[ gunfire ] >> meanwhile, a manhunt is now under way for an eighth suspect believed to be involved in friday's attack. french officials releasing this photo identifying the suspect as 26-year-old abdeslam salah. police are already stopped him near the belgium border but released him after an id check failing to make the connection in time. this as the hunt for possible accomplices going on. belgium officials announcing arrests. authorities have begun identifying the seven dead attackers. as many as three of the seven suicide bombers involved were french citizens. one man identified by fingerprint was a 29-year-old who, according to the paris prosecutor had been flagged in 2010. french troops have been deployed throughout the city.

tourist sites remain closed. hundreds of mourns gathered, fled after loud noises in the area triggered a moment of panic. joining me now were nbc news producer chapman bell. what are things like on the streets of paris right now? what is the mood? >> it's relatively quiet at this time. however you can see behind me there are still people paying their respects. the bat that clan theater is just behind me -- >> okay. chapman bell there in paris at this moment. we appear to have a little audio difficulty with him mic. we'll try to get that addressed and come back to him. he of course standing outside what has become a kind of makeshift memorial to those murdered there at the bat that clan concert venn view.

the video we showed you earlier. joining me now, seth porges. where were you on friday night? >> i was staying in an apartment. i was on vacation and the apartment i was stay in was pretty much next door to the site of the attack. i was coming down the apartment probably right when it occurred. i didn't hear any gun fire. i believe i was probably in the elevator when the guns went off. as soon as i stepped outside, the first thing i see is a man with a bloody hand, a t-shirt, a rag, towel wrapped around it. i move a couple of feet, i see police officers, guns out hunched behind vans as if they're getting ready for a shootout while dozens of onlookers snapping pictures. we are spreading rumors, there's gossip bubbling up from the crowd. we can see the guns drawn but

nobody is saying get away. nobody is saying this is dangerous, leave. and the human response is when is somebody going to tell me what the do. the instinct is this might be a safe place. >> the police officers who it's my understanding the reporting indicate that had just been happenstance in the area. >> it seems like it because there was so few when i got there. there were a couple of officers. they did not have big guns. the firefighters got there before the police officers did and they scurried around to shut down the roads. there was not another men on the scene to tell the onlookers to leave. >> and you did not see the perpetrators. >> i don't think i saw them. there's so many people. >> part of what is so clear about the strategy behind this atrocity was to create as much terror as possible, to hit places that are not considered targets that are just open area

public streets. >> absolutely. but at the same time you walk 20 feet from where this attack was, nobody had any idea what was going on. people were on their phones, laughing, drinking, having a friday night. they had no idea. two steps from there, the plaza was full of people with no idea of what had just occurred. >> onlookers looking on, somewhat scratching their heads, one man has been shot. there's not ripples of panic. people aren't fleeing the scene. they're trying to figure out what was happening? >> if anything people are being drawn to the scene because something is going on. it was like a car crash had occurred and people gravitate toward it and their first thought is take our your phone. >> i snapped the photo before i realize there had were guns involved. there's like three dozen people with their phones out just snapping photos. nobody has any idea what's occurring.

>> i talked to several people that were in the area where the initial part of the attack hits and people in a loud stadium hear the explosion and don't know what to make of it. people don't know what's going on. at what point do you understand what you're in the midst of. >> i'm talking to people who were there a little before me. they say they saw somebody shoot somebody from a car, heard five, six, ten bullets go off. is there anything on twit center so i searched in french for the area. there's almost nothing. nobody has said anything. there was nothing in english. my first thought is i need to let people know, stay away from this area. somebody told me a guy with a gun was still in the area. so i tweeted get the f away from this area if you're in paris. that's the first to my knowledge english language anything about what had occurred.

