the pkk are kurds. they live in turkey and there are various groups and they want a kurdish separatist region along the border with turkey. there are areas of syria and iraq that they want a separate region. then you have a group like isis which considers itself an islamic caliphate and they are working on a very extreme form of islamic law and they want an islamic state. isis is looking at the international community, want to inflict maximum damage on any countries that not only are fighting them but do not adhere to their strict form of islam. >> elise labott, thank you very much, as well as joe duran, who is at the airport. joining me on the phone is congressman eric smallwell on the phone. good evening. you were just last summer talking to turkish officials. were they more concerned about isis or pkk? >> good evening, don. i was in ankara and istanbul just this time last year. when i asked officials who was the greatest threat to turkey and they say pkk. that was concerning from a u.s. perspective b

other pkk called and referred to as the tak. it's the kurtish freedom hawks and they're the organization that's been the more militant of the pkk offshoots that attack the center were kwar and attacked the airport a little while ago. they made the claims that they were going to do what was necessary to collaborate with isis in order to engage in other civilians and soft target attacks in both istanbul and others. well, it depends on who is doing the fighting chuck. the united states and turkey has been at odds on who is going to be supporting what organization and whereby the united states is providing certain support in northern syria and then the united states is declaring the pkk to be a terrorists organization what is hals with what is are you spolgzth for the atagss and then the airports. >> do you believe that the turkish government is going to be more about following the leads that lead them and those that take them to isis. >> well, i am going to bet that while the profile that may have been emerged here as a result and

there are others in turkey you to worry about including pkk.fficials of the turkish state. that is at the top of the minds right now of turkish officials. >> i know european officials have complained about and let me bring in cnn international correspondent right now. there is concern among officials outside of turkey that turkish officials, it they do not secure this border, nema, tell us about where you are? >> we're in one of the areas specifically mentioned in that u.s. state department travel warning released yesterday. you see turkey's attempts at securing the border, they also have a built up presence accord the border, but that does not circumvent. and isis is a threat to turkey that is not just coming from those able to infiltrate across the border and those that turkey is attempting to plug the gaps of, but also the home grown network. one of those attacks you were talking about earlier this year is someone that is linked to isis. someone that did not come across the border. they were within turkey and able to foster that relationship

i don't think it was the pkk, but i'm not ruling it out. if this was the pkk, game over. that would be the stupidest thing they could do given the u.s. align on the affiliate in syria. all of the hall marks of an isis style attack here. 3 suicide bombers, this suicide fighter methodology of trying to take out as many people as possible before detonating. a source close to me that told me turkey was about to say the death toll had risen, also told me that shouts of akbar were shouted before detonation. they're about to lose a city that they control in the aleppo province. and it would be an immediate catalyst for a jihadist attack on turkey. and turkey has been shelling isis positions in northern syria for months now. and they consider turkey to be just as much of a regime as they do the other arab governments in the region. >> michael, i'm going to have you stand by. clarissa, what are you hearing? >> we knew it was three explosions, and now we're able to confirm as well three explosions and three bombers. this according to turkish state television. this was three men, th

it's kurdish separatist movement pkk which, of course, has been very violent itself since about 1984 in that nation? >> certainly we have seen splinter group of the pkk behind three different attacks in which some civilians were killed, including an attack on the other international airport in istanbul. that was december of last year. and although they said they wanted to kill more people and hurt turkey's tourism, they only killed one person. unfortunately it was a cleaning lady at the airport. >> all right. and i also read and you can confirm it or not prior to the multiple bombings today at the airport that there was an earlier bombing by a few hours earlier and that a police officer was killed? you have heard anything about that? >> well, i have not. but certainly this is almost a daily, certainly multiple times a week occurrence in which security officials in turkey are targeted and usually that is either the

