing this material, you find massive odors, massive smells. what we have to start looking for is not the precursors, but

signs the precursors are being manipulated to make the substance. >> thank you so much, indeed. for now, we're going to turn it back to my colleague, errol barnett who is at cnn central. >> hello, everyone. fascinate to go hear about the explosives connected to this attack and how readily available they are. we will get you back to brussels in a moment. but first, we want to bring you new details on another developing story at this hour. australia says two pieces of plane cart bre are highly likely to be wreckage from missing malaysian airlines flight 370. matt, this is yet another promising lead. there was that debris found on reunion island in madagascar. but it's also another sad confirmation for relatives of vict victims. what exactly do we know? >> that the.

the pieces of debris found here were found on mozambique last month. they were shipped for further analysis. that investigation has since been completed and we did hear from australian officials today saying they are highly sure of the fact that those two pieces of debris are from the plane. we also heard from the malaysian transport minister. he spoke to reporters not long ago. the let's listen to a few more details that he gave. >> pieces of debris belong to boeing. secondly from the paint and expense ill of these two pieces, it is similar to mass airlines and also that we concluded that it is most certain belong to -- >> so further confirmation to the families of those on board.

this is yet another step in this investigation that has been going on for so long. we did reach out to some family members here in china about -- or for their reaction to this news. one person spoke to us, john whey. his mother was on board the plane. he told us that finding the plane debris does not equal to finding our loved ones. if they can find debris as far away as africa, the authorities should reassess their searching area and hypothesis. he's not sure about this debris. but authorities say according to their models, it's highly plausible that debris from this missing airline could have drifted that far in the ocean. but still some doubt among faems family members here in china. just a difficult situation overall. >> and our hearts go out to all of them. they've waited just two years to get this far and still we don't know where the fuse laej ended up there in the southern indian ocean. matt rivers live for us in

beijing. . coming up next, we have more special coverage for you in brussels as we follow the massive manhunt for a suspect in tuesday's terror attacks. stay with us. woman: it's been a journey to get where i am. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track. and through it all, my retirement never got left behind. so today, i'm prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be. every someday needs a plan. let's talk about your old 401(k) today.

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man 1: i came as fast as i man 2: this isn't public yet. man 1: what isn't? man 2: we've been attacked. man 1: the network? man 2: shhhh. man 1: when did this happen? man 2: over the last six months. man 1: how did we miss it? man 2: we caught it, just not in time. man 1: who? how? man 2: not sure, probably off-shore, foreign, pros. man 1: what did they get? man 2: what didn't they get. man 1: i need to call mike... man 2: don't use your phone. it's not just security, it's defense. bae systems.

i'm max foster in brussels. this is cnn's special coverage of the terror attacks here. belg jump authorities are on the massive manhunt for tuesday's airport bombings. they say he left an explosive at the airport and he's on the run. he may have been a guide to make sure the others carried out the bombings. officials have been conducting raids, meanwhile, across brussels looking for other evidence. they're concerned these attacks may be part of a wider plot. now, investigators believe najim

laachraoui was one of the suspects killed at the airport. tim lister has more on that. >> this man had become the most wanted in europe. najim laachraoui. now officials say he was the second barm killed at brussels airport the day afterhe was named as wanted in connection with the paris attacks. he had been caught on surveillance video back in november. he and another man sent money to the cousin of abdelhamid abaaoud. but then he was named as sofian kaaou. an ailace he used. belgian prosecutors say

laachraoui's dna was found at an apartment in the schaerbeek distinct of brussels. and another apartment which was rented under a false name in october. investigators believe laachraoui was involved in the paris attacks. he started electro mechanical engineering at a college in brussels. he appears to have gone to syria early in 2013. that's where his skills may have been put to bomb making. >> it's not clear when laachraoui came back to europe, but he traveled through austria and hungary last year with abdeslam, the only one of the paris attackers arrested last friday. most troubling, laachraoui

managed to travel into brussels undete undetected. cnn, london. u.s. secretary of state john kerry will travel to brussels on friday. he will formally express condolences for the victims of tuesday's attacks. kerry will meet with the belgian and eu officials. mean wile, the u.s. defense secretary ash carter says europe needs to work harder at defeating isis. >> the brussels event is going to further signify to europeans is that they -- as we have been accelerating our campaign to defeat isil in syria and iraq and elsewhere, they need to accelerate their efforts and join us. >> well, carter says it's not enough to defeat isis in the

middle east, even, but europeans need to focus more on security in their own nations. and we're getting a firsthand look at the devastation inside the airport just after the bombs went off. a taxi driver shot the video as he ran inside to find his son. he later found him safe, thankfully. jaen john berman has more. but we must warn you the images are disturbing. >> reporter: the first thing you hear are the screams. presumably, the wounded crying for help. debris is everywhere, making iter hard for rescue workers to get around.

