A source telling cnn assailants are throw ing grenades right no at Police Officers who are right now surrounding this particular cafe. A lot of unknowns at this point in time, including who these hostage takers, who these attackers are. The restaurant, lets talk about this area here of bangladesh. This restaurant is located in a pretty upscale neighborhood of dhaka. There are a number of embassies, cafes, restaurants. Weve been talking to people who have been in bangladesh recently saying a lot of expats and foreigners live in this particular area. I mentioned the police outside. Lets get to that. We know there is an elite Police Bomb Disposal unit there on standby. Theyre ready to go. The u. S. Embassy in dhaka warned of this situation taking to twitter and writing this. Reports of shooting and hostage situation in gulshan 2, dhaka. Please shelter in place and monitor news. Weve got a lot of voices to weigh in here. Our new delhi correspondent joins me by phone. Tell me what you know right now. Reporter as one of our guests earlier pointed out, this area called gulshan is really the epicenter of wealth in bangladesh. This is where a lot of the embassies are based, restaurants, cafes. It is a huge neighborhood really, particularly given this time, ramadan, around evening time. It is when a lot of people were presumably outside visiting family members, visiting friends, out in cafes. And this restaurant that is a bakery by day and a spanish restaurant by night. We understand weve been following a lot of these tweets coming from the area, from dhaka in particular. Some expats have been tweeting. They say this happened around 8 45 p. M. Thats when these assailants broke in to that restaurant, started attacking, shooting. And again, unknown number of people trapped inside, an unknown number of hostages but presumably a lot of foreigners. Let me ask you this. We know that over a number of years there have been whats being described as machete murders. Right . There have been people, beginning with these more secular bloggers, small Lgbt Community, being just chopped up in broad daylight. Can you talk to me a little bit about that and what authorities are thinking about this tonight in bangladesh . Thats right. This has been going on for the past at least for the past two years. Several attacks against bloggers, atheists, intellectuals, hindu priests, buddhist nuns, catholic priests as well. So in the beginning, most of these attacks were against prominent bloggers and writers. More recently weve seen more attacks against people, again hindu tailors as well, hindu priests, people in the more remote parts of bangladesh. Now in some of these cases isis has claimed responsibility. Now what the Bangladeshi Government has been saying is isis is not present in bangladesh. They attribute all these attacks to homegrown militants. There are many analysts in bangladesh say why would isis want to attack a hindu tailor in the middle of nowhere in bangladesh . So there are a lot of question marks there. A hindu priest was just attacked yesterday. Isis claimed responsibility for that attack as well. But again, the government has been denying this. Just to give you a little bit more background, there have been a number of arrests in the past few weeks. The government has really been trying to crack down on these attacks. Theyve arrested at least some 10,000 to 40,000, 50,000 people in the past two weeks. Again, we dont know if whats happening in bangladesh in the capital is related to any of thank you so much. A very tense situation. As she explained again, this is a bakery by day, a spanish restaurant by night. This is an ongoing hostage situation. Assailants going inside just after midnight there dhaka time with guns taking these people hostage. I have ivan watson. Ivan watson has been covering these machete murders. For an american audience can you just explain again whats happened and how al qaeda, isis plays a part here but how the government has been saying, no. This has been a really gruesome trend over the course of two years now where youve had people who criticize islam, secular bloggers who have been hunted down one by one. At least six of these writers. These are the victims. Victims. Chopped, chopped down in broad daylight in some cases in the capital over a period of some 14 months. Then youve also had just last april two lgbt activists who there was a Home Invasion in dhaka. People just stormed in undercover being a delivery boy and killed these two men. One of them worked for the u. S. Embassy. That was in april. At that time the u. S. Ambassador told us that there had been 35 attacks in a period of a year with 23 of them claimed by terrorist organizations. Just to give you a sense of the scale of these attacks. They were not just secular bloggers being killed. One of them was an american resident, by the way, about a yearandahalf ago who was killed at the book fair, his wife a u. S. Citizen who i interviewed. She was badly mauled by these guys who came up with machetes. This is brutal, brutal stuff. So this has been a growing trend where minority, nonmuslim religious leaders have also been targeted in this majority sunni muz count muslim country. If this was in fact carried out by a jihadty group, this would be a dramatic escalation in the tactics of terror being used. A final note here. It appears theres been two groups, one you a fillating itself with isis, another affiliating itself with al qaeda that have been trying to basically swarm more deaths, more kills in a grizzly competition. The governments petition is no, these are homegrown terrorists, even though these groups keep calling themselves either members of isis or al qaeda. You have this disturbing trend of people fleeing the country, the secular writers, because of this chill, this spread of terror across bangladesh. Thank you for setting up the context in whats been happening over the last two years, again do we know whether or not these are terrorists or not. We dont. All of this happening obviously in the shadow of what happened here at the airport just a couple of nights ago. All signs pointing to isis. Stay with me, ivan watson. Let me just bring in art roderick who i believe is also standing by. From a Law Enforcement perspective were also getting information that there has been at least one police death. One police death. Im on, brooke. Art, talk to me about what youre seeing as were sort of all watching these pictures together. Assault rifles. Police surrounding this bakery restaurant right now in dhaka, in bangladesh. The bomb Disposal Units ready to roll. Whats the strategy . I do know that probably over the past six or seven years, the department of justice, through their two training organizations that are actually in bangladesh, both train prosecutorial side of the house and Law Enforcement side of the house. Theyve been working very closely with this specific unit. Both the marshals, fbi, atf have done training courses with this group over there in bangladesh. So they have received some training. But ive also heard reports i know it hasnt been confirmed that these two individuals that went in there were shouting ali akbar, god is great. And this is not going to end well, unfortunately. I think we all have learned at this particular point in time that you cant negotiate with these people, and the reason why they negotiate is two reasons. To gain more publicity, and also to get a higher kill count. Theyve got to go in as soon as they can and end this situation. And unfortunately, its going to be bad on both sides. How do they even attempt to begin to communicate with those hostage takers inside of this restaurant . You know, i think