the theory being it does not fit the profile of pkk. can you explain the thinking here? >> well, i mean, at this point it doesn't -- it is not entirely clear who has been responsible for the attack. we have a government here that seems to be claiming that this is sort of an isis linked attack. what we apparently seem to know at the moment is that we have an incident involving a number of attackers who apparently had guns and detonated skploetives that -- explosives that killed themselves and others which suggests that -- [ inaudible ] with an isis rather than a group like the pkk or other terrorist groups active in turkey. >> so if this was isis it would be the third suicide attack in turkey this year. so clearly turkey has a growing security threat from isis. would you say that the government has underestimated that threat? >> well, i think that the government has realized that it is facing a quite substantial threat at home for some time. this is one of a number of attacks if it is connected to isis that we've seen the group launch in the country against various soft t

of these kurd ish separatists, pkk. we've been talking about they typically target military installations, security-type targets. there are kurdish groups that are partners with the united states and other western nations and other arab nations in the conflict in syria. and so they aren't seen as -- the pkk is not seen as a group that would want to really target international civilians, don. >> so, elise, there was a travel warning in place for americans in turkey. tell us about the timing of that. >> there's been a longstanding warning in traveling the whole country in turkey. but just yesterday the state department issued a new warning telling american citizens do not travel to southeastern turkey on the border with syria, a lot of concerns about that border area. so much so that they've restricted in recent months the travel of u.s. diplomats in the area, they've sent the families of u.s. diplomats out of that area so a lot of concern about that southeast border area. tonight they are warning americans throughout ist

there were earlier allegations it could be pkk. pkk is the vanguard fighting force helping had the coalition vanquish icis in northern syria. they would be absolutely stupid to set off a bomb and to wage this kind of attack on an international target like this airport where they could kill americans and french. >> they're hoping to get their own state. >> right. they tend to target turkish security and there were two factors. they're losing terrain at a rapid pace. >> the turkish prime minister said they suspect isis. >> right. they lost fallujah and the pocket in the aleppo province and it is one of the major towns in aleppo that they control is encircled by u.s.-backed coalition forces and about to fall any day. there is another element to this, too, israeli-turkish, is always a galvanizing event for islamist attacks when the jewish state is involved. ed head of the amnel, a french national abu suleman al -- i heard that this guy was picked up at the border by the turkish government while he was fleeing from the carnage in northe

who is it isis or pkk or some other group. former u.s. ambassador to the united states ambassador john bolton goes "on the record." they are still investigating it nobody has bragged about this so far. but your thoughts? >> well with that caveat, i think it looks like isis. i think it's significant that tomorrow is the second anniversary of the declaration of the isis caliphate in syria and iraq. there has been a lot of fighting along the syrian/turkish border aimed at cutting off isis's access to the land it holds in syria into turkey where they have gotten a lot of recruits, a lot of the weapons. a lot of the commerce has gone through there. as isis has been pressed militarily, they have expanded their terrorist attacks and it stands to reason that an attack on the most visible symbol of commerce into turkey through the international airport would suit their ends. >> the odds are they are more than likelily foreign. the state department on monday upgraded to tourists. on monday president erdogan in israel seemed to be doing re-set, mend

the pkk has been carrying out attacks across turkey.eir mode is targeting the army, police, not targeting major tourist destinations because they know that's going to have a long-term effect on the country. >> is this encouraging finger pointing? they are thinking about isis and maybe that's to the benefit of whoever did this. >> that's why we haven't hear a claim of responsibility. that's why isis hasn't claimed responsibility. there's always going to be a certain amount of people who believe it was the pkk regardless of what the government says. if you don't claim responsibility, you leave a lot to the imagination. >> we still were waiting to find out the determination of this. we have been hearing from officials in the intelligence community saying it does bare the hallmarks of an isis attack. >>> so while isis has not claimed responsibility with cal in this deadly attack from turkey, there are signs that tend to make the intelligence community believe this is isis. after the break, i'm going to talk to the man who broke the book in