fires still burning from the blast, bodies buried under the rubble and this. a baby in the middle of the wreckage, on the floor next to his mother who appeared to be dead. the horror doesn't end here. frightened bystanders still trying to make it out of the building. [ speaking foreign language ].

>> reporter: the taxi driver who shot this video reaches the food stand where his son worked, only to find it deserted. outside the terminal, suv survivors wait for help. those who are able lend comfort to the wounded. the though many inside did not survive.

amid the wreckage and debris, a single flower, perhaps a welcome home for an arriving passengers, now buried among the shattered remains of this terror attack. john better mapp, cnn, new york. ♪ain't got time to make no apologies...♪ ♪ ♪soul radiation in the dead of night...♪ ♪love in the middle of a fire fight...♪ ♪ ♪honey gotta strike me blind... ♪somebody gotta save my soul... ♪baby penetrates my mind...

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i'm max foster in brussels. counterterrorism officials say they're very concerned about more terror attacks in europe, would you believe, than that. isis operatives have picked up potential targets. authorities have identified several of the bombers in tuesday's attacks. they say k can ahlid el bakraoui blew himself up. his brother ibrahim was suspected to be at the airport. najim laachraoui was expected to have be deceased from the airport. ibrahim el bakraoui was detained near the syrian border and deported. the man was a militant. >> translator: one of brussels attackers was caught in june

2015 and deported. we reported the deportation to belgian authorities with a deportation notice. despite our warning that this person was a foreign terrorist fighter, belgian authorities could not find a link to terrorism. >> aaron barnett spoke with the mayor of the neighborhoods where he returned. she said she wasn't advised when he came back to brussels. >> you have the local level and the federal level. there is no calibration. >> so they're not talking to you about -- >> they don't have to talk to me about their investigation. what i have to do as a mayor is to be careful about what's happened on the street. for the safety of the people. when we have a police operation,

when we have raids. but, you see, concerning those people who became terrorists, i didn't have any information about them. we didn't know that they become radicalists. >> so you didn't know they became radicalists and then when they came home, people in the community didn't tell anyone. they lived amongst them. many people in the community knew, no one said anything. that has to be a really hard thing as a mayor to know that some of these people are living in what we might call plain sight. >> yes. but -- well, i think that most of the people here, they didn't know that they became radicalists, that they were preferring attacks. i'm sure about that. but maybe. we don't have the -- enough careful about what's going on in

the streets or in some places in our district. >> let's bring in peter for his perspective on the attack situation. thanks for joining us in belg m belgium. what sooex seems shocking in the aftermath of this horrific attack is the authorities don't seem to have any awareness about what's going on in particular communities within particular parts of brussels. what's going wrong here? what's the discan he tell connect? >> well, i do believe the authorities are trying whatever they can to cope with this problem. but i do believe some of the things that may have gone wrong, it seems the authorities always like crucial parts of the

information. i do believe some of the information within those communities does not reach the belgium authorities in time. >> which is why they're pretty smart, isn't it? they manage to stay under the wire. but surely, we've got enough awareness b now for the incidents both in paris and brussels to work out how they did it, how they stayed under the wire and how to tap into the networks in future. >> yeah. it seems a crucial limit, indeed. then again, if you want to dig into the networks and you want to get some decent human intelligence on it, then you need people capable of doing that. so then you will need people, trusty people, who can speak in arab b dialects. those aren't really -- well, they're not easy to find here in

