They say this group was ready to attack and could have launched a second wave of terror an the city at any moment. The alleged target this time was a Business District in paris. Another chilling twist. The target of the raid Police Believe and this is the big news weve learned in the last several hours. Police believe the suspected ring leader of fridays horrific attacks was actually hiding here in paris. If you had talked to authorities yesterday they would have said that he was most likely still in syria. Now they believe he may be in paris. And he was a target of this raid. At this moment it is not yet clear if hes among those killed or captured. But frances president says that a state of emergency blankets his nation. These actions confirm to us once again that we are at war. A war against terrorism, which itself has decided to bring war to us. And in the paris suburb of saintdenis this morning french time it certainly did sound like war. Cnn correspondents and analysts from around the world have converged on paris and spanned out across the city. And belgium also very much a nex nexus. I want to again begin in saintdenis where we find Clarissa Ward. Lets go back for viewers who were just joining us. Sprain what you have witness and heard over the last say 12 or so hours. Reporter hi anderson. Well, we are here just above the scene where the raids took place targeting two different apartment buildings. If we pan down here you can see there is still the road is completely blocked off. They have pushed journalists back on both ends. And that is because this was the scene of some heavy gunfire and explosions just about 11 hours ago. The resident of this apartment where we are currently told us the explosions started about 4 30 in the morning. He said it started with gunfire. He also heard grenades and he said at around a short time later he head a explosion that is the female that is believed to have blown herself up. And later on things continued to a church on the other end of the street. We saw a large group of police. They were banging down that door anderson. Desperately trying to get into that church. They poured into the church, spent some time in there. Came out some time later. It didnt appear they found anything inside the church but what it gives you a sense of is just on how high alert the police are. There was a military presence here earlier. The road was completely blocked off. And what this resident told us was so r eerie was you could h all the gunfire and explosions and grenades. But you didnt have a lot of people on the ground. You didnt have Police Telling people what was going on. The street actually felt empty in the beginning. Police waving around their guns understandably telling people poking their heads outside to get back in. And People Living here in paris are not used to this. One man said we have never seen anything like that. The described it as sound lookic a war zone. We do know at least two were killed. At least seven arrested. But no clues yet as to who was arrested and whether they are any closer to finding the alleged ring leader of fridays paris attacks. Anderson . Clarissa, the idea that this guy, this so called ring leader or planner of fridays attacks could actually be in france is really startling. We know according to authorities that previously he was in syria. He had been involved in previous attempts. There was the attempt on the train that was thwarted by several American Military personnel who subdued the attacker. But the idea that he would have been able to go from syria and reenter france is extraordinary. It is. And what you are realizing here is just how difficult it is to keep track of these guys. To keep track of their movements. We were hearing as recently as a month ago french and Coalition Forces were targeting this man with air raids inside syria. Now it appears he may be here in central paris. That is of course a startling development if it is true. And it really highlights the difficulty of following up on all of these different guys when they were able to move within the european union, open borders. They can move from country to country. We know that before abboud has gone as far as faking his own death to family to try to escape detection and fly under the radar. So it is still a very fluid situation here. And to be frank, parisians very much on edge. They are no closer to knowing whether this dangerous terrorist is here in their own city or even still possibly back in syria. So it is unfolding and fluid situation anderson. Fluid to say the least. Clarissa, well continue to check in with you. There are so many moving parts to these investigations going. Hundreds of raids over the last several days. Joining me now to talk about all this. Cnn correspondent jim shooto and the paul crookhank. For the last several days the focus really has been on belg m belgium. There is the so called eighth terrorist, the man believed to have been driving one of the vehicles during the attacks had gone back to belgian but now it really brings it all back home. And just for viewers back home, it is an hour and a half away by train. Like going from washington to new york. And clearly these attackers were moving back and forth from belgian to france frequently. Perhaps had a staging area but this is where they carried out the attacks. And one, we could easily be talking this morning about a second rampage in paris. Instead were talking about what appears to be a Successful Operation just in time as police described it. And im told that it is based on intelligence they gathered the last couple of days. Intercepted communication, phone call calls is key. And i think if you can find something good out of this, is that there was tremendously good, tremendously fast police work to stop this and act so quickly. When