>> and this is now -- had the police at this point, are they still sort of behind that car? are you then now walking down the street or have you gotten back inside. are people being pushed inside? >> once i'm under the impression that there's a gunman, my first thought was i thought this was isolated. >> a shooting. >> a shooting. i thought if i get away from here, i'll be safe. this is a wide open area. i need to find a narrow alley way, a side street, somewhere where there's no clear line of sight. only when i on the phone line i'm hearing the live feed, that's when i hear there's a bomb, and that's when i hear this is more than i just saw. >> this dawning sense of the magnitude of what happened, it sounds like was shared by much of paris that night. again, part of the strategic goal. back with we now, nbc producer chapman.

you were saying that people had gathered there in this makeshift memorial that's right near the bat that clan concert hall to come pay their respects? >> reporter: that's right. the difference between yesterday and today could not be more different. it was like a ghost town in paris yesterday. however, today people were out in full force filling the street, this makeshift memorial here just out the bataclan theater. they were here paying their respects. they spent a day not knowing what was happening, locked in their homes. but they were out in full force. however, just in the early evening, there was a false alarm and people started running for cover. there was a big group of people gathering at the memorial that was kind of the center piece for the charlie hebdo attacks and had become a central part here for these attacks and people started running for their lives. running out of caves, then

reduced to tears. it was a false alarm, nothing happened. but it helps paint the mood here. while the people were being very resilient, they're also very fragile and remaining very alert. >> you know, chapman, there is, in the make of the "charlie hebdo" attacks, there was the remarkable march in the streets days afterwards. but mostly a show of defines by the french people, they would not be cow. and i wonder if is there discussion of such a thing right now in paris? >> reporter: well they had a memorial today at the notre dame cathedral. they're not able to protest or gather and people in paris are not meant. gathering in large groups.

and these attacks, they were more serious than the previous attacks, not just the number but the coordination. and i think people want to wait and see what happens before they start to show their resilience and their emotion in such a way they did after the "charlie hebdo" attacks. paris is a city that shut down, the basic things like the paris metro, other municipal buildings, public transportation, museums, tourist sites. do we know how long that period is going to extend? >> reporter: well, i think, you know, for the foreseeable couple of days. at least while they wait and see what the situation is with this possible extra suspect, this manhunt that's going on, they're going to be weary to open the landmarks.

i think also the people here are not really interested in going to these big public places right now. i think they're waiting to see what happens. as i said, people were on a knife edge today when they thought there was a possible attack. people are really fragile and aren't looking to go to these places as of now. >> chapman bell live from paris. thank you very much. joining me now by phone is paul ackerman. paul, chapman was just describing today that the first day that parisians were able to leave their homes really. but still a real mood of fear in the city and that's probably exacerbated by the fact that there is an active manhunt for the suspect. >> yes. what happened in the early evening today, the panic movement was pretty sad because the french people, they really need to show solidarity and

resilience. there were millions of people in the streets and now with the panic movements, we see that is not possible anymore. we will not have this positive thing coming after such a dramatic event. >> where do you see french authorities going in the next few days? there's obviously fran what hollande has said we're at war. we have news tonight of air strikes in raqqa, state of merge, talk of a french interior minister talking about closing down mosques. what is going to unfold, do you think, politically in this week? >> tomorrow is the big political day, because the congress and the representatives are going to

be in the same room with the president, which is only the second time in 50 years. and they're going to talk about the changes of this for the state of emergency. for hollande, prime minister, will have to show strength, to be tough on the loads, on the security loads. we're talking about a french attack. this is not in the dna of the west wing government. it's going to be a really particular week for politics in france coming tomorrow. >> all right. paul ackerman, thank you for your time tonight. really appreciate it. >> thank you. the latest on reports of france's air strikes against the isis held city of raqqa in syria. stay tuned.

friday's deadly attack in paris came day after a bombing in beirut that kilds dozens and both continued to sig the beginning of a new era for isis. it came in the midst of a western aided campaign to fight isis on the bat field, isis having lost several key areas in that fighting just prior to that wave of attacks. those efforts have now been amped up with france conducting air strike tons isis held city of raqqa this evening. joining me now, nbc foreign correspondent. amen, i'm curious to hear the reaction of what happened in paris from the perspective of those in bay rue who just witnessed an attack in the southern suburbs of beirut.

