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Deadly Shootings Raise Denmark Terror Fears; Egypt Strikes ISIS After Christians Beheaded; Egypt Targets ISIS Camps and Weapons' Depots; Two Killed in Denmark Shootings; Suspect Well Known to Police; Suspect Has Ties to Criminal Gangs; Netanyahu to European Jews; Israel Approves $46 Million Immigration Plan; Game Changer; Hundreds of Jewish Graves Desecrated

Aired February 16, 2015 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 7:00 p.m. in Copenhagen, 8:00 p.m. in Cairo. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're watching two major stories unfolding right now. Terror attacks gripping another European country. Police in Denmark have stepped up patrols after two deadly attacks. A gunman opened fire at a cafe and outside a synagogue. We're going to have the very latest. We'll go live to Copenhagen.

And Egypt strikes back against ISIS on yet another front following the latest savage act by the terrorist group. Fighter jets today unleashed their second wave of air strikes against ISIS targets in Libya. The Egyptian military says the strikes are to avenge the killing of 21 Egyptian Christians. The terror group released a video showing the apparent beheading of a dozen Christians.

The Egyptians say it is their right and their duty to avenge the blood of their Christian countrymen and to punish what they call the criminals and the murders. The killings of the Egyptian Christians highlight the concern about the rising influence of ISIS throughout the region.

In response, Egyptian F-16s took to the skies, targeting ISIS locations in Derna, Libya, that's not far from the Egyptian border.

Our Correspondent Ian Lee is joining us now live from Cairo with more. Ian, what can you tell us about the targets of these latest Egyptian air strikes?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, according to state media, there has now been two air -- waves of air strikes targeting the city of Derna. What we're hearing from the military is they're going after ISIS weapons depots as well as ISIS training facilities. And this is a city that ISIS controls. It's close to Egypt, roughly 200 miles, and also close to Europe, 200 miles from there as well. And what we're hearing from the Egyptians is it sounds like they're planning a prolonged campaign against them.

Right now, the foreign minister is heading to the United States to talk to the U.N. Security Council to ask for what he says is an international effort. They would like to see the same sort of coalition that is operating in Iraq and Syria operate in Libya as well. They're also -- and they're talking for more weapons. I talked to a retired general and he told me that the Egyptian military can keep this up for quite some time, but they'll start running out of bombs and ammunition. They're going to need help from partner countries if they're going to keep up these strikes. Egypt sees this as a very vital -- or as a very real threat to its national interest. Right now, it is sandwiched between ISIS and the Sinai Peninsula and ISIS in Libya. And there's thousands of Egyptians still in Libya trying to get out. The Egyptian government is trying to charter planes to get them out once they cross the border. But it's a very dangerous situation for them now that Egyptian has stepped up these air strikes -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ian, these latest video released by ISIS appears to show a dozen Egyptian Christians being beheaded. Egypt says 21 Egyptian Christians were killed in all. What do we know about them, why were they in Libya? Give us the information that we have.

LEE: Well, these men were laborers. The many thousands of laborers go to Libya. Before the 2011 uprising, there were millions of Egyptians there going to work. A lot of them are very poor. These Christians come from the southern part of Egypt, and area called Minya, a large Christian community there. And so, we do see a lot of them go. This isn't the first time, though, there have been attacks on Christians in Libya. There have been several across the country. Christians have died. But this is really the first large scale kidnapping of these Christians, back in December in January. And now, we're seeing them executed. What this video shows is that ISIS has a very firm presence in Libya. It's expanding its presence there, taking advantage of the political and security vacuum that has been Libya since 2011 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we're going to have more on this story later coming up later. Ian Lee in Cairo, thank you.

Let's turn to Copenhagen, Denmark right now where there's a much more visible police presence throughout the city following a pair of deadly shootings over the weekend. One at a cafe. One at a synagogue.

Our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is on the ground for us and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This morning, Copenhagen, the latest European city traumatized by an apparent act of terrorism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

ROBERTSON: As new details emerge about the 22-year-old gang member who killed two civilians and injured several police officers in a frightening attack over the weekend. His name, Omar Abdul Hamid El- Hussein, according to Reuters. El Hussein recently served time in jail after being convicted of a knife attack onboard a commuter train.

According to the police, there were no known ties of Islamist extremism and they believe he didn't travel to Syria or Iraq. The chilling moment the gunman opened fire Saturday afternoon in the middle of a free speech debate obtained by the BBC.

The turning point, is but. Why do we still say but when we --