those were claimed by splinter group of the pkk, tak.tern intelligence believe tak is the exact same group as the pkk, simply not an offshoot, but a way of clotting responsibility for the kurdish militants -- clouding responsibility for the kurdish militants. 2 other attacks were blamed on the islamic state. this nervous country is on edge for when the next attack could come. katty: in syria, president assad is determined to liberate every inch of his country. his forces, backed by russian airstrikes, are fighting for control of rebel-held areas and areas held by the islamic state. in aleppo, 146 people have been killed and six-days of fighting. we have video of civilians caught in the fighting. this report contains distressing images. aleppo is a city without refuge. in the last week alone, russian and regime airstrikes have come in the hundreds. [screaming] this is a war against terrorists, but this is not a fighter. then, another child is bundled out of the dust. a small cry tells us that he made it. both survived. later, we find the

turkish indigenous groups like tak and the pkk, one of the things we know, their attacks tend to be extremely small, very low casualties counts. i think the most recent one was one with some dozen injured. the isis attacks which haven't been attributed over the last year, have been mass casualty attacks. the attack on the u.s. consulate last year, which killed 32. last october, we had an attack on a peace rally which killed over a hundred turkish citizens. the reason that we believe that they don't attribute these attacks to the islamic state is because they are trying to infiltrate a deep-seeded series of cell members into that country and they do not want to violate their operational security. they believe they can operate with more impunity by not claiming these attacks. no one is fooled. they know where the mass casualty attacks are coming from. they're almost all universally similar in terms of tactics and techniques.

obsessed with the security and obsessed with the pkk and isis was not there enemy for a long time but became the enemy as in fact some isis attacks began to unfold inside of turkey. so the level of concern and awareness and sbrintelligence i very intense. that's what makes this particular attack interesting. they have not been laxed at all in my opinion in worrying about this incident. >> i was going to say that you're assessment of the turish security, and some are saying that they have been almost too focused on it in to the point of alien nation and how they have been in the security measures. before today, did you assume that flying through that airport was one of the safest airports to fly through? >> yes, i fly throughout the

pkk traditional old fashioned militant group and then you have isis. not only isis.ere are other smaller different radical islam groups. this kind of attack, suicide bombers, high profile target most analysts are working on the assumption that it was isis and turkish officials including prime minister said that isis is the primary suspect. but because isis has a base in this country and uses it as a transit point it might not acknowledge its attacks. its attack might have been sent more as a message to the turkish government don't crack down on us. we can cripple your country. allow us to have free passage here or turkey will pay. >> when we were in paris in november during friday 13 attacks the investigation was quick to create the web that would lead intelligence officials to the home base of where this disruption was concentrated, how those terrorists assembled and carried out the plan. do investigators have a lead about where the source is coming from for the trio. >> there are rumors and bits of information that are starting to come out a lot on social media. at

is a state in the making that is closely alines with the pkk. to the turk this is a nightmare scenario and something that they have been worried about forever. it places their, the integrity of their country in general ardy. so sernlg moving the turks in the dreksz of the anti-isis coalition and as i said a more direct way, is positive. but when push comes to shove, really what gets the turks attention is kurdish nationalism. >> rose: on that note, thank you so much, great to you have here. thanks again. my thanks again to richard engel and my friend ian bremmer. >> great pleasure seeing you again. >> rose: we'll be right back. stay with us. we turn from terrorism and international politics to a story of courage, toughness and leadership. pat summitt the winningest coach in college basketball history died tuesday morning. she was 64 years old. her death came five years after she was diagnosed with alzheimer disease. in 38 years at the university of tennessee, summitt won 1,098 games while leading the lady volunteers to 8 national titles. her tea