belgium. >> so the security forces in belgium don't have those speakers? >> they do have them, but not enough. i'm pretty sure if they had more resources capable of speaking arabic and capable of speaking islam and with jihadism, it would be easier for the government to get into this network and right now it seems like these guys are always two steps in front of us. so we're actually with lagging behind and trying to cope with the information we get out of the networks, but it always seems a bit too late. >> so what are you looking at at as their next step, then, in terms of strategy? because there's a great deal of

concern that now that they've crossed boarders, crossing the bulge yumm boarders, they've got from a national network to an international threat. are you seeing those networks pretty across europe because there's a concern that there will be coordinating attacks across country next? >> in my estimation, that is already happen. it is not a question of if there will be more effects, but when and where. it can happen in france, bell yumm, any other neighboring count country. >> that's probably the sad reality now, isn't it, peter? thank you very much for bringing it home. we're going to get back to errol in atlanta with more on the day's news as we try to digest

what happened here 24 hours ago. >> we will get back to max foster at the top of the hour. there is a knock on effect we're seeing take place. the attacks in brussels are triggering reactions for the people running for president here in the u.s. the politics and fear after this short break. ♪ in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives,

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the u.s. presidential candidates are responding to the situation in brussels in their own way. some of their idea webs though, on how to deal with terrorist res generating controversy, including comments from the u.s. president. here is suzanne malveaux. >> the brussels terror attacks, sending shock waves through the race for president. gop front-runner donald trump saying he will leave all options on the table when it comes to fighting isis, including the use of nuclear weapons. >> i wouldn't want to rule anything out. even if i'm going to say, i wouldn't tell you that because i

would want them to think maybe we would to that. >> and doubling down on techniques, such as waterboarding. >> the egg heads that came up with this international law should turn on their television. and i would be willing to bet if they watch that, maybe, just maybe, they'll approve waterboarding and other things. dm democratic front-runner hillary clinton had, countering that such authorities run counter to u.s. values. >> i'm proud to have been part of the u.s. administration that banned torture, after too many years in which we lost our way. if i'm president, the united states will not condone or practice torture anywhere in the world. clinton calling out ted cruz by name for proposing that law enforcement step up their policing of muslim neighborhoods. >> so when republican candidates like ted cruz call for treating american muslims like criminals

and for racially profiling predominantly muslim neighborhoods, it's wrong, it's counterproductive, it's dangerous. >> president obama echoing clinton's comments while on a visit to cuba and argentina. >> i just left a country that encaging in that neighborhood neighborhood surveillance.. which by the way the father of senator cruz escaped for america, the land of the free. the notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. >> cruz returning fire, charging that democrats are misguided in their strategy for combatting terrorist threats. >> it's an example where democrats are more concerned about political correctness than they are about keeping us safe. that's why people are so fed up. we need a commander in chief whose priority is keeping the american people safe and that's

what i'll do. >> as both democratic and republican presidents are doubling down on their arguments. republicans are painting president obama as weak, soft and stooup stupid in dealing with isis. by extension, painting his former secretary of state hillary clinton that way. while obama and clinton are in locked step portraying trump and cruz as reckless, inexperienced and out of touch. and a thinly veiled reference to trump, clinton says loose cannons tend to misfire. cnn, washington. you are watching cnn. i'm errol barnett. our special coverage of the attacks in brussels continues after this short break. in your mutual fund. we invested in your fund to help us pay for a college education for our son. we've enclosed a picture of our son

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i'm max foster reporting live for you from the belgium capital daylight in brussels is

brings concerns about future attacks across the continent. counterterrorism officials say more attacks in europe could be imminent and isis operatives may have already picked out potential targets. right now, a massive manhunt is under way for the man in white seen in the airport surveillance photo from tuesday. authorities say they're not sure who he is or how many others may be involved in planning the attacks. turkish officials say one of the airport bombers was detained in turkey last summer. they say they notified bell yumm authorities who say they couldn't link him to terrorism. he was then sent to the netherlands and eventually let go. cnn correspondent res covering all the anglings of the story from several locations around brussels. in just a moment, we'll get to atika shubert.

