[Hala Gorani, International Correspondent, Cnn, London:] Welcome back, everybody. To our viewers around the world and in the United States, you're watching our special coverage of the Paris terrorist attack. I'm Hala Gorani.
[Berman:] And I'm John Berman. We are live in Paris this morning, but there is some breaking news outside of this city right now from Mali. A Radisson Hotel in the capital of Mali, Bamako, under attack right now. We are hearing that 170 hostages have been taken. U.N. troops have been called in to help the local ground forces with the situation.
[Gorani:] Right. It must be terrifying for the people there. A government spokesperson said military forces on the ground, they've set up a perimeter around the hotel. It is an active situation. The U.S. Embassy in Mali is advising American citizens and staffers to remain indoors.
[Berman:] This Radisson in Bamako is known as a place where Westerners in that city go, spend time, hang out. Very possible some of them being held hostage right now in this ongoing situation.
[Gorani:] And of course France had military operations in 2013 in Mali against Islamic forces there and really you could say it was a successful...
[Berman:] Yes.
[Gorani:] ...operation for the French there. If this is a way of making a point on the part of Islamist fighters in that country that we are going to hit back in Mali, this would be the way to do it, to go after foreigners, international customers at that Radisson in Bamako.
[Berman:] At this point we don't know if there is direct connection, but certainly a symbolic reason to think that there could be.
[Gorani:] Right.
[Berman:] There's also some new information this morning here in Paris about the presumed whereabouts of the man who could have been involved in planning those attacks.
[Gorani:] Now a source close to the investigation is telling us at CNN that Abdelhamid Abaaoud was seen on security footage, closed circuit television. He was at a Metro station at the same time the Bataclan siege was underway.
[Berman:] French police confirm that Abaaoud was one of two people killed in the pre-dawn raid in the Paris suburb of St. Denis on Wednesday. CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with Nathalie Gallant. She is the attorney representing Abaaoud's father and, according to that man, Abaaoud believes his son was a psychopath and the father is now relieved that he is dead.
[Nathalie Gallant:] Yes, he was relieved because he, he, he knew already in the last month that his son was linked to all the terrorism acts which happened in Europe. He was afraid to, to learn that his son, Abdelhamid had maybe again committed something horrible.
[Gorani:] In fact a read an article quoting the sister of Abdelhamid Abaaoud long before these Paris attacks, because this man has been known to authorities, when it was believed he'd been killed Syria. We now perhaps believe that he faked his own death. His sister also quoted as saying, I sure hope he is dead.
[Berman:] Right, they had hoped he was dead at the time.
[Gorani:] Right. His own family wanted him dead. Now, of course, it's confirmed. But back to ISIS and these videos that have been emerging over the last several days, fighters are vowing to attack the United States, France again, and Italy, all places that the group has threatened.
[Berman:] And the FBI says it is not aware of any credible Paris- style threat in the United States. But the FBI says it is taking the possibility of a copy-cat attack very seriously, as you imagine they would.
[Gorani:] And Italy is ramping up its security measures in light of all these threats. St. Peter's Square recently featured on the cover of that online ISIS magazine. And this, coupled with all new threats, is triggering security concerns over the upcoming jubilee. That's a major Catholic event taking place next month.
[Berman:] I want to go to our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, who is Rome for more right now. Delia.
[Delia Gallagher, Senior Editor, "vatican" Magazine, Rome:] Hi John and Hala. Well the Italian Foreign Minister said yesterday that they have names of five possible terrorist suspects here in Italy whom they are working to identify. That is the extent of the information coming from the Foreign Minister yesterday. The U.S. Embassy here in Rome issued a warning to U.S. citizens, identifying three possible vulnerable sites for attacks, St. Peter's Basilica, as you mentioned, as well as La Scala, that's their opera house in Milan that's due to have their opening night on December 7th, as well Milan's main Catholic cathedral. The U.S. Embassy urging U.S. citizens here to be vigilant as well around churches, synagogues, hotels, restaurants, and so on. Now the Interior Minister said yesterday that Italy has moved 1,000 military to guard important sites around Rome and Italy. He says this was a plan which they had in place, ready to go, for December 8th, the date which Hala mentioned as the start date for Pope Francis' special jubilee year, but they have moved that up in light of the Paris attacks. Now the Italian police force is also saying they want a visible security presence around the streets of Rome and throughout Italy. I can attest to that. In the Metro, around the Vatican, and around important sites, we are seeing increased security. However, Italian authorities are very firmly pointing out that they do not have any credible plans for attack in Italy, but urging everyone to be vigilant. We should say that the increased security that we are seeing now we have seen before when ISIS released videos in September of last year and in January of this year, specifically mentioning Rome as a possible target. So we have seen in the past this higher level of security. Indeed, they are on a level 2 alert, which is the highest level next to being directly under attack. In all this, Pope Francis, something of a reassuring figures. He is continuing business as usual. We saw him Wednesday in St. Peter's Square, going around, greeting the crowds in his open-air Pope mobile, and the Pope has on schedule to go to Africa. A five-day trip in Africa starting next Wednesday, which the Vatican says will go ahead as planned. John, Hala.
[Gorani:] Delia Gallagher is live in Rome. We'll be right back with more.