these hostage takers inside of this restaurant are doing nothing but stalling for time so that theyre able to get their message out. Theyre going to try to communicate. Thats what Law Enforcement always attempts to do. But they really have to get ready to go in as soon as they can. All right, art roderick, thank you so much. Stand by. Again, if youre just joining us here, these are pictures in from dhaka in bangladesh, a country just east of india. You are watching a massive hostage siege. This is an affluent area of dhaka, full of expats, diplomats, embassies in this part of the world here as an unknown number of people have been taken hostage by assailants with guns and grenades. Were talking to someone who was born and raised in dhaka, just returned to the states next here on cnn. Gillette shielding. With lubrication before and after the blades. Shields from irritation for a close, comfortable shave. Proshield from gillette. Fight heartburn fast. With tums chewy delights. The mouthwatering soft chew that goes to work in seconds to conquer heartburn fast. Tum tum tum tum. Chewy delights. Only from tums. Were back live here. Im Brooke Baldwin in istanbul, turkey. But turning our attention to dhaka, bangladesh, an area just east of india, a hostage siege in an area described as a bakery by day, a restaurant by night. We now know theres been at least one Police Fatality in this ongoing hostage siege. We have just learned from the owner of this restaurant who, by the way, had just escaped the gunman from within was not in the main part of the cafe was was able to give an estimate of how many people were inside and who still are inside as i speak to you live. He described the youngmen as young men, six to eight gunmen inside of this restaurant. 20 to 30 innocent people being held up inside. And again one Police Officer has been killed. The entire restaurant is being surrounded by Law Enforcement. Elite bomb unit, the Disposal Unit is on stand by. As we watch whats happening here, let me bring in a really important voice, professor ali riaz from Illinois State university. The professor was born and raised in dhaka and only recently returned back to the United States from there. Professor, lets just first begin with this part of town. I understand this is an affluent part of town. A lot off diplomats frequenting this area. What can you share . This is an upscale neighborhood, as you have described. And most of these places are restaurants, cafes, and of course there are expats here who visit. This is the timing. Matter of fact, you might have noticed it is almost end of ramadan. A lot of people have left dhaka because they understand the long vacation has started. But nevertheless, this part is quite important in terms of the city itself. Can you tell me, professor, as we have been talking to a number of people about about these socalled machete murders over the past couple of years initially targeting these secular bloggers, and then members of the Lgbt Community here, people were chopped up, broad daylight. I understand theres been a true sort of culture of fear. Did you feel that when you were there recently . Talking to the people, there are those who think they could become targets. As weve seen over the last 19, 20 minutes, more than 50 individuals have been killed. Some of them are bloggers. Over the months what we have witnessed here it has widened. Whats interesting and important to note here if we take the last 17, 18 months, about 50 attacks. In some cases they arrive in dubai. What we are witnessing now is very worrying and very disturbing because it actual ly requires serious escalation. Having such kind of attack at the heart of the city, at the heart of the so far we have watched. I understand as i was just talking to ivan watson reporting on the machete murders there are these homegrown groups who are pledging their allegiance to either al qaeda or isis. Its been this sort of competition of sorts, a competition for deaths even though the government has been dismissing thus far the terrorism. Professor riaz, thank you so much. Alex field is standing by. She, i know, has been in bangladesh very krrecently. Can talk about the wake each and every day in the wake of these machete murders. Alex, what can you share . Theres been tremendous fear from the people who we were speaking to on the ground there in bangladesh just back in may. Theyd seen this spate of machete murders which started seemingly as very targeted murders. The victims of those killings, some of the most prominent voices in the country on the intellectual academic secular side. Then they saw religious minorities being targeted. Then pllgbt activists were bein targeted. Bloggers were being targeted. They began this is a country of increasing intolerance, of rising extremism that was going unchecked. It was the criticism we heard from young people against the government. You did see some action from the government in the last few weeks. At one point in june they rounded up some 11,000 people. 150 of them were suspected islamic militants and that seemed to be a very forceful or the most public message in terms of the government acting stuck between some of these attacks from continuing. There was a great deal of frustration from people that these attacks were left unchecked. The attacks were claimed in some cases a by groups like isis and al qaeda and the government continued to say those groups do not operate within bangladesh which was frustrating to people who felt this was a situation not being confronted headon. All of that said, there is no way to say right now definitively in any way who is behind the hideous attack thats being unleashed on this city tonight. We know gulshan is a very popular, upscale, metro area, full of metros, full of cafes. It is the night life part of the city. Perhaps equally importantly though is the fact that it is an area thats frequented by diplomats and also by expats. So if the intention here was to target foreigners, if the intention here was to garner more international attention, this is exactly the kind of area that you might target. And this is, as i am mindful what happened here at the airport in istanbul, we learned today not the two are entirely separate incidents, but i am very aware that it is the end of ramadan. Right . Thats when you fast from sun up to sun down if youre muslim. This is a secular country with a muslim minority. Is that correct . A secular country with a muslim majority. But this is a secular state. That was sort of the principle thats guided. So many young people, so many liberal people in bangladesh have always felt that thats what differentiated their country. That that is the country they grew up in. Thats why you are hearing so many young people say this rise of extremism is very different from the climate that we grew up in. They say that there is a greater sense of intolerance than anything they have experienced before. They said they felt very comfortable speaking freely, expressing contrary viewpoints, whether they be religious or social previously. But that they have stopped that now. When we talk about these machete murders, talk about prominent public figures who were hacked to death in broad daylight, those people seem to be very specifically targeted and watched. But then i started talking to young people saying, hey, were pulling our opinions off of facebook. Were afraid to blog because we feel we are making ourselves the target of e treatmextremists wh like this liberal stream of thinking. Alex field, thank you so much, having just finished her report from bangladesh. Thank you so much for your perspective. Again, we have this ongoing hostage siege at this restaurant just after midnight in dhaka in bangladesh. According to this Restaurant Owner who is able to escape, he said there are six to eight gunmen and approximately 20 to 30 people hold up inside. Next well talk terrorism, the presence of isis and al qaeda in this nation just east of india. Our chief National Correspondent joins us on that next. 7 amazing sleep stays with you all day and all night. Sleep number beds with Sleepiq Technology give you the knowledge to adjust for the best sleep ever. Dont miss the lowest prices of the season sale, with the c2 Queen Mattress now only 699. 