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CNN Live At Daybreak

Major Explosion Kills At Least 16 People in Chechnya

Aired April 18, 2002 - 05:11   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we've had information coming in about this all morning long. We want to head live to Jill Dougherty right now because there's been some sort of explosion in Chechnya (AUDIO GAP)...

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... exploded and they killed 16, the latest reports 16 special police officers. These are Chechens but part of the pro-Russian administration in Chechnya.

These incidents happen literally on a daily basis, Carol, in Chechnya, but this is a particularly large one and the timing is very significant because today, in fact, President Vladimir Putin, at the time that these reports were coming out, was delivering his State of the Union address and he specifically had a section in that speech saying that the military conflict in Chechnya could be considered over.

Obviously in a big sense that conflict is over, but these daily problems and now a major explosion killing at least 16 people has taken place. So obviously the conflict in that sense is not over -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Wow, 16 people. Those were very powerful explosives. Wow. Thank you.

Jill Dougherty reporting live for us this morning.

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