joining nee now, nbc news foreign correspondent ayman mow mohyeldin, let's put this in the context of the last month. just in the last month, orlando, 50 dead, 49 killed, including the shooter who pledged allegiance to isis. the attack on the istanbul airport, which appears to have been also the work of isis, although no formal credit, though we believe it was them. dozens dead there. the dhaka attack, just in the same week as that, and now this in nice. >> and don't forget about iraq. >> 250 -- >> bigger than all of these. and it's not to say that one is bigger than the other in terms of the magnitude of the loss, but what it demonstrates is the capability of whoever is behind all of these attacks. i don't mean behind it from an operational point of view, but operationally in the sense that there's an ability to inspire these types of attacks. and you know, we're not -- we're still in the very early stages, not sure who is behind this in terms of an organization, but the deliberate attack, and when you start putting it on a -- analyzing it through a matrix of possibilities, the symbo

you know, your discussion there with ayman and the reporting just before, that he was going to -- was trying to dial a cell phone, trying to dial a cell phone could be -- it's very common in the middle east, and around the world for terrorists to use a cell phone as a trigger. so they plant a receiver, a cell phone inside the bomb, they rig it up to an electric detonator and when they dial the phone t detonates the device. it could be in the back of the truck as we're surmising, and that's a very good guess, we should be suspicious of that. the bomb squad has to take it out, but it also could be another location. also, he could be calling, you know, trying to call someone to claim credit, 911 if you will. we don't know the answer to those things. he had the lights out. he slowed down. the motorcycle cop was next to him. it's like a whale and there are a couple dolphins. they're not stopping the whale. it's too big and it's going, and he had this open area to just wind through the pedestrians. the way to stop that truck is never let the truck get there in the first place. you have all

>> i'm just going to hop on the back of what ayman was talking about and jump in before malcolm nance. i've done some digging here. this is from "inspire" magazine. this is from an issue in 2010, and they talk about the inability to get your hands on certain weapons, and they write, quote, you can still carry out attacks by burning down forests and buildings or by running over them with your cars and trucks. it continues. if you can kill a disbelieving american or european, especially the spiteful and filthy french or an sprawlian or a canadian or any other disbelievers from the disbelievers waging war. what i would submit is most of the middle east is watching horrendous images come in from syria, from libya. barrel bombings every day. and this is a broader war on peaceful nations. this is a war against nations that are not in this state of constant war. i spend the majority of my day looking through isis propaganda videos, looking through horrible images of bombings in syria, in libya. and if you live in the middle east and you turn on al jazeera as your main news source, that is wh

. >> neither osama bin laden nor his deputy ayman al-zawahiri were terribly impressed with him. he seemed and acted like a thug. he was not very sophisticated. in fact, they considered him a rather poor recruit to al-qaeda. >> narrator: zarqawi would leave kandahar determined to continue jihad, and to prove bin laden wrong. in 2002, he saw his chance. as president bush signaled saddam hussein had to go, zarqawi moved to a terrorist camp in northern iraq. it set off alarm bells at the cia. cia operations officer sam faddis, who ran a kill/capture team, was assigned the case. >> headquarters is extremely, extremely interested. i mean, the number one time-sensitive priority, as of june '02, when i left headquarters, was go collect on this islamic extremist enclave along the iran/iraq border. >> narrator: it didn't take long for faddis to find zarqawi and learn what was going on in the camp. >> we literally had guys that were working for us that were inside the camp. they're working on chemical and biological weapons. they were doing a lot of work with cyanide-based things. >> narra

ayman mohyeldin is with us in the studio. you have been gathering as well. >> yeah. one of the things obviously in this digital age is how quickly images have come out. the french police have actually put on their verified twitter account asking people to stop distributing, stop recirculating, disseminating videos. the social media videos we are seeing. we are not putting them on the air but it's giving you a sense of given the fact this was such a tourist destination and so many people were out there, and that it was such a day of celebration, you can imagine how much social media now has been inundated with images of what has happened there. so much so, to the point that the national police in france are asking people to stop circulating those videos out of respect for the families and their victims and it's an indication that this is a very dire situation, not just for the country but for the family members who are still learning about this and people still trying to get ahold as we heard cal report earlier, officials asking people to stay off the phones as they w

ayman model dean joins me now. this is something we are trying to drill down on the number here of the people that could be hostage. the u.s. embassy in dhaka reported reports of shooting and a hostage situation. have you heard more about this fluid number between 20 to 60? >> no, not yet. i have been trying to get ahold of folks in bangladesh, specifically in dhaka, journalists and owes to try to connect with them to get what they are hearing directly from their sources and also to get updates on the ground. that is proving difficult. you can imagine in a fluid situation like this connectivity is going to be a problem for bangladesh. as we've been talking about this the past hour or so it's important to keep in mind the context of what bangladesh has been going through. security has become an increasing problem there. we are talking about what happened in istanbul and obviously on the heels of things in recent months a attacks by isis and al qaeda, that you can't rule that out given the nature of what we are seein

ayman, you are pointing at something. i don't know what you are seeing. >> we are getting information from our partners at flash point. they monitor social media interactions and more importantly isis affiliated news agency. they are reporting that isis's affiliated news agency has claimed responsibility for this attack saying islamic commandos attacked a restaurant in bangladesh. >> that's isis officially taking responsibility. >> this is according to our partners at flash point that we have relied on for monitoring these sites. nbc news hasn't verified this but this is what we're hearing from our partner organization. also, another intelligence group is reporting the same. there now seems to be a claim of responsibility by isis. this is obviously very significant. it's significant on a few different levels. claim of responsibility within a few hours of this incident, that is very telling. importantly, given the fact that isis over the past year has been systematically trying to increase its presence, establish a foot ho

joining me here on set now, nbc's foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin. you had been speaking with a doctor on the ground who treated many of the patients. what's the latest? >> the latest is what we have been reporting throughout the night. there hasn't been any substantial changes on the ground. for the past several hours, the scene at the hospital has been somewhat calm. i mean there isn't a sudden influx of patients, a lot of casualties, so that number of people remains the same. the last i checked with them it was at 26 wounded, many of them security personnel and at least two dead. two police officers dead. that was at that one hospital. there may be other hospitals and clinics. >> our producer had said four police officers dead. >> exactly. i believe that to still be the case in the last couple hours i checked in with hospital officials. >> as i said to jim, we are in the seventh hour. we are nearing daylight here. any indications that we are near an ending to this? >> this is somewhat uncharted territory because if we take the isis claim of respon