but we begin with cnn's bill black who is reporting on thou authorities are connecting the brussels bombers to each other and on wards to the paris attacks back in november. >> the day after the bombing, the belgium capital remains high ahert. these are the three men who carried out the auto talk on brussels airport. two suicide bombers died at the scene, one confirm as ibrahim em bakraoui. it's been confirmed the second bomber is najim laachraoui. the bomb in the airport killed at least ten people. one of the attackers left behind a third bomb, containing large amounts of unstable explosives, moments after the bomb squad

arrived. >> the last ceiling coming down. >> across down in the city, a bomb exploded on a metro track. investigators believe the brother khalid el bakraoui dead nated the device, killing many, injuring hundreds. survivors desperately fleeing through the devastation and the dust. >> i felt an explosion. the train stopped in its tracks, the lights went out, the power off. area businesses were transformed into hospitals. the first victim to be identity, adelma tapia ruiz, she had lived in belgium for six yooeb years.

she was at the airport with her husband and twin 3-year-old daughters. as families begin to mourn, hand in hand, the people of brussels remembered. lighting candles and laying flowers for those who lost their lives. phil black, cnn, brussels. >> a valuable source of somebody has the brussels identified some of the men he picked up and took to the airport. >> police say that they have recovered some 15 kilograms or almost 40 pounds of the explosive tatp as well as chemicals, screws, which, of course, are often used to mick into explosive devices to make them even more deadly and also

an isis flag inside one of the apartments in that building. now, we were able to speak to someone who says that he lived on the same floor as the alleged attackers and he says he barely saw them around. >> i've never seen them except i came across one who was skinny. i said hello. i never saw them again. i felt scared. >> the raid lasted several hours. it involved police helicopters and police snipers glancing through an open door of the helicopters and repeatedly pointing their rivals. afterwards, forensic teams worked pretty much the entire night. they recovered a lot of things from this apartment building, but they also recovered something in the garbage can outside, a laptop that appeared to contain something like the will of one of the attackers where he was apparently saying that he felt that the police was on to him and that he did not

feel comfortable with this plot quickly, that maybe they would wind up going to jail just like salah abdeslam. authorities hope some of the things that they've recovered from this apartment complex here in schaerbee can he can could help them track down some of those people and bring them to justice. >> at that tacks here in brussels truly were. sadly, so many of them are still unidentified and there are families out this wondering where on either they are. >> exactly. of the 31 people killed, only three have been identified so

far. and there are a number of wounded that have not been identified, at least four, because they're in a comas and have not been able to have any i.d. documents on them. >> so it is a struggle so identify a number of the victims. we speak to someone who said they had a medic in the hospital to help, but they were quickly overwhelmed. the red cross came in and said can we turn your hotel lobby into a triage center.. they took out all the sofas, brought in hospital beds and immediately it became a hospital clinic. extraordinary scenes of people trying to help in whatever way they can. but now in the aftermath, the difficulty is in identifying the victims. >> and in terms how how how the

people surrounded and the injured did get to hospitals in good time. >> yeah. i mean, we speak to a number of doctors and hospital staff who said fortunately they had been preparing for not an event like this, but they had actually in the particular hospital we visited had plans to convert their reception area into an emergency room, they had no idea they would be using it on from an attack like this. hospital res still coping with the influx of victims. now we're standing outside of the royal military hospital here in brussels and this is where at least 80 of the victims from the airport blasts were brought to, suffering from multiple returns and an emergency ward designed

to be used in natural disaster. many have been transferred to the burns unit, though the hospital is working with investigators to identify the dead. yan vaz was among the first mettics at the airport. . >> what was the first thing that you saw when you got to the scene? >> chaos. dust, chaos, people shouting and crying. i've never seen it before. it was a war zone. >> for 20 years, he has served as a military medic in places like afghanistan, but he has never seen anything like this. a bomb that investigators believe was packed with nails and bolts. >> i saw a lot of people with holes in their body. the people were hit by pieces that flew around. i saw children with -- with wounds, penetrating wounds so it has to be some explosive device.