>> reporter: well, there was been a tremendous yous pouring of sympathy. there's no doubt about it. there's a close relationship between lebanon and france. they really viewed as a double attack, one on lebanese citizens here and then after what they saw take place in france. there has also been some interesting commentary in lebanese media about some of the outpouring of sympathy that has been focused at france. there's no doubt about what has happened in france has been tragic. but they're also saying that some of the outpouring of support was not shown to the lebanese people following their deadly attack. and they're saying that terrorism is the same whether it's happening in paris or whether it is happening in beirut. you speak to ordinary lebanese, we did a lot of that today, and they talked about some of the

characteristics that have been marked by the paris terrorist attacks, including facebook turning on this feature about safety check in and not everybody changing their picturing to have the lebanese flag. and a point that was constantly made is if the international community is suffering from terrorism then they should react to terrorism with the same rigor that we've seen not only in france but also in lebanon and elsewhere in the region. >> we don't know yet definitively whether the bomb that appears to be -- reporting indicates a bomb was what brought down the russian airliner over the sinai peninsula. if that turns out to be isis, they've claimed credit for the bombing in beirut and the massacre in france. that would be isis striking russia, essentially hezbollah

and its allies and for instance and the eu within the sfan of a week. what conclusions can be drawn about what is happening with isis at this point? >> well, you can definitely conclude that isis is more fing into a global terrorist organization, that it has the ability to actually inspire attacks as we've seen in the past and what has been characterized as lone wolf attacks. but these attacks show a much more kind of intimate control and command, if you will by isis. the fact there are a lot of questions about how a an explosive device could have been put on a plane, if it turns out to be that. but in lebanon, this was a multiple suicide bombing attack. these individuals has suicide vests and rifles. it seems the degree of sophistication of the attacks are a little bit, getting stronger. and it also shows that isis has

the ability to develop and carry out on its promise. isis has been clear about this. they said if you come and attack us inside syria and iraq, we will come to your back yard and attack you there. when you look at the three targets, hezbollah in beirut, russian airline and in paris, these are three countries, all involved in the war against isis on the ground in syria and isis is delivering on its promise to take the fight to their back yards. it would show they have an outreach and the able to deliver on what it says it's going to do. >> isis has had some real battlefield defeats just in the past month. they just lost mt. sinjar which was the area held by the kurds and the yaz does.

>> yeah. and isis has been very clear about this in the past. if you take a look at their statements and if you take a look at their propaganda material that has come out. and they've also demonstrated over the course of these past, a certain type of resilience on the battlefield. they've lost senior members of the organization to u.s. drone strikes, lost key members of their ability to finance, they've lost territory in some areas of iraq after they were push in in and out of the heartland of iraq. so despite some of these battlefield losses, they've shown an ability to regenerate new leadership and at the same time shift away from areas that they've lost to take new areas. this is a major set back that

you were talking about, losing sinjar mountain a few days ago. the peshmerga is an extremely important advance for those fighting against isis. whether or not that changes the dynamic in the ongoing battle certainly remains to be seen. but there's in doubt even the course of the last 15 months that isis has had a strong hold, this has been the main concern of the western intelligence agencies. you've had thousands travel to join the fight, they've gotten battlefield experience, learned how to make explosives, learn how to fight. what is going to happen to these folks if in fact isis begin to break up, to start -- and these fighters melt away as we've seen in the past. >> all right. thanks for joining us. that was really great. still ahead, what we've learned so far about the paris attackers, some interesting details that's just ahead. 0

all right. tonight we're learning more about the identities of the paris attackers. as many as three of them were french. a french source confirming to nbc news the syrian passport was

on the body of one of the attackers. the passport was used to travel through greece last month. the person that held this document just one of thousands of refugees and migrants that arrive on the greek island every day. we do not know yet if that passport was real. the revelation that one of the attackers may have travelled to europe amongst refugees and migrants fleeing the war zone is already creating further backlash. european officials are coming under increased pressure to rethink the current policy. earlier today the top eu officials say that the policy does not need to be overhauled. joining me now, lauren hayne, and laura, obviously the refugee issue has been a huge political

issue across the continent. my understanding is france hasn't seen a huge influx of refugees compared to germany and some country's further east in eastern europe. >> yes, i know. because know they don't want to stay. it's one of the business surprise of the french journalists. but yes because most of the migrants want to go to england. in the past month there were multiple fights between the french police and the migrants who used it as an escape city to go to england and who really wanted to jump in the train and it created multiple problems. it's a very sensitive issue for this moment and for the french president, francois hollande,