the pkk as opposed to isis. in your opinion, do you think they have not paid enough attention to isis as a growing threat within turkey? >> i think they have. those attacks you mentioned, if you look at the target sets and who's going after them, isis tends to go after tourism targets, economic targets, things that are going to hurt the turkish people. if you look at what the pkk goes after, they go after police and military targets. they're trying to go after the government. so, you know, a different target set there. a different change. over the last couple of months the turks have really changed their focus from only the pkk to going after isis as well. remember when we first started this exercise, the turks were giving a lot of lip service to going after isis when really they were trying to marginalize and isolate the pkk. the turks are adopting a much better policy as we would look at it. isis beginning to rail against that and say turkey used to be someone we could manipulate, someone we could use, someone

he said the kurdistan worker party, pkk, carried out the attack. local media have suggested the attack was in retaliation for the turkish government's military operations against the pkk. turkey has designated it as a terrorist group. >>> south korea controls the islands. japan claims them. south korea's navy and coast guard started the drill on wednesday. they're practicing how to prevent illegal encourage. the exercises involve some ten vessels. the south korean military conduct the drill twice a year. japanese officials protested through diplomatic channels. they say the islands are an inherent part of japan easte' ' territory. the japanese government maintains that south korea is illegally occupying the islands. >>> an international chemistry organization has endorsed a proposal to name an atomic element after the japanese word for "japan." the japanese researchers who created the substance 12 years ago want to call it nihonium. they recommended the idea to the international union of pure and applied chemistry. the organization recently recogni

to said that it would be highly unlikely and highly out of character for this to be the work of the pkk and the other group that we've been talking about as the responsible party and no public claim of responsibility yet. so right now, intelligence officials in the u.s. are going back to their human sources. they are looking at intercepts trying to figure out who is behind this. i'm being told at this stage there is no indication in the u.s., at least, that there was a specific plot targeting this airport, but of course, after something like this happens and they go back and look through the intelligence to see if something was missed. another priority to see if any americans were in that airport. they're working, the u.s. intelligence agencies are looking over man firsts to see if any american citizens were traveling through the airport at that time trying to catch flights. at this point i'm told they haven't determined if there were u.s. victim, but that is a priority to figure out. >> thank you very much, pamela brown. i want to go to eric swallow of california. you've been briefed o

the pkk are a ruthless terrorist group. civilians get killed in these actions and they do not care. see turkey, which was on a track potentially to a more positive solution, be in such a negative place now. francine: for the moment, president erdogan seems to suggest that it is the pkk, but we have no confirmation of that. agreementer have an of peace between the rebels and the government? at the moment, president erdogan is targeting the main party that represents the tp,dish community, the h -- this group, by doing very well in the last two series of elections, thwarted president erdogan possibility to have the super majority he needs to change the constitution and create a more executive presidency. so the group that might have provided more of a political outlet for kurdish instincts is under assault from president erdogan at the moment. this provides, i believe, space for a terrorist group like the pkk to come in and take advantage of it. tom: if these headlines were out of new york, out of paris, london, brussels, whatever, they would be front and center and we would be rivete

pkk just has a longer history of violence.the war with the pkk cost 40,000 lives in turkey since 1984. so in the public consciousness, and even in the security establishment, when something happens, pkk is the first thing that comes to their minds. but it was dawning on turkey that isis is a huge problem, as well. in the beginning, people perceived them as maybe a group in syria. but isis is showing us that it has something in turkey as it has with brussels and france and other nations. so yes, there is more alert against isis as it should be. also, turkey should look into the ideology of this group, which is very, very different, very apart from turkey's own islamic tradition. and turkey's leaders should come out with more details of this ideology, as well. we have seen some of that obviously, but maybe more should be done. >> right now the government this in turkey needs all the support it can get. but recently the president reopened the possibility of the demolition of getty park. that sparked months of protests and turmoil