things are floating around with a great high power. >> outside the hospital, soldiers stand guard. the belgium flag flies at half-staff 37 your girl friend? 25-year-old salamani is searching for his girlfriend. they have a 1-year-old son. >> what kind of a person is she? >> she's very shy. she's short and she's strong. >> she's a strong person. >> she's a strong person, yes. >> jonathan has set up a facebook page for information. he says she was studying to be a botanist and on her way to school when the bomb ripped through the train car. her last iphone location was near the metro station. >> are you worried that maybe she's been injured and may be unconscious? >> i don't think. i don't think. i don't -- i don't want to think about this. >> and hospitals across brussels, the heartbreaking

search for answers continues. >> just to show you how the dvenlth for those families is going hospital to hospital looking for any information they can get. but it's still likely to be days before they get any information at all, max. >> and so frustrate is building up, i gather, amongst families, not just people around brussels, but perhaps the authorities knew -- failed in terms of their security measures. to the extent that we knew that there was a red notice, an interpol red notice. and yet the authorities here say all the information they had was that he was linked to some petty crime or nonterrorism related crime. what do we know about that? was there a failure, in your opinion? >> well, i think it's very clear that there are now a number of

red flags that had they been followed up may have at least led them to the discovery of this wider terror network. you point out that khalid el barkoui had an interpol notice. and when you say petty mind, keep in mind the the presidenty crimes was used to should police. he was wanted to serve criminal sentence. he was reported to the netherlands and belgium authority were notified. but he was related to criminal activities, notice terror activities. having said that, keep in mind that more than hundreds and possibly up to 500 fighters have gone from belgium to syria and

iraq to fight so it. it requires many agents,lty o bass and they don't have the resources and manpower to monitor all of these people. >> so huge pressure on all the authorities involved. thank you, atika. next on cnn, we'll have a look at how the brussels attacks abruptly changed the agenda of the u.s. presidential race. say tuned for details on that. "credit karma says my credit score just went up!"

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a moment of silence and then a defiant round of applause here in brussels. a replay ceremony at the metro station, as well, the day after terrorists killed 31 people. people in belgium and france

paid tribute to the have him victims there. belgium authorities are on a massive may not manhunt still for this suspect in tuesday's airport bombinges. right now, they don't know how many others may have been involved so that the net is certainly widening. the attacks here have been a big topic in the race for the white house, as well. and we're going to get more on that now from errol who is at cnn center. >> you're right. republican front-runner donald trump can and his wife, tell. trump was asked about his views on british television and he said muslims both in europe and the u.s. are ignoring potential terrorists. >> they're protecting each other, but they're really doing very bad damage.

and they have to open up to society. when they see trouble, they have to report it. they're not reporting it. and that is a big problem. >> and trump didn't stop this. in a second part of the interview, which just aired, trump said he believes greece will leave the european union. meanwhile, ted cruz is calling for police patrols in muslim neighborhoods and blasting republicans for even questioning it. >> when i called for proactive policing directed at radical islamic terrorism, maybe de blasio held a press conference blasting me, attacking me. it's an example where democrats are more concerned about political correctness than they are about keeping us save. that is why people are so fed up. >> and what has democrat hillary clinton been saying during all

of this? as spec'd, she's criticizing that the world would be more dangerous if republicans won the white house. >> so when republican candidates like ted cruz calls for treating american muslims like criminales and for racially profiling predominantly muslim neighborhoods. it's wrong, it's counterproductive and it's dangerous. >> and cnn wanted to hear directly from muslims in the u.s. and get their reactions to the comments from senator ted cruz. gary tuchman visited one neighborhood that would be targeted by police patrols under trump's map. >> this is the only american city where the majority of residents are muslim and a majority of the city council members are, too.

it's a comfortable place to be an american muslim, and that's why ted cruise's place about patrolling the area. >> it's scary to me. >> you've all now heard ted cruz's comments. how many of you are angry with his comments? raise your hands. hands down, please. are any of you accepting, okay with it? raise your hand. nobody. the men in this mosque come from places like yemen, bangladesh and bosnia.. though many had been have been here for decades. they want those like ted cruz to know they consider themselves american. >> when you heard what ted cruz can said, what was the first thing that went through your mind? >> i felt very bad. this is america. it is opportunity.