99. Plus 36 month financing. Know better sleep. Only at a sleep number store. Back to our breaking news here out of dhaka, bangladesh, as there is this ongoing hostage siege under way. It is just about half past midnight there in dhaka as we know, about six to eight gunmen are holding up 20 to 30 people inside, a number of foreigners. Weve now learned from Law Enforcement who you see with their vests in combat gear, theyve surrounded this restaurant. We now know that they are trying to communicate with the gunmen inside of the restaurant. But we dont know if any demands have been made. Theres that. Let me bring in jim sciutto here, our chief National Security correspondent just to talk a little bit as we stay on some of these pictures, jim. Talk to me about what presence is known with either isis or al qaeda within bangladesh. Well, we know, sadly, that both are present and capable in the country. As you say, we dont know which group is responsible for this but we do know that isis has a presence, has carried out attacks, including horrific hacking attacks, as you mentioned earlier, of bloggers, hindu leader recently. But we also know that al qaeda is affiliated it is aqis, al qaeda in the subcontinent. Interestingly enough, just yesterday the u. S. Designated aqis as a terrorist group after it claimed to have killed a u. S. Citizen in bangladesh. So you have two groups active there. And if it is one of these groups, aqis or isis, they do not treat hostages well. That is a grave situation if that is involved in this case. They are also the kinds of groups that are difficult to negotiate with, difficult and impossible to negotiate with. So it goes to what is the Police Response here. Thats going to be an open question as we watch this. Another reminder were coming to the end of the muslim holy month of ramadan. Why know isis in particular, its leader, called for attacks during that time period. Sadly, thats why you are standing there in istanbul. It is believed that that attack there during the ramadan period, that that was attentional. Even the attacker in orlando who claimed to be carrying it out for the sake of isis, that was also during ramadan, thought to be some connection there. So the timing is important. The location and the presence in that country of these two groups. What about specifically within this restaurant, jim in we know this is a pretty affluent area of dhaka. We know there are a lot of expats, diplomats. This area has a number of embassies. A number of foreigners sitting inside of these restaurants as we speak. Can you speak to the significance of that particular target . It fits the m. O. Of both an isis or an al qaeda. You go in highprofile areas where there are lots of foreigners because, sadly, those are often the attacks that the International Community pays attention to. Thats exactly why they went, for instance, after the airport in istanbul. This is a very busy airport. Lots of internationals there. We saw that in the list of victims. Many, many nationalities effected. Here you are an international compound. Important ones, diplomats, those tied to the International Community. I cant say i know you reported this earlier that the state department has said they have accounted for all u. S. Nationals tied to the u. S. Diplomatic presence there, but of course there are many other countries there representative of this community and this is the kind of place where people visit, where nationals will go to on a friday night to enjoy themselves. And it is the kind of target that groups like isis and al qaeda and its affiliates have picked in the past. Correct. Jim sciutto, thank you for your voice this afternoon. I appreciate that. Steve moore, former fbi, Law Enforcement contributor for us here at cnn. Steve moore, on the tactics on what is happening right now as these elite bomb Disposal Units, Law Enforcement, s. W. A. T. Teams are all surrounding this restaurant. We just had learned a moment ago that they are trying to communicate with these gunmen. How . How communicate with them. Well, if they are a wellequipped team, theyll have throw phones, different devices that they can actually through various means literally deploy inside the restaurant to try to talk to them. But as your previous guests have said, i see no good end game to talk to these people except possibly to find out information about their tactical abilities inside the place. Because frankly, this is an anile listic end game for them. They are only Holding Ground as long as they can to get as much news as they can, and then they are going to try to get the highest body count. We talk about these sort of attacks and talk about maximizing casualties. What do you make of the time of day . It is after midnight there in dhaka. 20 to 30 people inside. Significant at all . I think its more indicative of just the logistics of the operation. Thats when theyre going to get the most people in these restaurants. In the heat of the day youre not going to find that many people hanging out in these places. Because if you attack at 4 00, 5 00 in the afternoon, you might not get diplomats. This is a calculated attack. They probably cased this place and they determined that thats their best location to get a higher body count. And body count of westerners. Notice that they didnt attack the bangladeshi restaurant. This is a western restaurant. Right now the terrorists inside are likely, if they have explosives, setting them in ways that would be daejing to anybody who would try to assault the place. The longer you wait, the more time they have to fortify their position. We know that there has been one Police Officer there in dhaka in the midst of all of this thats been killed. Steve moore, thank you so much for your Law Enforcement perspective. Im sure well bring you back in. Coming up next here, well talk to an American Teacher in dhaka who was nearby, who has heard the gunshots. Hear that americans perspective next. Wow. These are awesome this is my dream car. Yeah, i like this. 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Im Hillary Clinton and i approve this message. Back to our breaking news here out of dhaka, bangladesh. There has been one death, a Police Officer here, in this ongoing hostage siege involving at least six to eight gunmen who have taken over the spanish restaurant just after midnight in dhaka. 