Family Shot in Car in French Alps; U.S. Hands Over Afghan Prison
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Thanks for watching, everyone. NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL with Suzanne Malveaux starts now.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. Here's what's going on right now: The government of Iraq wants its own vice president dead. Well, now, he is on the run. And in Syria, they called them barrel bombs. They are full of nails, gasoline, and TNT. One just fell on a kindergartner. Also, we begin in Europe, where a little while ago a girl just woke up after witnessing the unspeakable. It is a murder mystery that stretches from France to Britain. A family was found dead in a car in the French Alps. The body of a cyclist was also discovered nearby. Now, all the victims were shot in the head, twice. But two little girls survived. One was beaten and shot. The other one hid under her dead mother's legs for hours. Atika Shubert, she is joining us from Claygate, England, outside the family's home. And, Atika, this has a lot of people talking. I mean, it's unbelievable when you think about what took place, what happened with this family. Do investigators have any idea of a motive?</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not at this point. And that's the big question: What was the motive? Why did this happen? And it is why British police are now inside the family home behind me there, looking for any clues, anything unusual, anything that might indicate why the family was targeted in this way. Now, earlier in the day, there was a bomb disposal unit that was brought in. There were some items that police were concerned might be hazardous. That has turned out not to be the case, and so, they've brought the cordon close to the home. But they've also been bringing quite a bit of equipment to really thoroughly comb through the home, trying to find anything that might indicate. But so far, no clue yet as to what the motive might have been, Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And, Atika, we know that one of these surviving girls, she was beaten, she was shot, and she came out of a medically induced coma yesterday. Investigators, are they trying to reach her? Are they trying to talk to her?</s>SHUBERT: They are trying to. However, even though she's been brought out of that coma, she's still under sedation, so it may still be a few days yet before she's really able to speak with investigators. They did have a chance to speak with her younger sister, the 4-year-old that survived by hiding underneath her mother's legs for hours after the attack. And, unfortunately, they say she was not able to provide any clues as to what happened. That she didn't see anything. She only heard the attack as it happened. So, they are really hoping that perhaps the 7-year-old daughter will be able to provide some clues, but so far no leads yet.</s>MALVEAUX: Atika, how are those two little girls doing? I mean, when you talk about that one who hid under her mother's legs -- do they have any sense of how she is mentally?</s>SHUBERT: Well, I mean, as you can imagine, it is an extremely traumatic event. We do know that the 4-year-old girl has been brought here back to the U.K. That she is with her closest relatives now, and that is good. The 7-year-old, as you know, has been brought out of her coma. But it will be very difficult to, of course, break the news to the 7-year-old girl about the -- what happened to her parents and then to have to question her afterwards will be very difficult.</s>MALVEAUX: Wow. Just tragic. Difficult, indeed. Thank you very much, Atika. Appreciate it. On to Afghanistan now. You're listening to a ceremony there. The U.S. military today handed over control of a controversial prison to the Afghan government. The brief ceremony, of course, making it official today. More than 3,000 Taliban fighters and terrorism suspects are held at Parwan Prison. It is at Bagram Air Base, that is near Kabul. And, Anna Coren, she's in Kabul, and she joins us here. The U.S., of course, explained to us, they are not necessarily giving up all of the prisoners. They're closing the detention center, handing it over to the Afghans. What about those detainees that are still in U.S. custody?</s>ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Suzanne, on the surface, everything might seem OK. But underneath it was a completely different story. There is real tension here between Afghanistan and the United States. So the U.S. holding on to something like 34 highly valued detainees. These being senior members of the Taliban, of the Haqqani Network, which of course just a couple of days ago was listed as a terrorist organization and of al Qaeda. So, these are the detainees that the U.S. does not want to hand over to the Afghans just yet. The reason being is they're concerned they'll end up in the criminal justice system and possibly be freed, whether it's through political interference or corruption. That is the major concern, Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And where do those prisoners go? Where do they physically take them? Where are they being held by the American officials?</s>COREN: Well, the Americans actually have a part of Bagram Prison. They have their own section. So, the prisoners are still being held at will. Now, it's worth noting, Suzanne, that an agreement was signed back in March between President Karzai and the United States about handing over control. But as of March, the U.S. has arrested something, like, 1,600 prisoners. They have been detained, and they are still under the control of the United States as well. So it's actually a few more than just the 34 that we have mentioned. But, yes, they will still be staying at Bagram Prison.</s>MALVEAUX: Tell the significance of this particular prison, because I understand it is the same place where you had hundreds of Qurans that were actually burned earlier in the year by U.S. troops, and that really set of a lot of violent protests against the U.S. military inside of Afghanistan.</s>COREN: Yes, definitely. I mean, this is a prison that has a long history. There were allegations of torture many years ago at the start of the occupation of Afghanistan, but certainly it has -- it has cleaned up its act, if you like, certainly after Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bagram has cleaned up its act. So, there haven't been allegations of torture, Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And how important is this to the Karzai government, to Hamid Karzai, who essentially is trying to get some assurances, some comfort, even some confidence to folks that once U.S. and international forces leave, that he is going to be able to rule his own country.</s>COREN: Yes. Well, that is a huge problem, Suzanne, trying to convince the Afghan population that he will be able to do just that. You mentioned the exit in 2014. We're already seeing a drawdown of coalition troops by the end of this month. There will only be 68,000 U.S. forces that are left in Afghanistan. So, you know, this is a coalition force that is reducing in numbers, and they will be gone by 2014, all foreign combat troops. But, you know, Suzanne, this was, of course, the safe haven for the Taliban before 2001, before those September 11th attacks. Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary, so I think the United States is really concerned that once those foreign combat troops leave, that this doesn't once again become a safe haven, I should say, for al Qaeda.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Anna Coren, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Here's what we're working on for</s>NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL: Iraq unraveling. That is right. A wave of bombings just ripping through the country. Now, the Vice President, he's on the run from his own government.