>> it is discrimination of a group, a fight. and nobody can support this one. >> do you think the area is less safe because of all the muslims that have moved here? >> we don't have a proof to that yet. but do we have to wait for another brussels in paris to prove it? >> the attacks in brussels and we talked to anonymous limb and musl muslim. >> i want america to be safe. this is my country. >> so if a new president wants police security patrols in muslim initiates, what would the anonymous limb politic chief do? >> i think that to me is racial profiling. it's ethnic profiling.

it's something our country has been working on. i don't think that is something we should support. >> and the chief says she has no intenz of abandoning our principals. but i think fighting a particular group that happen to live in this country and have different faith is not the answer. >> the muslims we talked to today take ted cruz and donald trump for their words. they believe if either of those men are elected president of the united states, their lives are likely to change. the this is their home and this is where their police chief spoke today. u.s. president barack obama is in argentine ya where he's twletenned to defeat those

bringing terrorism into the world. >> i think it is important to recognize that this is my number one priority. i've got a lot of things on my plate. but my top priority is to defeat isil and to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that's been taking place around the world. >> now, we also heard what the u.s. president barack obama had to say about cruz's top to step up.policing in the u.s. >> as far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where muslim res present, i just left a country that engage he in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which by the way, the father of

senator cruz escaped for america. the land of the free, the notion that we would start makes absolutely no sense. it's contrary to who we are and it's not going to help us defeat isil. >> mr. obama is in argentina for the first high level talks between the two countries in 28 years. now to another story developing at this hour, investigators uncover new information linked to missing malaysian airlines flight 370. we're joined now from beijing with the latest information on all of this. matt, what was found and what does it mean? >> erol, it was last month that two pieces of debris. that debris was shipped to

australia that investigation was completed writly. and today out of -- we just received a statement that it is highly unlikely these pieces of ta bre come from that airplane. it was not long after that that we said a sound bite of the malaysian transportation. >> two pieces of of that belong to bowing. secondly, from the pain and the stencil of these two pieces, it is similar to most airlines paint and also that we connect these most certainly belong to

mh-370. >> so there is distinct progress in this investigation. that, of course, means more reaction from family members and those who were on boar that plane. we i want to show you one quote we got from wurchb family member. his mother was on board that plane. he told us finding the plane debris does not wall to typing our loved ones. if they can find debris as far away as africa, then authorities should re asseassess. authorities have said finding debris in a place as far away as mow zach beak is currently consistent with their models in terms of how far do bre can float. they struggle to grapple with

this level. 3:26 in the arch. right 2340u, what when he feep our mocks foster. >> we'll return to the airport after the short break. where a firsthand look at the damage underscores how utterly frightening that scene must have been.

welcome back to cnn special coverage of the terror attacks here in brussels. i'm max foster and this is an urgent manhunt here for an

airport suspect and other terrorist, as well. officials are concerned that tuesday is part of a bigger plot. a federal prosecutor says the man on the right here faced a suitcase bomb at the airport and left before the first explosion. he says it was the heaviest bomb this. several intelligence officials believe the isis bombmaker na m najimlaachraoui blew himself up at the airport. meanwhile, jean claude juncker wants quick approval of passengers traveling throughout europe. we're getting a first hand look, as well, at the horrifying scene inside the brussels airport. a taxi driver shot the video as he ran through the rubble looking for his son. john berman has more, but we warn you these images are distu

disturbing. >> reporter: the first thing you hear are the screams. presumably, the wounded crying for help. debris is everywhere, making it hard for rescue workers to get around. fires still burning from the blast, bodies buried under the rubble and this. a baby in the middle of the wreckage, on the floor next to his mother who appeared to be dead.

the horror doesn't end here. frightened bystanders still trying to make it out of the building. [ speaking foreign language ].

>> reporter: the taxi driver who shot this video reaches the food stand where his son worked, only to find it deserted. outside the terminal, suv survivors wait for help. those who are able lend comfort to the wounded. the though many inside did not survive. amid the wreckage and debris, a single flower, perhaps a welcome home for an arriving passengers, now buried among the shattered remains of this terror attack. john better mapp, cnn, new york. >> the attacks exposed a disturbing reality.