20 to 30 people inside. A number of foreigners. We know that the American Embassy not too terribly far away. Quickly before i bring in my guest, we have heard from u. S. State department commenting on this ongoing siege saying the embassy in dhaka as of now they have accounted for 100 of american citizens working under the chief of mission authority. Situation is ongoing. Too early to say who is involved or motivation. That said, let me bring in Lieutenant Colonel cedric layton, a cnn military analyst who can speak to, colonel, the lay of the land in dhaka. What can you share . Sure, brooke. Well, basically the u. S. Embassy is on a street that feeds into a street that leads about two miles to the place where this happened and the restaurant is not too far from a hospital called United Hospital right alongside this lake. The basic area is very nice area. It is of course one of those areas that is frequented by foreigners, as you reported, and it is one of those areas where when i was there on temporary assignment for a very brief period it reflected more of the cosmopolitan life that most diplomats had been used to. Of course that makes it a prime target for these kinds of attackers. We know, as we were talking to a number of guests, talking about any sort of presence of al qaeda, which would be al qaeda in the indian subcontinent, aqis in this part of the world prp the other question would be isis cells. We dont know who is behind this but when were hearing that the police are trying to communicate, trying to negotiate with the gunmen inside, colonel, what do you make of that . Brooke, i think those are certainly the steps that any police force would take in a situation like this. But they cant expect it to work. Terrorists, the type that we think might be involved in Something Like this, are going to try very hard not to communicate with the police and achieve as many casualties as they possibly can. It is very unfortunate, but you have to have that approach to it because they want to make maximum impact. They want to make sure that they get their message across and if they negotiate a surrender or some kind of hostage swap, that usually doesnt get their message out. We mentioned, colonel, a moment ago here i believe we have the google map of where exactly this cafe is in relation to the American Embassy, to a number of embassies, i understand, in this part of the city. Again, this happening after midnight. Whats your take on clearly the target was i shouldnt say clearly many are foreigners. Any of these types of events usually target foreigners because of the impact the press coverage is going to be so much greater when there are foreigners involved, especially if they are diplomats or military people. What youre seeing here i think is really a manifestation of that. Theyre trying to send a message that they have these this area under their control for at least a brief period, and they want to, in essence, strike fear into the hearts of the people that are assigned to dhaka that are stationed in dhaka and do what they can to disrupt relations between bangladesh and the rest of the world. Colonel cedric layton, thank you so much for calling in. Let me bring in and eyewitness, someone who was standing two blocks away from this siege thats playing out where you are seeing all these pictures. This eyewitness is sayad, i understand you are very, very close to this restaurant. What have you seen, what have you heard . So around 9 00, i was sitting outside in dhaka with my cousin. We heard three really large gunshots. And so it like two roads away. So it is really close. Then we heard reports all over saying there was some kind of attack on the restaurant which is really close by. So we went and then the local news came and basically they said that there was actually a person that you indicate, he was the supervisor, and they actualdy will a oactual actua actually did a oneonone interview with him. We heard the blast. Unfortunately they killed a police chief im trying to hang on your every word but i just have to be honest, im joining you here from istanbul and im having a tough time making out everything youre saying. I appreciate it you are standing two blocks away. Quick break, back after this. vo stank face. A universal expression of disgust, often caused by inadequate cat litter. If you or your a loved one suffers from stank face, the cure is tidy cats. 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There are six to eight whats being described as young men, these gunmen who have taken right around two dozen hostages as has been described to cnn from this Restaurant Owner who managed to escape here. One Police Officer has been killed. The police, the s. W. A. T. Teams there, surrounding the restaurant on the ground trying to negotiate with these gunmen inside. No word whether or not that is at all successful or what sorts of demands may be being made right now. Ivan watson is one of our senior interNational Correspondents who has done a bit of reporting here on bangladesh and can speak to the violence specifically in this part of the world, especially in the last two years. Ivan, tell me about the socalled machete murders. Weve been reporting extensively over the past two years on this grizzly phenomenon unfolding in bangladesh of targeted killings. In one case targeted killings of atheists and secular bloggers and writers and publishers, targeting killings with machetes of some of the nonmuslim religious minorities, targeted killing of a japanese businessman, last april of two lgbt activists one of whom worked for the u. S. Embassy. The embassy tracked at least 35 similar attacks in a period of 14 months and about 25 of them had been claimed by terrorist groups. In june the Bangladeshi Government went on the offensive rounding up more than 1,500 suspects as part of a crackdown on what it would say is extremism. Sgl weve talked a lot about the three suicide bombers and where theyre from. Weve been getting the reporting from the turks pending the alleged master mind or the organizer. This guy by the name of. Hes missing a hand and a leg. Youre saying what . I mean, yes, from descriptions that we have of this guy, hes portrayed as the bad guy. Isis commander. Tried to smuggle weapons into sweden. Were hearing this, but i think the Bigger Picture here is turkish authorities have not been very present with the media and getting conflicts reports as to who this guy is and who the bombers are. Initially there were reports that the bombers were russian. Now were hearing reports there were two russians and right now i think theres just a complete lack of clarity. Particularly on the turkish side as to whats going on. I think we kind of need to guard ourselves in terms of speculating who these master minds are. The turkish president today giving a statement saying its probable isis was behind the attack, but that suggests to me if theyre not sure if isis is behind the attack, how do they know who the master mind is. I hear you. At least one, if not two russian former soviet republic. This isnt the la vant. This is a different part of the world. What kinds of fighters are these . Talk to me about their training. Sure. I think a lot of there are several thousand fighters within isis as well as al qaeda who are from the soformer soviet republ. People from southern russia, et cetera. These guys had experience waging real life against the russians in the 1990s. They have a lot of battle field experience. Theyve gone into syria and iraq and trained foreign fighters. Trained local fighters tactics while fighting the russians. For instance the city of fallujah in iraq was guarded by a brigade. There are a number of people who have taken prominent roles, not only within isis. So these guys play a very prominent role within the military side of things of these organizations. Got to get it straight and see what exactly is going on and who was responsible. Again, though we were hearing this was very much on purpose in the winding down days of the muslim holy month of ramadan. Thank you very much. This is cnn breaking news. Were continuing on here. Im Brooke Baldwin live at istanbul turkey recovering in the wake of the new developments here. Triple suicide bombing nightsing a. Lets begin with whats happening not too terribly far from where im standing in beg de beg la desh. Weve been watching this, dozens of hostages taken inside of this