why do they suspect is rather than the pkk?orian: this attack has all the hallmarks of the islamic state. the fact that the three were all dressed in black, heavily armed with grenades and ak-47s, targeting a facility in target. the pkk usually targets either military or police. everything points to islamic state, of they have not claimed responsibility. observers point out that for some reason islamic state never claimed responsibility for attacks in turkey. brent: the question is obvious -- why is islamic state targeting turkey? is there any lake to the ties with israel? dorian: i think that is a coincidence. this was well coordinated. this takes weeks of representation -- preparation. they knew exactly what they were doing. it was a very professional job. it just a coincidence i think that this coincides with israel. all this points to a professional job and it is probably more linked to the fact that islamic state has suffered a series of major setbacks in iraq and syria. the islamic state will be looking for a spectacular

turkey has prioritized the fight against the pkk traditionally. turkey has been shelling isis positions and locations with artillery -- >> so that's why they would hit. >> because there is a concern. turkey is a unique opponent for isis. they have the biggest military in the region. they have great intelligence and contacts. it's their will to fight on a larger scale that's been the issue. there's another aspect of this from the american perspective. ordinarily, we don't care if it's isis or somebody who wants to be isis or somebody who is, you know, somehow perversely interested in isis. but here the analysis matters because if it is or if it was pkk, well, then that's a different threat assessment for us back here in america because pkk isn't targeting us. that's very specific to turkey. so we actually do want to know this time, right, phil? >> sure, and there's another aspect of this that's interesting and critical, in fact, from an american counterterrorism perspective. if you're looking at the people who are drirected or inspired t carry out

no one has taken responsibility, but it could really the islamic state, the most likely contender, pkker a leftist communist party that has attacked the consulate before. it is one after another. not only is stemple. turkey is going through a major spasm of violence. laura: what will it mean for relationships between washington and turkey? joshua: unfortunately, it takes a crisis to bring people together. despite all the problems they have had because of domestic politics, what is going on in europe, this will bring our intelligence services and thinkers together to figure it out. it is not only an attack on turkey, it is western allies that are standing with turkey. laura: turkey has been in a peculiar position with the civil war going on across the border in syria. turkey and washington have not always been speaking from the same page in terms of turkey's role. joshua: they still don't see eye to i on a lot of things. the turks see the kurds at the largest threat. washington sees isis. they have been working closely for the past year. perhaps one of the reason turkey is a target is b

some claim to buy the pkk, others by the islamic state group.nchor: there has been a surge in violence around the syrian city of aleppo. government airstrikes have been pounding rebel positions in the east of the contested city. rebel groups had been shelling the government health positions in the west. at least 15 civilians killed. our reporter has more. reporter: the government claim to launch an attack on this area just moments before this footage was shot. the streets of aleppo filled with smoke and panic. not much survived the explosion. some houses are on fire. the ground. to scenes of destruction all-too-familiar in this war-weary city. >> they dropped barrel bombs on our neighborhood. they hit the hospital. people were killed and others injured. he news agagency confirmsms the claims that barrl bombs were, as they have been previously, the syrian regime's weapon of choice. some 200,000 people under territory in rebel control, most of them civilians, are under siege. a cease-fire did come into effect on february and was largely respected

against the pkk. also those cannot be pardoned, but a great many people living in turkey have a big question mark in their minds how this happens after the adp lost the parliamentary majority. which group,that, thatr the turkish group calls itself so-called isis state. laura: renew to violence with kurdish separatists. there have also been of course several tax by the islamic state group. we have literally millions of syrian refugees inside turkey. this is a country really battling security that's on many levels now. ahmet: yes, that is correct. in 2 days come as you mentioned, 7 officers in the center of istanbul died, passed away, and the region is very vulnerable -- veryich is near close to the underground station. time, turkey is part of the coalition against isis on the coalition claims to use its territories. many groups claim -- nothing is certain yet, and the broadcast ban, so we don't know yet who will be responsible about the issue. laura: to the u.s. now, and hillary clinton is playing down

