there's another one hovering above as well. >> okay, fred pleitgen, thank you so much. ickly want to follow up on one of fred's points. mitch, to you, about the nails and the chemicals. with that, and, again, i don't know, i'm not there, but would it be in cases you've worked on almost like a booby trap for people -- for fear of law enforcement because i know raids are happening in brussels, or would it be perhaps part of a future bomb? >> it can be -- frankly it can be either one because these are primary components we're seeing in self-made ieds that people are using for suicide bombers but it could also be, you know, a booby trap. i think the big issue that belgium has to confront is they have about 500 people out of a country, total population, 11 million, who went overseas and got experience in syria and iraq. think about the united states. 300 million people. we have maybe 250 at most. that's the high end. so belgium has the highest per capita number of isis-linked foreign fighters. and when they come back to brussels, you know, as you heard from karen, there is pr

we have fred pleitgen with the latest from brussels. good morning, fred. >> reporter: good morning, christine. one of the things that is a probl problem, if you go back four months ago to paris attacks, the cell there was limited in scale. there were more people involved than they thought. of course, they are investigating the brussels attacks, they are looking into that. they identified two potential people unaccounted for. on the pictures from the airport. the man in the light clothing and now they say as far as the metro attack is concerned, they may have identified someone else. someone appeared to be holding a large bag. it is unclear if that person was killed in the bombing or if that person is at large. there are more raids in the brussels area. we did see a few raids yesterday when they went to one apartment and raided that place. they are also trying to gather more information from the places they already found like the one i'm at right here. this is an apartment block in the schaerbeek district. it is the bombmaking lab for the

fred pleitgen is live for us right now outside an apartment they were renting. fred? >> absolutely. one thing that's stunning to many people following this case, first of all you always seem to come back to the same sort of group of suspects and also that the police apparently had these two men who now conducted these suicide attacks at the airport in brussels cornered at one point in time. it was last tuesday that police went to check out the apartment or the building that you see behind me, going to an apartment in there. they believed that apartment was empty. that's the reason why they didn't go in there with heavy fire power or with a whole lot of police officers. instead of finding the empty apartment, they were met by fun fire. people opening fire with ak-47s, they were able to take out one of the people who then turned out to be one of the main plotters of the paris attack, someone who had been in contact with the paris attackers as they were conducting those attacks on november 13th. two people got away, at least. it is now believed they could be potentially the bakraoui br

our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is in brussels for us tonight. fred, what's the latest where you are? >> reporter: hi, wolf. well this is the raid where as pamela just said there was apparently a nail bomb discov discovered, c an isis flag. it was a raid going on for a very long time throughout the ternooourussels time. that is actually still going on right now. on the pne authorities just a minutes a and said this is still very much an operation that is going on. there was a lot of movement a couple of hours ago when a police chopper was hovering over the area here and had an open door and a sniper taking aim at something out of that chopper. also a search light was on in that helicopter as well. since that chopper has left. however, there's a lot of movement on the ground. we've seen a lot of police vehicles going in and out of that area. the most recent thing that we've seen was a decontamination vehicle. one of the things that was found was chemicals inside, possibly that was the reason why that decontamination unit was on the scene here, but,

cnn's fred pleitgen joins us. it is alarming. still unidentified terrorists on the run. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. it's one of the things the belgian authorities are worrying. they say potentially people who are dangerous and could plot further attacks. when the police caught salah abdeslam on friday, they said they believed he was part of the new network forming and planning attacks. three days later, we had attacks here in brussels at the airport and metro station as well. at this point in time, the belgian authorities believe there could be two people involved in the attacks on the run. one of them from the airport attack. the man in the light colored clothes caught on camera and the second person inside the metro station holding that large bag. it is unclear if the person was killed in the blast or if the person survived. there are potentially other helpers who could be out there. the bombs were made in the building behind me. in the schaerbeek district. the tatp explosive that you can make from bleach and homemade things