bakery. Spanish restaurant by night. We know this area is surrounded by police, by Law Enforcement. In fact we have learned thad one member of the Law Enforcement has been killed. We have heard from the owner of this bakery who managed to escape from within and has described these gunmen as young men saying there are at least six to eight of them. Those individuals inside this restaurant, approximately 20 to 30 of them. Many of them foreigners and also just in this particular area of bangladesh, it is an affluent area of bangladesh. A number of places in this area, caves, restaurants and foreigners inside. Around 1 00 in the morning there. Lets begin the morning with or correspondent who covers this part of the world for us. Tell me what you know. Very much an ongoing situation. What we know is one Police Officer has died. He was wounded in that operation. We also know as you mentioned the owner of the restaurant, he mentioned that around 20 people were in that restaurant when the assailant stormed into that building. He believes all 20 may be still trapped and held hostage. This is an area as you mentioned very affluent. A lot of restaurants. A lot of cafe. Epicenter of wealth. Massive area, and, of course, this is the last friday of ramadan. A lot of people would have been in that area at the time. In fact, not too long ago in september of last year this is the same area an italian was gunned down. At that time isis had taken responsibility for that attack. A month later a japanese worker had also been killed in dhaka. Theres been a number of attacks against foreigners. People from there lbgt community, but this is sergecery the first time were seeing this kind of attack on a large group of people in a hostage situation, brook. Okay. Thank you very much. Standby for me. Ive got someone on the phone. I have lori walsh. An American Teacher. An American Standard International School there in dhaka. Lori ann, if you can hear me, tell me where you are. Did you hear gunshots. Yes, i did. Im about a block away from where the restaurant is. I can still see people out on the streets. Theyre gathered and police still on the street. The situation is still ongoing. As far as i can tell, i havent ladd heard gunshots in a while. I think everybody is sitting and waiting and trying to get the hostages out. I imagine ill hear more gunshots later once the situation erupts when they probably go in and take everybody out. I dont know if we can say for certain just because there are no gunshots that the hostages are being released. Im saying they may go in and try to free them. I see. I see. This restaurant, tell me about this restaurant. They started it basically for the community. I know the people who started the restaurant and that was the premises that they couldnt there was no place in dhaka like this where you could go in and buy italian bred that tasted like anything you would eat in the u. S. Or europe. So this is what they started with. They have a lot of items. Its a nice place to go for brunch on a friday morning and the kids play on the grass and the parents enjoy the food. So its a nice hang out spot. Lori ann, if youre still with me and forgive me, theres a bit of a delay. Im standing here in turkey. Actually im being told on im going to bring in shama. Can you hear me . Youre live on cnn. Yes, i can hear you. I understand, are you close by this restaurant . Caller yeah, i visited there a few months ago actually. So i live just five minutes from where its taking place so we could actually hear the gunshots when they went off initially from our balcony. I had a cousin who was coming upstairs and he told us there was some kind of attack taking place outside. How long ago did you hear those gunshots . Caller i want to say it was like almost an hour ago. Yeah. Its been a while now. So an hour ago. Its been silent ever since. Were waiting to get some information. We heard from Law Enforcement they were trying to communicate with the began mgunman inside. Can you tell us about this restaurant. Would there be places to hide inside the restaurant. Its fairly new. Its beautiful. They have outdoor seating and really ample space and popular among the young people. You know, my cousins go there all the time. They live here and one of my cousins has four friends who are inside right now who are all really anxious. We actually know people who are inside. Okay. Forgive me. I had someone in my ear. I want to stay with you. Its a beautiful restaurant. Its a posh restaurant. This all began around midnight your time. How many people would be out and about around these restaurants eating, having a drink on a friday night . It would be a really large amount of people on a friday night. First of all, its rom damadan so this is around the time people can eat before their fast starts in the morning. Its a popular time for people to be out. Its a popular time for young people to be out at that restaurant. Like i just said, i have a cousin who has four friends inside that restaurant right now so their parents are waiting really anxiously outside the restaurant for news. Oh, my goodness, i did not hear that part of it. Im standing in the part of a busy highway. Forgive me for not hearing that. Have you talked to those four Friends Family members. Have they been in touch with these four at all . No. From what i hear, they havent heard anything, but you know, its just its something so scary. Its so close to home and to actually know someone. I dont know them personally, its my cousins friends. Its a scary thing. I dont think they have any updates. Weve been talking a bit with a couple of voices here about the recent violent socalled machete murders the last year or two or so in bangladesh. These people were targeted in broad daylight with machetes and you had muslims and members of the Lgbt Community being targeted. Theres there fear permeating this part of the world. Can you speak to that at all . Caller i think we are seeing a rice in radicalism in this country and its really scary these attacks have been so consistent. Its clearly an organized type of crime. Theyre not just isolated attacks. And, you know, its been mostly against individuals and today its not against an individual. Its an attack against a group of people and thats especially scary. Its just its so close to home and no one really expects to see Something Like that take place. Lets stay in contact with you and especially your cousins four friends inside this restaurant. The hostages being taken by gunman. Right around 1 00 in the morning now. Thank you so much for hopping on the phone. I really appreciate that. Were going to take a quick break on this live breaking news. You both have a perfect driving record. Perfect. No tickets. No accidents. That is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. Yup. Now, you would think your Insurance Company would cut you some slack, right . No. Your insurance rates go through the roof. Your perfect record doesnt get you anything. Anything. Perfect for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. And if you do have an accident, our claim centers are available to assist you 24 7. For a free quote, call Liberty Mutual at switch to Liberty Mutual and you could save up to 509 call today at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. This is cnn breaking news. Youre watching cnn breaking news. Im Brooke Baldwin in istanbul turkey. Were turning on attention to Dhaka Bangladesh. For at least the last hour a hostage crisis has been underway within this bakery restaurant here in dhaka. An area just east on india. You have a lot of cafe and restaurant areas. These gunman with grenades according to my last guest