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. >>> i'm ayman mohyeldin here in new york. it 3:00 p.m. in the east. we're continuing to follow the breaking news out of washington. hillary clinton's campaign confirming today the former secretary of state gave a voluntary interview to the fbi this morning about her e-mail practices while she was at the state department. nbc's kelly o'donnell is in our washington news room with the latest on the meeting. kelly? >> reporter: this is a very important milestone in what has been a long and winding road for hillary clinton and for the justice department. she, of course, has been the subject of the popular conversation about the meeting. how it's talked about in politics. how it's talked about in the water cooler. people having dinner with family and debating the issue. today hillary clinton gave an interview with the fbi. she travelled to the fbi headquarters in washington, d.c. i spent most of this day outside her home in washington. we saw her leave early this morning. we saw her come back. and that time line fit exactly as the campaign statement. there

a warning today from the leader of al-qaeda, ayman al-zawahri. in an online video message, he threatens "the gravest consequences" if the surviving boston marathon bomber is executed. dzhokhar tsarnaev was sentenced last year to death by lethal injection. the 2013 bombing killed three people. u.s. attorney general loretta lynch voiced regret today about a meeting earlier this week with former president bill clinton. they spoke monday, for about 30 minutes, after his private plane landed near her government aircraft at the phoenix airport. it stoked criticism because the f.b.i. is investigating hillary clinton's e-mail practices as secretary of state. today, in aspen, colorado, lynch repeated that she and the former president never discussed the investigation, but she understands the criticism. >> i may have viewed it in a certain light, but the issue is, how does it impact the work that i do and the work that the department of justice does? and i certainly wouldn't do it again, because i think it has cast a shadow over what it should not, what it

ayman and malcolm, thank you both for being here. appreciate it. >>> we'll continue to monitor the situation in bangladesh. there are also lots of political stories to get to tonight and that is next. oooh! [ brakes screech ] when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. excuse me, try this. but just one aleve can last 12 hours. tylenol and advil can quit after 6. [ cheering ] so live your whole day, not part... with 12 hour aleve. >>> at the very same time we were learning about the situation unfolding in bangladesh, donald trump was speaking to about 3,000 people gathered for the western conservative summit in denver, colorado. it was a speech that has largely been characterized as a prompter-free, primary-style trump approach. therefore there was naturally a weird, off-the-cuff moment. >> if turkey -- are you from turkey, sir? good, congratulations. i actually have a very nice job in turkey. he's saying, please mention turkey. okay. i think he's friend. are you friend or foe? huh? i think he's friend. >> so the gent

i am ayman mohyeldin at msnbc world headquarters in new york. you're watching live extended coverage of the dhaka siege that has been unfolding in bangladesh over the past several hours. i want to go back to steve clemons. steve, you and i were talking about something that i think is very fascinating, which is some of these attacks, whether they be orlando or istanbul or now as we are seeing, bangladesh, not necessarily directed by isis but maybe even inspired. talk to us a little bit about the cascading terrorism effect, the butterfly effect, if you will, of what we are seeing unfold on the global stage. how are these attacks related or not related to one another? >> well, as jim cavanaugh and others on the program have said, that there are different kinds of terrorism enacted by different players. some are inspired couples. we've seen married couples in san bernardino, or omar mateen in orlando, or radicalized members of the u.s. military in fort hood, you know, take on action in the united states. but in other places, up know, one of the bias

ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much for that. here in the united states, the presidential candidates spoke out in interviews last night beginning with donald trump. >> would you go to congress and ask for a declaration of war? >> i would. i would. this is war. if you look at it, this is war. coming from all different parts, and frankly, it's war, and we're dealing with people without uniforms. these people, we're allowing people into our country who we have no idea where they are, where they're from, who they are. they have no paperwork. they have no documentation. in many cases. and hillary clinton wants to allow 550% more in than even obama. >> there will be by the end of the summer 10,000 syrian refugees. 20% women, 60% children, 20% men. do you consider those people threats? >> yes. >> do you security them security threats? >> of course i do. >> it's terrible but france has faced too much tragedy and violence and we need to stand strongly with them because events like this remind us how vital it is, in every way, not to aband

>> ayman there are concerns of some harsh crackdowns. the president had already been under pressure in his own country and abroad over dealing with dissent. >> yeah. absolutely. in fact, you're talking about the crackdown that's taking place, and you mentioned 6,000 people have been arrested. among those that have been detained, a senior military officer that oversaw the incirlik air base, one of the most important air bases could have implications for the u.s.' war against isis because that's the air base where so many of these planes take off but in addition to that some of the president's inner circle including his top military aide was detained in this crackdown that is taking place among those that have been also arrested justice officials or members of the judiciary. so a lot of people are watching this very closely to see how far president erdogan's going to go in rounding up these individuals that he alleges were part of or behind this failed coup attempt. >> okay, nbc's ayman mohyeldin. the man erdogan is blaming for the failed