responsibility for yet but i think you'll see later in the day that the government blames this on the pkk>> there are reports that gunshots were heard after the explosion. is that the official line that's now being published as well? >> reporter: no, this is something that we've not been able to confirm from the police or hear. there is always a lot of confusion art attacks, especially after rush hour. it's unclear whether that took place. we're still waiting to see details on that. >> again, with regards to nobody claiming responsibility for this, there is speculation, again, as you've also hinted that it could be extremist groups. that it could be kurdish rebel fighters who are upset with their treatment, via the turkish government, but no line yet. no official line? >> reporter: no official line yet. but keep in mind this is a violent year for turkey. there's a peace process that fell apart in july last year. since then, the uptick in violence both in urban centers in the southeast along the border with syria, with the kurdish separatist movement where a lot of young people have taken

the initial hallmarks of this attack suggest it was more isis than the pkk. pkk has been much more specific in going after turkish only targets. >> help me understand. as it relates to turkey going after isis, improving their relations with the west in the last year and a half, you have the west over here. what's turkey's relation with russia, georgia, armenia? >> turkey has had cold relations with russia because russia is supporting the assad regime in syria and turkey has been trying to topple the assad regime. there was an incident last year where turkey shot down a russian fighter jet. however, turkey recently apologized to russia for that and there was a thawing of relations that made some believe that turkey and russia were going to work together on issues of counter terrorism in the region. turkey has had strained relations with israel. they just normalized them. in armenia there is this fallout over the term genocide. turkey doesn't consider it a genocide. turkey has had some problematic issues along its borders and beyond. >> thank you. >>> when we r

in this case you have to ask yourself why the pkk would go over the international terminal?mpt to target those from foreign countries. that's being the case, yes it's more likely than it's isis and the truth is that we don't know yet. there's no claims yet. no one has put a community claiming yet. until we have a claim of credit, it's hard to know if it's isis, al qaeda or again it can be pkk. we more likely go after a targeted with the turkish government and the terminal at the airport. >> what would you read into what we're hearing here and two or three explosions and then an eyewitness in london saying that person saw someone with a bomb and talk about the strategy that might have been used? >> sure, the more likelihood that someone is going to get to the target. that does not tell us who did this but whoever did this, they had the resources and they were very determined to make a splash and then enough resources to put us us into this that they had success. . there are a number of countries surrounding turkey and are are all capable of the suicide bombers and launched at

and i think the turks will continue their operations against the pkk.thing the turks are going to do our things they have already been doing. they may have been doing them and evidently, but -- and evidently, but there is no real assurance that they can arrest this deterioration in their security. as richard pointed out, there is an extremist infrastructure that has grown up at the border. there is well-developed military forces in the form of the pkk that is keeping the military busy. i am afraid that no matter what steps they take, there will be more bloodletting in the streets. why they is precisely had to back down against the russians and israelis. it took him seven months on russia. this is not something that he wanted to do, but he felt vulnerable and he cut a deal. the question is, is the challenge too great? he also has a domestic problem, he just lost his prime minister, ahmet davutoglu. he could not have it -- hack it anymore, because the president was maniacal in saying he was going to make himself the next -- in turkey. and the fight he has

the pkk mostly targets the police or army. it is isis that aims directly at civilians, especially travelers. from the jetliner brought down in egypt by a suspected isis bomb, to the deadly attack on the airport in brussels. and turkey is a gateway into isis in syria. we followed the tracks of young men and women, like these british teenage girls, who arrived at the very airport attacked today, then boarded a bus for the turn turkish/syrian border, where they linked up with the terror group and have not been heard from since. >> so, martha, fears of isis, but no certainty yet. >> reporter: that's right, george. no certainty at this point. but it is something the u.s. will be very involved in, trying to find out. the president briefed by his counterterrorism adviser shortly after the explosions. george? >> martha, thank you. >>> the airport attack triggered an immediate halt. but some flights were already in the air, already to america. one of the first to arrive landed at new york's jfk airport. the port authority beefed up pat