an american who lives nearby said the last time she heard gunshots was about an hour ago and since then it has been silent. One Police Officer has been killed. Lets go to washington in our White House Correspondent who is there, michelle, has the president been updated on the situation in dhaka. This was happening while we were in the Daily Briefing today. This White House Press secretary was asked directly about this, but as it was ongoing and still is, the white house hasnt yet weighed in on this with any detail. Generally they want to wait a little bit and get a better sense of what the situation is as well as is u. S. Security situation there. What the white house is saying at this moint is the president has been briefed on the situation by his instant by Homeland Security and counter terrorism. Theyre basically watching the situation as we are right now. This comes only days after the turkey attacks, only days after the president wild he was traveling in canada talked about the fact that isis and other groups are still able to launch attacks like this. The continued commitment of the u. S. And other countries to try to stop it, but theres a genuine concern there among people around the world including the white house that still now watching this closely. That these things keep happening. The white house should weigh in on this soon. Were expecting to hear from the National Security counsel probably within the next hour or two, brook. Well listen in for that. Thank you so much. Also hearing that all americans at the American Embassy, they are accounted for, but gail lamon, let me bring you in. Michelle was talking about isis and yes, as were sitting here in front of the airport in istanbul, weve been talking about isis for the last couple of days, but we do not know who these gunmen or or who they would have pledged their allegiance too. That said, educate us on the presence of these terror cells within bangladesh. Reporter this is really fascinating because what you see tonight is dueling narratives. On the one hand they made huge gains in education, Economic Development in recent years and have been gaining world bank and other peoples attention. On the other hand it is now a home turf war between al qaeda and isis. Isis most recent incident talked about beng deangladesh and the o the groups attention there. High profile attacks against foreigners that would be you know enough to get other people to the camp of the isis fighters. And thats the thing. You say foreigners, number of foreigners here in this particular restaurant tonight. This is an area described to me as a posh restaurant. A number of embassies in this part of the country. What do you make though from what i understand the government has sort of dismissed any notion as isis or al qaeda has claimed responsibility for privaevious violence. If government dismissing that. Reporter a lot of people have been talking about this. The state department put out a warning that talked about the threat of attacks, the high profile attacks against foreigners. Americans who are in other countries are not encouraged from being in Public Places like the one we are watching, this horrible scene unfold tonight. Yet the leadership of the country in part feel ifs you acknowledge the threat of International Groups such as isis and al qaeda using this as turf for operation, then youre almost legislate immunizing it and has been criticized for home grown terror groups rather than being serious about the isis and al qaeda threat. Let me just hit pause on this conversation and tell everyone as were covering this ongoing siege, we have a second officer who has been killed. So two dead as were watching this. Just awful news to report on whats happening in dhaka. As far as the fact that the government has been dismissive. Youre saying they dont want to acknowledge the presence of terrorism. What are the people in bangladesh . How worried have they been because when you look at these previous, you know, murders with machetes, from what i understand, targeting initially the secular bloggers, people who have been outspoken about islam. Reporter right. I mean, this has been a slow escalation of high profile horror. Its just the world has had so many other places to look. Syria, iraq, turkey, orlando. Very few people have been paying attention to the horrors escalating inside. People on the ground as your wonderful guests earlier have been talking about have been watching with fear as this is growing. You all covered beautifully on cnn and these attacks have gone largely unnoticed outside bangladesh until today and a lot of people have been watching isis. Again, i know we do not know who did this, but really Pay Attention to that Magazine Issue and turning the attention to bangladesh. What is happening in the world . Gail, thank you so much. Senior fellow and counsel on relations. Were going to take a quick break. More on the breaking news out of Dhaka Bangladesh next. Every time i drive. Want my number . And cash back for driving safe. And the power to automatically find your car. I see you car and i got the power to know whos coming and when if i break down. You must be gerry. Hey. In means getting more from your Car Insurance with the allpowerful drivewise app. Its good to be in, good hands. Just about the bottom of the hour here. Im Brooke Baldwin live tonight in istanbul turkey. Weve been talking about the triple suicide bombing here at this airport. As weve been talking terrorism, want to turn our attention to what is happening right now in Dhaka Bangladesh. We cant label whats happening here because we simply dont mow who these gunman are, but six to eight gunmen have taken over this bakery restaurant in dhaka in this more affluent posh area of the city in bangladesh. From what we understand, a lot of embassies in the neighborhood, including the American Embassy and at this point in time, just after 1 30 in the morning there. 20 to 30 people are holed up inside. Last we heard according to eyewitnesss gunshots ringing out about an hour ago and since then silence. Two Police Officers now, two Police Officers have been killed as weve been watching these pictures play out of squat teams surrounding this restaurant. Got some guidance that Law Enforcement were trying to communicate. Trying to negotiate with these gunmen inside. No word on how successful that has been. Lets go to ivan watson who has been covering some of the violence in recent years in bangladesh. Before we get to that ivan, tell me, do we know anything more about whats happening there on the ground . Weve been hearing from eyewitnesss on the scene there. They say they havent heard gunfire in some time. Weve spoken with an assistant Deputy Police commissioner. Described one of his Police Officers killed by gunfire. That Deputy Police commissioner said he himself had been wounded by gunfire. Again, no direct claim of what these people want who are holding the hostages. The cafe owner saying approximately 20 hostages in that cafe and between six to eight gunmen. Very fluent situation right now. Very tense. Well bring you uptodate with the latest when we get it, br k brook. What do we know about violence in this part of the world specifically in the recent years and potentially terrorism . Reporter this is very important context in this fluent situation, brook. Cnn has been reporting over the course of the past year on this very grizzly phenomenon of machete murders. Carried out, but two competing groups claiming to be acting on the behalf of, on the one hand, isis, on the other than hand, al qaeda. Theyve been attacking everybody from aitiest bloggers, lbgt activists, members of nonmuslim religious