our senior international correspondent clarissa ward and our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen. fred, you're over at the apartment where the suicide bombers left and they found explosives. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, it really appears the apartment here in the brussels district of schaerbeek was the main hub in the bombs used in the brussels airplane and the metro station as well. the authorities after a massive raid carried on throughout the better part of the night which we actually watched unfold on cnn the entire time. they have discovered in that apartment at least 15 kilos, almost 40 pounds of tapt. remember, this was on top of what they put in the airport and metro station. they discovered cannon bombs and nails and screws and bolts that are mixed to make them even more deadly. they discovered an isis flag. and what's also more important, they discovered a laptop. and that laptop was in a garbage can outside of an apartment complex, and they say in that computer was a last will that he felt the authorities were on to him and that he felt he had to act

let's get right to cnn international correspondent fred pleitgen. he's in brussels. ed from the hospital. we know in the next coming mijtss he's going to be brought in front of the judge and the judge will have to decider whether or not he'll remain in detention. of course, he will remain in detention. afterwards he's going to be brought to a detention facility in the city of brugge which isn't very far away from brussel as this investigation, of course, goes on. you're absolutely right. they have said they believe it's a major blow to isis, but they also said that they believe their battle against terrorism is something that's still ongoing and something they really need to focus on. one of the things they hope to get from abdeslam is how the paris attacks happened, where the explosives came from. they also want to find out and this is probably equally as important, who else was involved, how big is the web. one of the things the friends s have said it was a surprise to them how many more people had been involved. if you take a look at the raid that took place on fri

let's get over to senior international correspondent fred pleitgen live from the most recent raid location in brussels. fred, what's happening there right now? >> reporter: well, what happened here, kate, overnight is that there was a major raid that went on by the authorities here. it involved several police helicopters. it involved a lot of police operatives as well. and what they uncovered here is exactly what clarissa was talking about. they uncovered 15 kilograms, about 30 pounds of tatp explosive, which is very powerful stuff. they also uncovered screws and an isis flag here. it was interesting because we were here throughout almost the entire night as this operation was going on. and you could see the police officers go in and out and explosive ordinance disposal crews going into this place and now we know why. it's because they had all of these explosives still here on hand. it was interesting what clarissa was saying about that laptop that was found which allegedly had what they call the will, if you will, of one of the suicide bombers. if we zoom into the garbage can, that's exac

cnn senior correspondent fred pleitgen is in brussels. >> reporter: he says authorities have trying toas much information as possible from abdeslam. the whole questioning process is still in the early stages. you heard the lawyer there say he was cooperating with belgian authorities. from what we gather, that means that this morning, after he was taken, he was shot in the leg during a raid that took place. he was brought to the hospital, discharged from the hospital because his wound was not very severe. he's still tied to a hospital bed. his condition is such that he needs to lay down. he's been questioned by belgian authorities earlier today. he was also brought in front of a judge who has to decide whether he will remain in custody. later today there is going to be a second round of questioning under a you weeuropean arrest w. this man was the most sought-after european until his arrest last night. victor, there's a whole other implication, there could be other people who helped him, other backers who may be involved who may try to flee europe. european authorities are being told to

that is where our fred pleitgen is joining us now. explain where you are.apartment where the forensic teams in the last hour were still working. is that still going on? >> reporter: yeah, that is still going on. in fact, i think what we can do, we're going to pan up to the building where this is going on. in fact, the forensic work, anderson, appears to have expanded somewhat. last time we were speaking it was going on in the top floor of the building. it's now also going on on the third floor. we saw some police officers go through both the floors of that building. we saw, again, camera flashes as though they were photographing something. we saw also police officers going through there with spotlights. what i also saw in the past hour or so, a lot of police officers coming out of that building carrying a lot of paper bags with anything that could be some sort of evidence and loading it onto vehicles like, for instance, the one that you see right here. there's also time and again forensic officers going to those vehicles and, again, combing through that are