going to be a political nightmare. candidates are talking about building walls against immigrants. in france at this moment, the far right is going to use those type of arguments. they're going the say we don't want the migrants. we have to close the borders. it's going to be extremely difficult. then you have a legal problem with what we call in france fishest. it has been put in place by the french authorities to see what other people are radicalized. and it's part of the problem with the migrants. the migrants don't have any documents. those who have been fully

radicalized have those type of papers. and the whole system has to be rethink to make sure for the french people that the migrants and people who come to france and want to find a job are the people trying to be fully radicalized are really watched. nobody knows how to do that. it's a very sensitive issue at this moment with lxs coming up in three week in france. and tomorrow francois hollande wants to avoid that. that's part of the reason he's asking the french congress to be united. >> lauren, we have so far, we have the one word of one of the attackers of the syrian passport. but the one that's been identified is a french citizen

born and raised 80 kilometers from paris, we understand. there's some reporting indicating that some of the men involved in this were belgium citizens. that brings up a deeper issue. before we get to the question of french born citizens being radicalized, there is the point of the borderless area of the 36 countries in the schengen area. i imagine that the authorities have to be pretty lived this morning as they find out that much of the plot is appearing may have been coordinated in neighboring belgium and we know after "charlie hebdo" there were raids on brussels as well. >> it's not a surprise. there were americans that were involved and also the radicalization of some young people in belgium. i should point out that a few weeks ago, as you may remember, there was a man who tried to do a terrible attack. the trap was coming to belgium

to paris and inside the train you have the three american heroes who avoided a massacre. belgium is a very key element in what's happening at this moment in europe regarding the intelligence service. belgium is really an easy place for people to build up cells and then from belgium, to go to some neighboring countries. the french police, the french intelligence watched very carefully some part of brussel, there was the attack a few years ago from a french citizen who went to the jewish museum to kill jews. belgium is a very sensitive place for people who are

fighting extremists. >> thank you very much for you commentary. appreciate it. coming up, we'll have the latest on the investigation into the terrorist attacks in paris. don't go anywhere.

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last night the second democratic debate took place in the shadow of the paris attack. nbc was reworked its plans to focus on the issue. bernie sanders said it was unfair to turn the evening into a foreign policy debate on the day of the debate. last night's debate was the first for either party not to take place on a weeknight and the saturday night got the lowest ratings of any debate this year. thanks to the reworked format the first half-hour focused on

how best to combat the terrorism. >> i think that we have to look at isis as the leading threat of an international terror network. it cannot be contained. it must be defeated. but it cannot be an american fight. and i think what the president has consist tenially said, which i agree with, is that we will support those who take the fight to isis. >> i would disagree with secretary clinton respectfully. this is america's fight. it cannot shoal solely be america's fight. >> let me have one area of disagreement with the secretary. she said something about the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. in fact i would argue that the disastrous invasion of iraq, something i strongly opposed has unravelled the region completely

and led to the rise of al qaeda and to isis. >> joining me now, michelle goldberg. a columnist for slate. what did you think of the first half-hour? >> it seemed they were not all not at their best. maybe bernie sanders because he wasn't talking about the issues in his wheel house and probably came off a little more hawkish than some of his supporters might suspect he is. >> there's a variety that he had supported. >> i don't think he's particularly hawkish by i don't think he's -- he's not a passivist. hillary clinton, this should have -- it seems actually tawdry to say this should have worked to her advantage. but she is on fairly firm ground with her foreign policy experience and he's on the record as differing with the obama administration's syria policy.

so she could have presumably put a little distance between them and her when there were questions about doesn't this prove that obama's policy isn't sufficient. i don't know that that's the correct policy thing to do but i was surprised that he didn't do it politically. >> it was interesting to me that she said that line about it cannot be contained, it has to be defeated. the white house talked about containing isis a day or two earlier. this seemed to be a fairly specific attempt to distance herself from the white house. >> she could have come out -- >> much stronger. >> right. >> she's been hit from the left. for wanting to go in stronger on syria earlier and she could have claimed this as a partial indication of her instincts in the region. that would have been the wrong thing to do in terms of policy but it would have committed her administration to a much greater role in ear ya. but politically it was a little bit hard i'm guessing for most observers to figure out where the daylight is between the three candidates.