minorities to an italian aide worker last year, a japanese businessman last year. Again with claims responsibility coming from groups claiming to be isis or al qaeda. Last april after two lbgt activists one of whom worked for the u. S. Embassy were murdered in a terrifies apartment invasion, house invasion. The u. S. Ambassador to bangladesh sounded basically awake up call, a warning call saying that the embassy had tracked in april 35 similar attacks over a period of 14 months, and she said that 25 of those attacks had been claimed by terrorist organizations. Now, the Bangladeshi Government insists this is not the work of foreign extremists groups. It has been blaming the attacks on the main opposition political party. Oppositions that have been denied by that party, but in june the government went on the offensiv offensive. It rounded up more than 14,000 suspects across the country in a mass sweep. Some of that was criticized for just being too wide and being a political witch hunt, but that gives you a sense of the growing violence and the growing political particularization in the country. The terror and fear has prompted some of these secular and aitiest writers to flee the country by the dozens. Ive been to germany to interview people who have fled over the course of the past six months because of this growing atmosphere of violence in the country. We dont know who is carrying out this attack thus far, brook. If it is in fact jihadi inspired it would mark a dramatic turn in the tactics by streami iextremi ivan watson, thank you so much. I want to take you now to the pentagon to our correspondent there who can also give a little bit of context since were talking about terrorism for those who are pledging allegiance to whether its isis or al qaeda in bangladesh. Barbara issui barbara, what did the state department do just yesterday. Reporter its pretty amazing. The Statement Department declared al qaeda in the indian sub continue tent aqis a foreign Terror Organization. This happened just yesterday. This means that they have identified some people they believe associated with that group and their operations they believe, india, pakistan, bangladesh, a group associated with the al qaeda leader, the designation by the state department now of course prohibits u. S. Persons from doing any business with any elements of this socalled aqis organization. Some of the things they believe al qaeda in the indian subcontinent has been responsible for, let me just tick off a couple of them. 2014 attack on a naval shipyard. You may remember militants tried to hijack a pakistan any naval ship. They also claimed responsibility for some of what ivan was just talking about. The murders of activists, secular writers, bloggers in the region, including in bangladesh. Lets stop for a moment and say it again. We do not know who is responsible for this unfolding situation in bangladesh at this hour. It certainly gives attention because of this Al Qaeda Organization and because of the sense that u. S. Intelligent services and asia as well as european intelligence have that isis and al qaeda have taken hold throughout south asia and bangladesh as well. If it does prove the be isis, it shows the part of what the u. S. Is really dealing with. A networked global organization. This is what we heard so often in all of these cities around the world about this isis network. G again, we dont really know in bangladesh yet, but there is an isis element in this region. Network, people who are inspired. They may not be directed. They get together, they plan, they plot. What they are achieving in so many of these places is in fact their goal, terror and death. We heard from nejt services across the world. Isis needs to be viewed at a death cult. People join to it carry out attacks to kill as many as they can and to kill themselves. So a lot of concern that this is an area of the world where so many of the attacks that have been seen that many of the poor, less affluent nations, less affluent Security Services in the region are really struggling to deal with, brook. All right. Barbara star, thank you very much at the pentagon and talk about the time being aqis just designated Terror Organization yesterday bring the state department. Thank you for that. Can talk a little more about the got politics and potential terrorism within this country, whether or not its actually directed from isis headquarters or al qaeda headquarters or not. What can you add to this conversation . Reporter you know, bangladesh is a country a lot of people dont know about. Its one of the largest countries in the world. It has a history of democratic world. Drew smyly be its been a democracy for a long time. This is the classic pattern of jihadi and extremist groups. They seek out political divisions and exploit them. If this is the work of an International Terrorist group theyre goal is to exploet and make worse. Create a situation in which the society is to pulmonary io pola respond. I did my research. I did my economic work in south asia. I focused on the birth and nationalism in south asia. Includes india and the history of these countries where religion has been a contention topic. In all place like bangladesh like pakistan what youre seeing is a contest over what it means to be muslim. Unfortunately when democratic governments fails to deliver on what people are looking for, when secular leaders fail to deliver what theyre looking for you get the rise of extremism. It increases to a point where the main political facts in the society are so busy attacking each other and not paying attention to the smaller, but far more dangerous extremists groups and sometimes groups like isis and al qaeda take advantage of precisely that. They punch in and do Something Like were seeing right now unfolding in dhaka. You know, i dont have to remind you, but reminding everyone watching were in the final days of ramadan. Im standing here in front of this airport in istanbul turkey where the triple suicide bombing was expected to land during ramadan and there have been calls by these organizations to exploit this time of the year. Why . Reporte i was in istanbul monday actually. I flew out to new york. Im going to be there again on saturday. This hits close to home. My family is from south asia. The best i can tell you or the closest image i can find is someone created the pieces of religion and created a frankenstein out of it. The last ten days of ramadan are the sacred time of the year. Making it into time of murder and mayhem. Its like someone taking something dear do you and using it for terror. Small number of people can cause a lot of harm because they intend to and they use bloody violence. We saw earlier today a hindu priest hacked to death. This is a cancer in many muslim communities they are trying to fight. They are poor and polar riized dwoe dont have the resources. Thank you so much. Quick break, were back after this. Its in the quiet moments when you see why she does this. For hillary, its always been about kids. And when millions couldnt get health care, this first lady worked with republicans and democrats to fix it. Creating the Childrens Health insurance program, so that every child gets the health care that child deserves to have. Now eight million kids are covered. Thats the kind of leader she is. And the kind of president shell be. Im Hillary Clinton and i approve this message. Thats why i run on quickbooks. Details. I use the payments app to accept credit cards. And everything autosyncs. Those sales prove my sustainable designs are better for the environment and my bottom line. Thats how i own it. 