fred pleitgen live in belgium. nic robertson live in france. move on to russia and the ongoing investigation into the fiery crash of fly dubai flight 981. mourners have been leaving flowers at the airport where the boeing 737 went down on saturday. the plane killing 62 people on board. investigators combing through the charred debris. authorities say weather, human error, and technical issues are all being considered as possible factors for this fiery crash. we go live now abu dhabi, cnn's john jensen following the investigation. good to have you. so terrorism has been ruled out. but it seems that there's some evidence that weather may have played a factor here. >> reporter: that's right, george. weather seems to be the main factor and main focus of the investigation at the moment. we know at the time of the crash and the two hours the plane circled over the airport that visibility was very low, there was a mixture of snow and rain in the air. the wind was a major factor, as well. we understand that the gusts were upwards of 90 kilometers per h

frederik pleitgen is on the scene. what can you tell us, fred? >> reporter: hi, carol.y right at the police line. the police have been pushing us back over the past couple of minutes. there are people sort of leaving this area. the latest we are getting, the police are evacuating the area around this square, which is i would say about 200 yards in that direction. if we look down there, there is a police truck of some sort that seems to be bringing specialized equipment to the area. now you can see there's some police also moving back there. we've also heard there was gunfire heard here. apparently there was an explosion that was heard as well. the police are pushing us back again. telmperaturlling us to move on pavement. a lot of police vehicles are coming through as well. clearly a very large operation going on. one that may have had some gunfire involved as well. they've really, really increased the security perimeter. they keep widening it out, and keep pushing us back to make sure they have enough room to operate. clearly, a very big operation that's going on. again

that's where we find our cnn senior correspondent fred pleitgen. he is outside the bombers's apartment. tell us the clues that were in there, fred. >> reporter: there were weapons found inside here. the apartment that i'm at right now, alisyn, was raided by the police last tuesday. in this apartment, what they thought they would find was an empty apartment. but they found three people inside who immediately opened fire at them. when they came here, they weren't expecting anybody to be here. that's why they didn't tack a s.w.a.t. team. two of the people who were inside got away. it is now believed that the two people who were in the apartment may be the brothers who conducted the attack at the airport. police were close to cornering these two people. they had them cornered. however, they managed to get away. what happened after the attack at the airport, the taxi driver called the police and said the three people you're showing on the tv, they are the three people you have on tv. i have them. they refused to let me carry the suitcases. when he picked

we start with correspondent frederik pleitgen live for us in brussels. fred, i want to start with the six arrests. are these according to investigators directly connected to the attacks on the metro and airport part of the larger network? >> reporter: absolutely. victor, they are saying the raids that were made are all in connection with the plots at the airport and plot at the metro as well. we just gotten word i would say ten minutes ago of an early morning raid that took place in brussels in the for rerest district. we're trying to gather how many were arrested. we will update you when we get additional information. the six arrests happened at three raids that took place in brussels. one right where i am in the schaerbeck area. it was a big raid. a lot of streets cordoned off. it is the same area where a couple of blocks down was the apartment where the plotters of the airport bombings built bombs and took a taxi from there to get to the airport. another raid in the jette area in brussels where two people were arrested there. again, unclear whether these p

fred pleitgen is live in schaerbeek where one of those raids took place. what you have seen, fred. >> yeah. it was a massive raid that took place in the schaerbeek district with a lot of police officers and a very wide police cordon. after the raid took place, you had a lot of police officers in that hazmat gear, forensic suits, going through the apartment searching to see whether there could be any clues there. from what we have heard, no one was detained. but six people were detained in the overnight raids. the most recent information was that there was another raid that took place in the forrest district, which is also not far from where i am right now. several people were taken into detention. it is unclear whether or not they were taken into detention. that was the site of another terrorist safe house that was raided last tuesday. they had a firefight with several people inside the house. two people managed to escape. some believe those could be the bakraoui brothers, who conducted the attacks at the airport and metro as well. by and large, when you'r