you look at the people inside the apartment they had many of the tools the attackers on friday had. Explosive vest, automatic weapons. Authorities are saying that the focus of what this group was planning would have been the Business District here in paris. A time which during the weekend would not have been busy. But on a day like today where things are sort of returning to normal, where businesses at least are open, there would have been a lot of right. And you and i have seen this around paris. This is stale city alive and operating. There are crowds here. There are stores open, businesses open. So the way this group acts they go after soft targets. Really anywhere they can find people they will attack. And one more point about significance that you referenced. The idea that the ring leader would have been here in france gets to this point weve talked from the beginning on these attacks. That the carry out such a broad expansive, international interconnected plot under the noses of french and western intelligence despite all the resources they are throwing at this to stop these guys before they can act, including someone known who can move back and forth from syria to france is worrisome. And also we are hearing months ago this man was a target of air strikes inside syria etc. If that was true, then how is it possible that he reentered france . That is a huge question. Because he has been on the radar. Its not as if he could slip in easily. Hes a belgian national. Is whether we know. Hes in his late 20s. Hes well known to intelligence communities here. And well known to u. S. Intelligence as well. Hes bragged publicly in isis publications about attacks. And French Security sources tell me they believe hes moved back and forth a number of times in reba recent movpts. And they connect him to many plots. You remember this train attack where the brave americans stopped the attacker. They believe he had a connection to them as well. That was from belgian to france. Interestingly enough. So gets right back to that corridor in effect of terror from belgian to france. The thing is it is surprisingly easy, to easy to still get from syria to europe. And, for instance, i was speaking to French Security officials who were saying that still turkey isnt doing enough to stop the refugee flow but it is not one country. Because you have so many countries involved here. Security services in france overwhelmed. We now know the u. S. Was and they are doing their best to watch and stop them from moving. I want to bring in paul crookshank. This latest raid what. Do you make of it. I think it is extraordinary what jim is saying the idea that this man so wanted by authorities, wanted in belgium as well could possibly be here in france . Well its extraordinary anderson. And there was an extraordinary raid this morning as well. It was, you know, a huge, sort of, fire fight. They had to use a lot of fire power to go in and the concerns obviously that the group inside were preparing some kind of second wave attack here. And now the worlds media has assembled in paris. And i think the plan was probably going to launch a second wave attack. Somewhere here perhaps in the Business District when the worlds media were here congregated for sort of maximum effect. I and i think there is also concern there could still be other plotters at large. I dont think many of us expected there to be two cells. And certainly given the fact there are now two cells, two different groups operating, there could be a third. So they will try to get a handle on all of that, anderson. And jim, again, there were the raids three locations, two apartments on the same street and also the church on that street. And it does beg the question, what else is out there . They have been very clear french authorities they believe there are more either attackers or supporters out there. Lets quickly review who they are looking for now. Because the eighth terror suspect. It is confidencing how many. There this ring leader ab del hamid abaaoud who they had hoped as at this location today. We dont know for sure whether or not. They have taken seven people into custody. There two people were killed as well in the raids. And friday night there were eight terrorists involved say authorities. Seven were killed friday night. One of them out there. There was an International Arrest warrant out for him. It is believed he had gone back to belgium but again that is up in the air. Several attacks on friday. I believe there was an eighth attacker. Salah abdeslam. They put an International Arrest warrant for him yesterday. And authorities said were looking for another person involved. And the source for that may be this video of one of the cars that took the attackers to a restaurant caught on video. They see a third person in that car. So they are looking for that third person. And that is a new piece of information. Previously they had only been talking about a eighth suspect involved in fridays attacks but because of that video. It goes to nine. And that is nine just from fridays attacks. Today you have seven arrests and two dead people. So there was a whole other cell planning an attack. And in addition to that, the thoughts about this ring leader. Where is he . Is he in belgium . Rather in france . They had enough information to suspect he was in one of those apartments this morning. The fact is we dont know. And i dont think it would be going out on a limb to say French Security services dont know how many people are still out there. And it will be interesting to see if they can get information from the seven people they now have in custody. What sort of information they have. Thank you for your reporting. There is so much to come in this next hour. Is the Obama White House doing enough to prevent attacks on u. S. Soil . One congresswoman and air force veteran says it is time to step up. She joins me, next. You give them a case of the giggles. Tylenol® cold helps relieve your worst cold flu symptoms. You can give them everything youve got. Tylenol®. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. Oncedaily breo prevents asthma symptoms. Breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Breo wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. 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[ screams ] get snapshot from progressive, and see just how much your good driving could save you. Well the dramatic raid this morning around saintdenis was sparked apparently by information found on cell phones left behind after friday eas attacks. Cnn reporter even perez is following the story from washington. Do we know for a fact that they were using encrypted apps or is that just a general concern . Well ke dont know anderson. We dont know whether they were using encrypted apps for this operation. We know they were practicing extraordinary security. We know there was very little electronic trace left behind. And intelligence officials know also People Associated with this cell, People Associated with abaaoud who youve been talking about have practiced a lot of Operational Security in carrying out plots. For instance, they throw away cell phones. They change them out sometimes up to five times a month. They change cars frequently. They check their car for listening devices, for instance, to make sure intelligence is not listening. And they use a lot of fake documentation papers. So nay know all of this. The u. S. And french investigators know all of this. However the finding of these cell phones, which occurred after these attacks is possibly one of the biggest breaks that they have had. Perhaps it was a mistake. Perhaps it was a mistake not dedestroying those cell phones. We dont know. Because we do know at least on some of these cell phones they have found encrypted app. Whether they used them in this attack we dont know yet. We know they have used them in the past. So that explains why there is so little of electronic trace. The other thing that is important art the cell phones is that at least one of them was found with a message and red something to the effect of okay were ready. It is believed that message was sent before these attacks began. And it perhaps was the coordination message. The message that said launch these coordinated sales attacks that occurred on friday night in paris. So just very briefly evan, do we know how many cell phones were found . Exactly where they were found . And do we know who that message was sent be . I believe it was one of the bataclan attackers but who it was sent too . We dont know anderson where exactly they were found. We know they tried to discard some phones but the police made sure they looked through garbage cans and everything at those scenes to make sure they could capture everything. And police have done a lot oaf work. As you said they are racing against time. They are trying to figure out who these people are and where they have been. And if they make any mistakes they want to capitalize on them. Sorry to keep hitting this point. But do we know who the that message were starting, were beginning was sent to . Or what location . My question is it really the address that was raided too . The apartment previously that was rented we really dont know who sent the message, which one of these attackers received the message. And whether it had anything to do with these raids. We do know anderson that some of these investigations that have occurred because of this cell phones did drive this raid and some of the other raids that have been happening. There is a lot of information that is flowing back from these cell phones. All right. Evan perez. I appreciate your reporting. I always think in an situation like this it is as important to talk about what we know as also to talk about what we dont know because it can be very confusing. There is a lot of details and a lot of importance is in the details. On capitol hill today the o bam administrations strategy on terror is going to come up heavy scrutiny as member os the house, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs gather for a joint hearing. The focus rise of radicalism in the United States. Joining me is member of the committee. Good morning congresswoman. Appreciate you being with us. You say it is time for the white house to step up. Specifically what do you mean by step up . Well anderson, we are facing a generational conflict with islamist extremism. And weve seen obviously a gamechanging dynamic that now most people are woken up to but weve been following for the last year or year and a half since the caliphate was declared. With the attacks in paris and the takedown of the russian airliner, again most have woken up. It it seems for our administration doubling down on the strategy. What do you want to have happen is this in iraq and syria. Weve been averaging about 15 strike sorties a day. In comparison in desert storm we had over a thousand. And in iraqi freedom about 800. We have not unleashed american air power to be able to rain down on this caliphate. And they have declared themselves as a state. We need to treat them like a state. Take out their vulnerability, command and control let me ask you about that congressman. Let me ask you about that. Do you believe that the u. S. Military doesnt want to hit targets . I mean . Im assuming that military officials who are in charge of this would say well, if they are bombing targets that you know about, they would be more than happy to hit them. It seems like they are hitting multiple targets over and over again, even targets that have already been hit because there are frankly not that man