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Relief and remission within reach. Welcome back. Im Brooke Baldwin live in istanbul turkey. Former u. S. Ambassador to iraq and turkey so mr. Ambassador thank you so much for being with me. I want to talk to you about the two topics, first being the breaking hostage siege in Dhaka Bangladesh. My question is from all the conversations ive been having the violence and especially with the machete murders in the world the last two years, the facts that weve now learned that al qaeda in the indian subcontinent aqis was just designated a Terror Organization yesterday by the state department. It seems to me the government in bangladesh dismissive of this rise in terrorism. Youre absolutely right. Weve seen in including in turkey where the isis threat was ignored and played down unt. We see it in bangladesh. First individual groups like orlando, like san bernadino. Now we see organized groups using military tactics taking out a large number of hostages and this is an example again, and, again, manifesting itself throughout the middle east and elsewhere that people deny they have a terrorist threat in the amidst. Again, i feel like i have to keep having to add this caveat as we talk about this ongoing situation in dhaka. We dont mow who the six to eight gunmen are. Whether they are part of some sort of terrorist cell, whether its al qaeda or isis or who knows what. That said lets pivot to whats happening in istanbul being the former ambassador to turkey. Now that we learned what these eventual suicide bombers were living about a half hour from where i am and where you know very well in istanbul. Has turkey done enough in fighting the rise of terrorism here. Reporter turkey is facing two terrorist threats. Also from kurdish and surging group the pkk. Truce was broken by both sides about a year ago and has resulted in very heavy casualties and thirdly the assad regime has launch aide tacks across the border and is a Security Threat for turkey. Turkey has a lot of Different Things that disburse the resources. Nonetheless, it doesnt do enough against isis. I think that will change now after this iconic symbol of success. The istanbul airport has been attacked, but its a dollar late. The fact though, mr. Ambassador, and ive covered a number of these terror attacks or mass shootings, you know, what is so striking about this one here at the airport is the majority of victims are muslim. And this is i just heard the evening prayer outside of the mosque at the airport. These are the final days of ramadan, so why . Isis in particular and were now essentially certain that the istanbul attack was not only isis inspired, but was actually planned and launched by isis leaders in raqqah and syria. Isis devoted much of its hatred to other muslim groups. All of shia islam are considered heretics and are targets in iraq and elsewhere. Also the regime such as the turkish regime which have been active, not as active as we would like, but in the fight against isis. Allowing u. S. Troops to operate out of southern turkey. As far as isis is concerned, turkey is the enemy just or eve else. How do you see the role of turkey playing out in the u. S. Lead coalition that this war that is being waged both in neighboring syria and in iraq . What we have to do it recognize from istanbul that there is no way you can successfully defend against these attacks. Istanbul is one of the most hardened public sights you can have in the world. Thats why the airport was up and operating within hours. There is always groups of people gathering and those people can become targets. To end these things, you have to take down the Islamic State in iraq and syria. We need to do it faster. Turkey can help, but the United States will have to do more as well. We have about 1 of our military forces dedicated to this. It is striking how just flying in a couple nights ago, the blood and shattered glass, and in is day gone and it is back hope. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time tonight. When we come back, well pivot back to this ongoing situation and well talk to that american who is not too far away, heard the gunshots, ringing out in the streets just about an hour ago. Lifting up patients. Changing their socks. Youre sore and youre beat from all that you did. For rest and relief try sealys hybrid. So take a load off and feel good as new. Cause sealys support is perfect for you. Only the sealy hybrid has Posturepedic Technology to support you where you need it most. Sealy. Proud supporter of you. Premium like clockwork. Month after month. Year after year. Then one night, you hydroplane into a ditch. Yeah. Surprise. 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According to the owner who was able to escape, there are 20 to 30 hostages in this restaurant, including a number of foreigners, and six to eight gunmen. And according to this american visiting nearby, the last time they heard any gunshots was some time ago. Tom fuentes is standing by. Two Police Officers have been shot and killed, your response to all of this . I think, brook, we expected the announcement that isis would take credit for this, and that it probably was isis. The prop here, and what really worries us, is knowing it is isis there will not be any effective negotiation. They want the hostages to die, the Law Enforcement officers that try to free the hostages to die, and they want maximum world prime Time Television coverage when it unfolds. Right now in bangladesh it has been unstable for the last couple years. Now we see isis trying to assert itself. Tom fuentes, stay with me, i want to bring peter bergan in. Isis claiming responsibility, knowing what happened with the triple suicide bombing a few nights ago, 43 murdered. And now to know this is isis, 20 to 30 lives inside of this restaurant, the concern is high. Yeah, unfortunately this is a attack that we have seen, all of us saw in 2008. Where you know 166 people were killed by ten who went in knowing they would fight to the death. The people that would sacrifice themselves, this is one of those attacks it seems. They will try to take out as many Police Officers as possible. They will try to prolong this to get as much coverage on Networks Like cnn as possible. They will kill all of the hostages almost certainly. We saw this unfortunately play out in paris. And played out in many other places. It is part of the ramadan offensive. Unfortunately were seeing another one of these play out today. For folks just tuning in. This is a popular posh restaurant in the part of thousand where you have a lot of diplomats and foreigners in this restaurant, and we just got word that 40 people have been ininjured. That is all i have. 40 people have been injured. Any attempt to negotiate with terrorists are feud feudal futi. They can just find the safest approach and if theyre lucky kill as many hos substantial takers as they can without all of the hostages being killed. Their studying the layout of the restaurant and where these guys are. It will be a very, very difficult assignment for them. Tom, thank you so much. Im brook baldwin live in istanbul, turkey. Were going to continue watching this situation. Cnn special coverage continues right now. This is cnn breaking news. Thank you, welcome to the lead, im jim shudo. Breaking news just into cnn. Isis now claiming responsibility for an ongoing terror attack in bangladesh. This according to their semiofficial news agency known as the amaq news agency. This is images out of dhaka. Police are trying to save hostaging that are still trapped in a straupt therestaurant. We were told by the cafe owner that was able to escape. The only artisan
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