. >> let's go live to our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen in brussels this hour.h us. he's been on the run for four months. there are fears he managed to get away, but they found him. how important was this get for investigators? >> reporter: well, it certainly was important. it was important for several reasons, george. on the one hand, of course, this was the most wanted fugitive in all of europe ever since the paris attacks happened on november 13th. so, this was definitely something that european law enforcement, quite frankly, needed. there was a lot of criticism of the french authorities, of the belgian authorities along the way that said, why isn't it possible to apprehend this man? and then you recall, there was a raid earlier this week, on tuesday, when the police raided a building. they had a fire fight with three people. two of them managed to escape. one person was shot dead. it later came out that abdeslam had been in that building, both dna as well as fingerprints were found in that building. a lot of people were asking, you're after this man. it app

our senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen is joining us in brussels. fred, they raided the homes of the suicide bombers, both belgian nationals. what's the latest on the manhunt for the two unnamed suspects in the attacks? >> reporter: well, that manhunt is ongoing, wolf. as you said, the police did indeed raid homes of both the bakraoui brothers. they told us today they raided those homes yesterday. there was one raid where we were actually on hand, and watched that happen. and a bunch of police officers went into that house, and called forensic teams in and got a lot of things out of an apartment. seemed to us as though it was paper bags with what could have been evidence. now, what the police says today is that the searches in those houses proved to be what they say inconclusive. so it's not exactly clear what that means, what exactly they found there. whether or not that would give them any hints as to who else might be out there. meanwhile, the search does continue for those two other people. both of them appear to have been spotted on cctv cameras

fred pleitgen and atika shubert in brussels. fred, you're in a suburb of brussels. raids in just the past hour. 's going on? >> there's been a big raid going on here, anderson. when we got however over an hour ago there was police activity near the cordon behind me. there was a police chopper that showed up and it hovered above the area for i would say at least half an hour and there was definitely someone with a rifle who was in the open door of that helicopter, repeatedly pointing at some sort of area. also had a search light on. we've also seen a lot of police vehicles going into the cordon, a lot going out. the military has been around as well. the latest we have from the authorities, that is apparently they have recovered some chemicals, some explosives, some nails, as well as isis flag. so, clearly the raid here has netted something. it's unclear whether anybody has been taken into custody. but also, the entire area inside the cordon has been emptied of people. they've taken all civilians inside into buses, all out, waiting here for hours, as they conduct thes

let's get right to fred pleitgen in brussels. point what more do we know about the second attacker at the metro station? >> reporter: certainly we know that several people in that metro station appear to have seen this person. it's interesting because the belgian authorities have since gotten that sketch together which seems to show at least what this man sort of looked like. the information that we've been getting is that he was apparently in that metro station before the explosion went off. he was seen carrying something like a backpack or something like a large bag. there was at least one person who later said that he seemed to have left that metro station without the bag afterwards. the belgian authorities say they're looking for this man. however, they still say they're not sure whether or not he may not have been killed in the attack. at this point in time that's unclear. of course this is on top of the men that they're still searching who they have on that surveillance footage inside the airport, the one man who was with t

. >> our fred pleitgen was on the fringe of the raids. what have you seen? >> it was major operation going on here, poppy. a lot of plolice officers. a bomb squad on the scene the entire time. we were talking to eyewitnesses as this was going on. they said there was an individual on the platform of the tram behind me. that person was carrying a rifle. the police came, and shot the person in way that did not kill him. he was merely wounded. after that, the bomb squad moved in. they had a robot. that robot investigated to see if there was anything in the backpack that the man was carrying. the raid, i would say took several hours. it happened in the schaerbeek area. there have been a lot of raids here in the last few days. and the main bomb maiking facility was in this area. this area had been cordoned off by police. the cops are slowly making their way out of the area. this has repoepd this was a high-powered, very fast-moving operation. the belgian police, we can see they're steps up their operations. to try to find any additional people that might be behind