they all sort of had answers -- they were differing around the margins. but they basically kind of know that the status quo is untenable and know that any american intervention is unlikely to make things better. and it's an impossible situation. you know, the republicans are lucky in that their policy positions don't have to be tethered to reality. >> i have to say in both cases i think anytime this issue comes up in any debate, things get very muddled very quickly because at its base it's deeply complicated and difficult. >> thank you. we are continuing to follow the latest on the aftermath of the paris attacks. just hours ago french officials said they launched an attack on isis. french interior minister said he will shut down mosques in france with hayes is preached. joining me now is chief correspondent for nbc news. that quote is getting a lot of play.

there are a lot of folks in france across the political spectrum and the many groups in france looking with nervous eyes towards what is going to happen come sunrise tomorrow. >> reporter: yes. absolutely, chris. this is a city in shock, a city on edge. there was a point not far from here when this afternoon firecrackers went off but people thought they were gun shots. and hundreds of people fled in absolute terror, falling to the ground, crashing into cafes and restaurants. it was a falls alarm but it shows how much people here are braced if are another attack. this has been the first day of three days of mourning here in paris. the bells of the notre dame cathedral tolled today for 129 victims. you can see behind me one of the

numerous makeshift shrines. i honestly don't think i've seen so many people cry at one place where there have been killing before. i was a sea of tears. we're about 100 yards from the concert hall from 89 of those victims died. that was most in a sense of the massacre victims. it's about 100 yards down there. and earlier today video emerged from that site of the horror that emerged in that concert hall. take a moment. >> this was the moment the deadliest massacre began, the band playing to a sellout crowd when suddenly gun fire. [ gunfire ] a guitarist rushes off stage. most for trapped. >> explosions, screams. >> by the time of the gun battle when french police stormed the hall, seen here in "time"

magazine video, three terrorists had killed 89 people. the aftermath is shocking. the horror is clear. this man police suspect is an accomplice of the killers and he's on the run. 26 and from belgium, police say he's dangerous, do not approach. after the massacres police found a car abandoned with three guns and empty magazines inside. and they're looking for a bomb maker, the terrorists had identical suicide vests with nails inside. intelligence officials say there are strong links between the killers and isis members in iraq and syria. paris this morning was a haunted place. >> it's hell. it's not even a war. it's hell. it's nightmare. >> among the dead, a california student. >> she wanted to have a career and a family.

>> the faces of some of the 129 dead stare out at the places where they died. many here can't put their grief into words. >> one of my best friends died here. >> the site of a massacre has become a shrine of tears but also of a fierce determination here, that the killers who did this will not win. almost 100 victims are still critically ill. paris is in shock, so on edge that the noise of firecrackers sent hundreds fleeing in terror. police with guns drawn. the bells tolled for the victims. paris tonight in mourning. and just a few hours ago, chris, france bombed the isis strong hold of raqqa syria, 12 air

crafts hitting. france vowed that it would respond to attacks here which it called an act of war. this does look like revenge. >> one thing i wonder. a little confusing to me. the gentleman that is on the run, the suspect, it is unclear whether french authorities are saying he was one of the perpetrators of the eight, they've encountered seven and one is missing and it's eight or whether all eight as initially reported perished in the attack and this is one they suspect as being an accomplice. can you shed any light on that? >> french police are only telling us what they absolutely know. what we do know is that isis said when they claimed these attacks they said that eight of

their fighters had carried out the attacks. the number of dead, mostly blown up with their own suicide vest the french authorities put at seven. so the presumption was there was a missing eighth attacker. police about 24 hours later found a car on the edge of the city, and in it were three kalashnikov weapons. and empty magazines. the person who drove that car was either number eight, the suspected eighth attacker or there are more accomplices. and chris, the other thing that french authorities are not saying is that they do suspect privately that there may also be a bomb maker involved in this. the suicide vests were quite sophisticated. they were identical for a start, seven of them. they were also packed with nails, shrapnel, screws as well as the explosive. now that takes some building as it were.