brussel sess now a major hub for jihadists. as we saw in november, a threat of isis has spread from the middle east to paris and beyond. now its permeating parts here in belgium. deborah reports on that. >> salahs abdelslam, caught in extensive raids across belgium and france. authorities there admitting the scope of the extremist network wag bigger and more sophisticated than ever imagined. >> it illustrates that belgium, being a central had hub for isis is also the de facto capital of the european union on the other happened. it's very worrying. >> bulelgium is a small predominantly catholic country. about 6% of the population is muslim, many from originally

mo morocco. some 500 men and women believed to have traveled to syria and iraq, many were inspired by the once terror jihadi group which can gained prominence in 2010 and was disbanded five years later. its leaders targed a vulnerable and disenfranchised community. >> with two or three men who were critical in the recruitment process in the fund-raising and in getting the channels organized to send people overseas. the belgium authorities did not take belgium seriously until it was too late. the damage had been done. >> prosecutors say hundreds in france and belgium had been arrested or detained since november's paris attacks. the most notable belgium linked terrorist include the high speed train gunmen, the paris attack

ringleader abdeslam and all three of the terrorist brors. >> they don't have enough law enforcement officers and they haven't been able to ramp up at the same rate as foreign fighter recruitment as ramped up. those fighters are well funded, well protected and intent on destroying the west. authorities have been investing heavily in counterterrorism and they're taking steps to improve intelligence. still, the community remains insulated. that means police have a long way to go to fight what is largely an invisible army. cnn, new york. >> and we're learning more about the bombs used on tuesday, as well. up next, why clues point to a

deadlier, with more possible isis explosive. we're also learning more about the victims of the brussels terror attacks, as well. next, stories of lives forever lost or changed. plus, the search for those who are still missing. ♪ we stop arthritis pain, so you don't have to stop. because you believe in go. onward. today's the day. carpe diem. tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®.

welcome back to brussels the. the bombs terrorists used here on tuesday have the global intelligence community very concerned, indeed. they're hybrids of a suicide belt, a car bomb and more forceful than ever before. brian potts has more. >> this man on the right, a suspect on the run, still

unidentified, considered one of the most dangerous men in europe. he's believed to have been a leader of the suicide bombers at the brussels airport. tasked with making sure the others carried can out their attacks. belgium investigators say the same terrorist cell masterminded the terrorist and brussels attack. and now, experts worry that the brussels bombing have revealed a disturbing hybrid capability. combining the portable of a suicide desk with a more powerful explosive in a suitcase. >> what kind of flexibility does it give them to pack something with the expositive power of a car bomb into this? >> this gives them a lot of flexibili flexibility. >> this photo shows the three men pushing suitcases on carts believed to have been the bomb. two of the men are wearing only one glove each. investigators tell cnn they think it's possible each man's glove hid a detonator. what kind of explosive did they

u use? one possible clue is what police later found in an apartment. 15 grams of tapt. 30 liters of hydrogen peroxide. >> tapt, a hydrogen based explosive that packs a nasty punch. this video shows tapt combusting from a tiny canister. >> this is one of the most sensitive explosives known to the bomb community and takes vemths to set up. >> it's so delicate, experts say, that trying to make a bomb can be deadly. but if a terrorist is successful in making one, he mass another advantage. >> it can be more dangerous because it's difficult to detect. >> bombs that are difficult to detect, easy to make, combining massive explosive power with the ability to maneuver through a crowded airport, a tactic so effective expert worry it will be repeated the. >> this will be something we

would see quite a lot in the future. the number of casualties is usually high and the effect the terrorist terrorists want to achieve, the result is also very high. >> this kind of bomb, these kind of tactics mean passengers will be screened at the entrances to airport? it's said that will create other security risks like long lines of passengers at the curb and they might be exposed to bombings or dry by shooting. what this is going to require, he says, is more law enforcement officers near the ticket counters, using dogs and even that may not prevent an attack like the one we saw in brussels. >> we've seen a development, haven't we, that based on the assumption that the same network carried out the attacks in brussels and in paris. we've seen the developments in their skills.

>> well, and in essence, in theory, this is worried about authorities have the same bombmaker. they only killed one person. and even one life lost is very is sad. so they weren't incredibly effective as bombs go. now you seem to have had an evolution in the skill set where these bombs were much more effective. they're still not as stable as you would have seen from a master bombmaker, but there seems to be an evolution in the skill set which is incredibly worrying. >> what about this other factor, that the more we learn about the suicide bombers, the brothers, at least, the more the authorities did have information that they were a danger, not the petty criminals they were initially told they were. >> they weren't wanted for terrorism, but then we now see