news, an urgent manhunt now under way as we look at the apartment there in the neighborhood where fred pleitgen was just reporting from. forensic teams, teams apparently at work. and as i said, this urgent manhu manhunt under way at this hour in brussels and beyond for one person and very likely more. we know the one person in the photograph at the airport, the man there you see in the white jacket there, the two men on the left believed to have died detonating d detonating devices at the airport this northermorning. that man is believed to have survived, left the airport. his identity, his whereabouts at this point unknown at least to us. his identity, his whereabouts are unknown to authorities. it's very likely, say experts, there's a larger network involved here. just as they did in paris, u.s. intelligence officials are cooperating with the brussels investigation. they're also ramping up their vigilance in the united states. joining me now is cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank here, also cnn national security analyst, juliet kaayem. and former chair of the house intelligence committee,

fred pleitgen is with us. we're looking at some new video coming in.ou can't see it but you can talk to us about the wounded, the man wounded and taken into custody. what are you seeing and hearing? >> reporter: well, it meshes with what eyewitnesss told us as well. we were outside the police cordon as the raid was going on. they said there was a man who apparently was armed and on a tram station which is where we are right now, and that he apparently was threatening. it was then that police was alerted to his presence there. they then shot him, and the witnesses told us initially that he had been shot but hp shot in a way that he was not killed. they believed it was the leg or something, and certainly the video does seem to corroborate with the people were saying. it also was the case that there were bomb disposal squads called. it appeared as though a bomb robot was also used during all this. we could see the man appeared to have a backpack on him, and the bomb robot seemed to check out the backpack. the massive police operation which did involve a l

cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is live from mollenbeck, belgium.ting extradition. having a little problem with the shot there. how will that help his case, or will that have some influence here? >> reporter: well, it's not clear whether or not it will help his case. i mean, one of the things that he's truly trying to or not it will help his case. one thing he's trying to do is trying to delay the extradition. >> yeah that was my hope we wouldn't have that problem. i saw a couple flashes there. >> we'll try to get back to fred in a moment. let's go to tom fuentes. >> tom is with us. thank you so much. i'm wondering if he is talking abdeslam which may be a surprise to a lot of people. but if he's talking, how to interrogators continue to get him to open up to them and give them the information they are really looking for? >> well christi often this these kind of cases the individual wills talk because of their extreme huge e goes and narcissism. they want to be able to take credit for how great they were, the leadership skills t organizational skills

tim lister and fred pleitgen are following that part of the story.reporter: well, it's set to take place in about an hour and 45 minutes here in brussels. what the ministers are going to discuss is obviously ways to make europe safer but most of the measures that they're going to be discussing are things that were already set in motion but that haven't been put into legislation yet, if you will. one of them is better sharing of information of air passengers. what they call a european wide air passenger list. if you believe it or not, something like that doesn't exist just yet. it's something they have said they wanted to do and has been agreed upon. it hasn't been set in motion yet. it's about general intelligence sharing. it's a big problem here between agencies in belgium and many other european countries but also between countries as well. there's something where they're going to say they want to do a better job of intelligence sharing to make sure people can't krcross borders here. that's what happened in paris. some of the attackers there were i

fred pleitgen is live.orter: it seems that this location where i'm at right now, this schaerbeek district, specifically, the house that you see behind me, appeared to have been a makeshift weapons lab for the people who conducted those attacks at the metro and also as the brussels airport as well. i want to step out of your way here, carol, and then maybe we can pan up to this building. you can see the apartment on the top floor of this building. that appears to be the one that the searches were focused on. last night, there were a lot of forensic workers in there. they kept bringing out some form of evidence and brought them to some of their vehicles. the other thing that was on hand pretty much the entire time was explosive ordinance disposal squads. they found some 15 kilograms of tatp explosives inside the apartment where those people stayed. they also found screws, an isis flag as well. and that certainly explains why the raid that we watched unfold here last night happened the way it did. with police