we have seen rebellion and conflict with the kurdish population, the kurdish separatists, the pkk in the southeastern part of turkey. quite a few attacks over recent months. the u.s. consulate at the moment working very hard to try to figure out whether any u.s. citizens were potentially swept up in those attacks. no information about that as of yet but we are working to confirm that for you. >> those numbers are striking me because i was off the air just for an hour and in that hour, the number of dead has gone up to 28. as you say, those numbers may rise. >> reporter: that's absolutely true. >> go ahead. sorry. >> reporter: no, i was just going to say, again, we really should emphasize this is such a central hub. if you travel at all through the middle east, through europe, many flights are routed through this airport. if anyone really sort of wanted to hurt turkey where it really hurt the country, this airport would be the prime target. so far, nothing like this has happened in the country, at least as far as that airport is concerned. again, they do have more security measures th

they would rather be at war with the pkk and bashar al assad. by going after the kurds they expect the kurds to rise up against the erdogan government in turkey and create a political instability inside turkish society. that's exactly what happened if you look at the last several elections in turkey. this is a change of tactics for them, if it is indeed isis. they are going after an international target. they will have wanted to kill americans, french, britons, turks, you name it. just like in brussels. we are seeing the same methodology. arrive by taxi, coordinate a team of in this case three suicide bombers and as phil and others pointed out, it will be a bomb maker, a whole network of facilitators and fixers inside turkey who helped with this attack. >> i know you have been working your sources talking to people here at dhs, elsewhere. what are you thinking of right now? >> so i mean, obviously the first thing you think about is the homeland as one should. we are entering july fourth weekend. there is no evidence to suggest that this push by

they say they are targeting pkk. meanwhile i have tried to count the amount of times that the air force, the turkish air force has gotten involved in bombing isis in syria. and not much. i would say about a dozen times maximum since the beginning of isis is now two year history. >> laura wells reporting live early this wednesday morning from istanbul, laura, thanks very much. all the best. you may be sitting around thinking if isis is responsible for this it will claim credit. it puts videos online and shows video. not true in turkey isis has never once claimed responsement for a bombing in one of turk yption cities. for the assassination of some sort of insurgent in the south of turkey near the border with syria, yes. but never any of the attacks that they have carried out. never once did they claim responsibility because the last thing they want is the people who were just murdered to turn against them. we will go live to the white house next where the president has got a briefing on the attacks. learn about the ca

you have isis and the called islamic state or pkk. or elements of the pkk.his is the most sophisticated and daring and ambitious attack to expect, and it does basically carry the hallmarks of isis. isis has chosen one of the most important and commercial and symbolic targets. as you know, turkey has recently joined the u.s.-led coalition against isis. turkey was and is one of the most important weigh stations to bring isis materials to syria. so there's an all-out war between isis and the turkish government. and in the past year, isis has carried out some major attacks against the tourist industry and economy. the idea is to paralyze the turkish economy and it has succeeded to a great extent. >> if question go with the flaeps we believe this is most likely isis which is behind this. that then get us to the next question was this inspired by isis, or a lone wolf, or directed by isis, jihadists who actually went into turkey and carried this out. as you say, it was very well coordinated. the airport in istanbul has aincredibly tight security. >> first all, we d

freedom falcons is considered an offshoot of the pkk and has carried out attacks in the past. moving to the united states, a good week for hillary clinton after becoming the first woman to top the presidential ticket for a major u.s. party. she has been endorsed by the man she is trying to replace. clintonbama backed after meeting with her rival, bernie sanders. appear onobama will the campaign trail next week. pres. obama: i cannot wait to campaign for hillary. >> after a long and bitter primary season, president obama threw his weight behind hillary clinton. the video released by -- i know howgn, hard this job can be. i don't think there has been anyone so qualified to hold this office. -- resident obama he showed signs he would rally behind clinton once she is anointed to the nominee. >> we will see how we can work together to defeat donald trump and create a government that represents all of us. >> it could be crucial to supporters. theld trump met with chairman of the republican national committee. >> another push for hillary clinton. elizabeth warren has endorsed her whi