that there was an interpol notice out for him related to terrorism. >> a member state at incidenter poll had to be requested. how is it that that information wasn't shared with the belgiums? >> they wanted him and sent him ba back. >> you have the right to be deported anywhere in the eu. so now the dutch officials are looking into how is it that he didn't ping their radar when he was deported back to the netherlands and quite safely back under the radar. >> in terms of the wider response here in brussels, one of the sad stories coming out of this is there are still lots of people unidentity, not --

because of the sheer destruction of those bombs, but also some of the survivors who are in a coma. >> absolutely. and i think that that is kind of what underpins all this. we talk about the details of the investigation, we talk about the ongoing manhunt for the man that was identified in the still images and the surveillance foot aemg. but it is hard. all of this is about finding and providing solace and respite for the families. the families in the paris att k attacks still don't have any respite. that's what the families here are trying to come to terms with. >> thank you very much, indeed. we're going to speak to atika shubert after the break. she's been to the hospital and has been looking at incredible work and horrendous attacks which you see lying on the screen now. snow if you have allergy congestion,

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. >> we've got some news just coming in for him here at cnn. according to french and belgium

media, there was a second suspect in the attack at the metro station reportedly there is a second suspect, a man in the metro and that is according to rcsc, which is the state broadcaster here in belgium. another line from them, they've learned this morning that there is no -- to be involved in the massacre. we're obviously trying to get more information as to whether or not that person is still on the loose or not. we don't know anything about it, only the local media report. we're chags it with our team on the ground, naturally. it's been an agonizing wait for relatives of people missing and the family in the u.s. say they've been missing -- about the state of their loved ones. justin short and his wife were at the airport. justin says the u.s. state department contacted them and told them the couple was on the list of injured people. later they received a call from a social worker saying they had

been misinformed. the family still does not know if the couple survived. there's been chaos, of course, with all the information that's coming out. but many others are mourning the loved ones who were lost. 31 people were killed in the attacks, more than 200 injured. mow the victims are being remembered. >> the stories are heartbreaking. this was supposed to be an ordinary tuesday morning. people traveling, going to work, to school, but it turned out to be far from ordinary. the first fatality to be identified, adelma tapia ruiz, a per reefan who had been living in brussels for six years. she was 36 years, at the airport with her twin daughter cans on her way to new york to visit relatives for easter. suddenly a blast near the counter. her children and husband had walked away. they survived.

adelma did not. another victim was leopold hecht, a law student from belgium. he was skilled during the metro station attack. fellow students say his deg was unjust. they describe hecht as both brilliant and kind. a third victim, olivier delespesse. he died at the attack in brussels and worked for the government. he was on hesitate way to work when that fateful explosion went off. this is a story of the missing. two siblings from new york have not been heard from since the attack. sascha and alexander pinczowski were at the airport getting ready to fly home when the attack happened. several u.s. citizens are still unb accounted for. 21-year-old vott nigong was on

his way to the airport for a trip to the united states. his girlfriend and his family have not heard from him since. his girlfriend says she calls his cell phone regularly, but there is still no answer. and in terms of the injured basketball player, sebastian, was seriously wounded in the attack. he was in line at the time of the explosion and is current ly in intensive care. mason wells is 19 years old and this was the third terror attack he had experienced. in 2013, mason and his father were at the scene of the boston marathon bombings. and they were in the paris area during the november terror attacks. >> i think two is enough for a lifetime now. i am just -- dumbfounded, to be honest. >> a cnn crew was at the wells home when finally, after hours of waiting by the phone, hoping to hear their son's voice, the

phone rang and mason was on the other end. >> and tell me about your head, honey.. >> it should be fine, as well. in mason, i'm going to catch a flight over to paris. >> what was it like to finally hear his voice? >> it was amazing relief. pure joy to hear mason's voice, to know that he's alive, he's okay. >> if you're concerned about loved ones in brussels you haven't heard from, go to cnn.com/impact. cnn, atlanta. >> max foster reporting from brussels, early start is up next for viewers in the united states. for the rest of our viewers around the world, our special coverage of the terror attacks here in belgium continues after the break. . .

breaking news this morning. investigators revealing a second bomber may have been involved in the brussels subway attack. this as we learn about the terror cell and ties to the paris attacks and european intelligence failed and the suspect for the airport bomber is still on the run. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm victor blackwell. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. breaking news. word of another attacker. belgian and french media report a second person iol