it's not something that an amateur does and these vests were identical. so french authorities are looking for an explosives expert, someone who might be beyond the seven or eight that we know about. and in addition, chris, there have been arrests in belgium, five people arrested there. and it is quite clear that at least half of this cell was based in brussels in a suburb which is well known to have islamic links. this isn't just about france. it's a cross border investigation and these killers clearly have links with iraq, syria and with belgium. >> thank you very much. up next, a look at how 2016 campaigns are responding to friday's attacks in paris.

this afternoon last gop presidential nominee called on

president obama to wage war on the islamic state. many of the gop candidates for president tied the terror take to immigration, raised the prospect that agents of isil slip into the united states already or could do so if the administration continues with plans to allow syrian refugees. this morning jeb bush and marco rubio said what they would do. >> this is viewed as law enforcement exercise by the obama administration. we should declare war. to be able to take out isis. we have the capabilities of doing this. declare a no fly zone over syria. directly arm the forces in iraq. reengage with the sunni tribal leaders. be able to create safe zones in syria.

garner the support of our european allies and the traditional arab states. >> there will have to be a significant american engagement. that's why we should work with our allies. i also believe we need to increase the number of special operators. we'll have to conduct an increased number of special operations attacks targeting isis leadership and revealing they are not invincible. >> ben, we were just talking earlier in the week about the last republican debate, particularly the foreign policy section and note that the two people leading the field, ben carson and donald trump have zero experience in field but appear to be at a loss in terms of the basic command. i wonder if you think the aftermaths of what happened on friday will have a real effect in how republican primary voters are thinking.

>> i think it will have a real effect. i think going back to what michelle goldberg was saying earlier, she talked about the fact these outsider republican candidates don't have to be reality based in their current conversations about things. i think it's this administration that's hampering hillary clinton in her conversations off these issues. she has to read off a bunch of the white house talking points and this attitude that is at odds with not just what the people think about the current conflict but at odds with what they experienced with they had lines but going back quite a long time. when you been in the white house as long as president obama has, i think that you have a view that actually gets to be at odds with what's going on around the world. we saw it in 2006 with george w. bush. i think that's going to prove a real problem for her when it comes to a general election not just affect the current republican fray in terms of

their conversation. >> i think there's two issues. one is i don't understand why she has to read off white house talking points. it's already reported and on the record she was urging earlier intervention in syria, more support for the rebel fighters earlier in that fight. it seems she's up an opportunity to distinguish herself. >> i think that she does have an opportunity and i think that's going to be difficult for her to navigate. she can only criticize this president so much. she still needs the coalition in order to win. it's situation that will be ha real challenge for any party that's been in power as long as the democratic power has. the foreign policy record that happens under your watch is one that accrues to that part. in the long term this could be a serious political issue. >> first of all, it's going to be interesting to see how this affects voters front of mindness

with respect to these issues which it hasn't been front of mind in either of the primaries. second of all, the strongest critiques are on things that are conceptional. when you get into the nitty gritty. lindsey graham is the only person saying send troops and even though fall short of what ground force would be needed to defeat those 25,000 isis fighters. are we going to start to see more expressions of willingness for american troop deployment? >> i think you are going to see that. i think the more immediate affect will be on the conversation about migrants. you saw that issue come up in the debate the other night again. hillary clinton and the white house this morning, again, we're saying they would not be reconsidering that approach in a dramatic way. marco rubio has shifted on the issue. ted cruz has shifted to saying

this ought to be reconsidered. there is this elite piety that says we should have the migrants brought in. no one should suggest this is a problem and they could potentially include people who want to accomplish dangerous and bad things when it comes to attacking not just nations in europe but america as well. i think that's a conversation that the base will force on the republican party in a very aggressive way. >> as of now there's a tremendously strenuous vetting process not that it's perfect but very far cry than ending up in paris. thank you very much. >> good to be with you. we'll be back with more coverage. so you don't have to stop. 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®.

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