sur likt into syria and cutting off of borders is a good reason, but they are also dealing with the pkk, its own economy and with europe. are you as certain that this is in fact isis? >> based on the methods used in this attack, i would say it's highly likely that it is isis. most of the internal opposition to president erdogan is not going to use these kinds of techniques, that includes the kurdish pkk opposition. they come close heest perhaps in term of techniques to being able to do something like this, but it's highly unlikely that they would do this. therefore isis is probably the most likely candidate. other possible scenarios would include the syrian government or somebody like that, but the syrian government has its own reasons for not doing something like this. so i think the fingers all point to isis and i think isis is the most likely candidate at this point in time barring any other evidence that is out there. >> colonel, thank you so much for getting up so early for us. >>> president obama unleashed a rant against donald trump's style of populism. that coming up. what are y

and the pkk has been lashing back.he war that was largely kept in the countryside in previous decades has been erupting in the biggest city in the country, in istanbul, which has perhaps the largest single concentration of ethnic kurds in the whole country. so this is a major, major security challenge for turkey right now. two armed groups, determined enemies, that have carried out attack after attack against soft points throughout this country. >> at this point again we do not know who is behind this. but bob behar, why should people in the united states be paying attention to this right now? how does it affect us? >> well, ultimately we are the target. i think the fact that this is ramadan, that we haven't been attacked suggests the islamic state does not have networks here which is the good news. but i think what we also have to understand after orlando is how vulnerable places are like night clubs, airports and the rest of it. and also just the fact that this conflict in the middle east is sort of lapping at our sh

turkey deals with multiple security threats with the pkk as well as isis.on't know, there has not been a claim of attack. but the pkk separatists have typically targeted military targets which obviously this was not. the president has said this can happen anywhere. if this can happen at ataturk, it can happen anywhere. you talked about security. that's exactly right. like many airports in the middle east, this layer of security prevented the attackers here from getting further to the actual security lines or to where passengers are checking in. in so certainly they'll chalk that up as a success for the airport. and certainly save more lives. >> scary to think how much worse this could have been given how much death that already happened here. molly, we're also nearing the end of the muslim holy month of ramadan. what's the significance on that front? >> reporter: absolutely. we're nearing the last week, and the last ten days are the holiest, the most important for muslims around the world. now, most people, most muslims during the last ten days focus on rea

in february the pkk claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed 28 people. also in ankara. in january as you may recall, an isis operative carried out a suicide bombing in istanbul's famous district near the blue mosque, if you've ever been there, killing ten german tourists. no group has claimed responsibility. this is certainly reminiscent of the brussels bombings in march. turkish prime minister and president have convened emergency security meetings with defense officials and their cabinets, as to be expected. we're not hearing of any american casualties but know the state department is in contact with its personnel. but just yesterday, on monday, bret, the state department issued a travel warning that u.s. citizens warning about, quote, increased threats from terrorist groups throughout turkey. bret, back to you. >> john, as we're looking at that video of the explosion as it happens, we're just hearing from secretary of state john kerry, who said this is very difficult to defend against. we also hear from u.s. officials that this is the type of attack t

we have also been very clear pkk as aiew the foreign terrorist organization. and as such, we work with turkey on combating them. but we draw clear a delineation between the pkk and the syrian kurds, as i said, are part of the many groups fighting against daesh in northern syria. i don't want to underplay or under emphasize turkey's role inthe anti-daesh coalition. we have made a lot of progress working with turkey in order to bring more pressure to bear on daesh in a northern syria. ofy are allowing us the use airbases, but also working to close the 98 kilometer border that has proved such a challenge. these are all real challenges. as ambassador sam powers just in anust a few hours ago interview, let us not forget that turkey has also been very accepting to the millions of refugees who have poured over its borders from syria and offered them refuge. sue turkey's playing an important role with regard to syria, with regard to the conflict there, but from the assad regime as well as with daesh. so i don't want to underplay that. but they have different prioritie