two of our senior international correspondents, nick paton walsh standing by in brussels, fred pleitgenre we've seen him throughout the week, in schaerbeek. nic, talk about the latest on the search for these two men we just saw in these photos. >> absolutely, we know the man in the jacket from the airport has been long sought. it's unclear who he is. there's a possibility that he may perhaps be one of the same individuals. that's a slim possibility. that scene shows they are really closing in on what appears to be the accomplice. if you listen to that testimony, perhaps somebody who did, in fact, survive the explosion itself, and they have to assess where this man is, right back to the apartments, which were searched only yesterday. now, the history of those brothers increasingly under scrutiny. ibrahim bakraoui was deported by turkish authorities back to holland, not belgium. you're allowed to choose where you're sent. dutch authorities said, well, we weren't told what the problem with him was. it was only after his arrival they got a call from the authorities. a lot of holes here. of

more more details, fred pleitgen joins us live from london. we know about the co-pilot, that he had been suffering from depression and had seen dozens of doctors before the crash, what else are we expected to learn about him and his actions? >> reporter: 41 dmx the years leading up to the crash. the big problem is these doctors, because of their confidentiality agreements with their patient, were not allowed to tell the authorities about the state of of andreas lubitz's mind, nor were they allowed to tell the airline, as well. it is two different camps in all of this. when this comes out. on one hand, the airline industry is going to look at the report to see how can something like this be prevented in the future. then you have the families of the victims. and some of them got a preview of what this report will hold yesterday both in germany and in spain. of course, most of the victims are from germany and from spain, and for the victims, the big question remains, how could something like this happen? how could it be that when andreas lubitz w

it was this time yesterday we were watching live fix and talking to fred pleitgen as the police helicoptersn one of those neighborhoods. thed found isis flags and screws and nails, and chemicals in some of these apartments as they continue to search. the manhunt as we keep saying is indeed on. meantime think about the families of the loved ones who were in the train area or in the airport. and they still haven't heard from their brothers, their sisters, their boyfriends for example. a young american woman, her boyfriend is missing. she actually hasn't heard from him since the attacks. she will join me live on her emotional search. we'll be right back. hair, strands always break off. but now, pantene is making my... ...hair practically unbreakable. the new pro-v formula micro-targets weak spots... ...making every inch stronger so i can love my hair longer. pantene. strong is beautiful. get even faster results with pantene expert, our most... ...intensely concentrated pro-v formula. at our retirement plan today. not now! i'm cleaning the oven! yeah, i'm cleaning the gutters! washing the dog!

senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is live with the details.is very early, what do we know? >> reporter: it is certainly very early. the latest information from the berlin police department is that this happened at 8:00 local time, right in the middle of morning commuter traffic. this car, which was a silver station wagon blew up, right in the middle of the commuter traffic. one person was killed. the berlin police a couple minutes ago confirmed to us that they are very sure that this was an explosive device that was either in the car or on the car. so they're not sure whether it was actually inside the vehicle or whether someone had maybe stuck it onto the vehicle. one person has been killed at this point in time. you're seeing pictures from just a little bit earlier. at this point in time, the berlin police says they have a bomb disposal squad on the scene, checking the car, seeing if there's any other unexploded materials there. they created a wide security perimeter around the area, are urging people to stay indoors, to close their windows

cnn's international correspondent fred pleitgen has more. >> hi alisyn.hat have been conducted here in various parts of brussels throughout the better part of the day. if you stand here on the streets you can hear police cars with sirens going by throughout many parts of the time that you are here. we actually just went out to check up a possible raid just a couple of minutes ago in the excel area. when we got there the police said their operation had already concluded and of course we know they are potentially still searching for several people connected to the plots, both in brussels as well as the metro station and also possibly linked to the paris tax as well. in the initial stages the main focal point is here in schaerbeek. and this was the place that was really the main bomb-making factory for the people who attacked the airport. they took a taxi from here. they made the bombs here. police later discovered some 15 kilos, which is a little more than 30 pounds of tatp explosive. which is very very high powered explosive. homemade. made out of things y