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CNN Live Today

Interview with Avi Zohar

Aired May 22, 2002 - 14:56   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the Middle East as we report. At least 20 injured, at least one dead right now, after an explosion rocked the down of Rishon Letzion. That's just south of Tel Aviv.

Apparently, this explosion taking place in a pedestrian mall that was crowded at the time. Avi Zohar is with the Israeli rescue service, by telephone now. Can you hear me OK?

AVI ZOHAR, ISRAELI RESCUE SERVICE: Yes, I am with you.

HEMMER: Hi, Bill Hemmer at the CNN Center. Tell us what information you have about what happened inside Rishon Letzion, the center part of that town, just about an hour ago?

ZOHAR: OK, a suicide explosion in the center of a commercial resort area of Rishon Letzion. It was rush hour there. And there are about 40, 43 wounded and casualties, 20 serious. And all of them on their way in, now arriving in the hospitals, in the operation rooms. And about 20, up to 25, will be light injured. And in this moment we are also sending them to the hospitals in the area.

HEMMER: Sir, are you saying the Israelis are confirming this was the work of a suicide bomber?

ZOHAR: Hello? Hello? Hello?

HEMMER: Hi, Avi Zohar, we're still with you. Are you with us?

ZOHAR: Yes, I am with you.

HEMMER: All right, tell us, you're confirming, then, that this was the work of a suicide bomber?

ZOHAR: Yes, I confirm it was suicide bomber, without a doubt. Hello?

HEMMER: Yes, hi. We're having a bit of a communication problem, here. Sir, tell us, are there any dead right now?

ZOHAR: There are, but I don't like to mention the number of them.

HEMMER: OK. Avi Zohar, the Israeli Rescue Service, on the scene there in Rishon Letzion. Back in Jerusalem, our bureau chief, Mike Hannah, is back with us again. Mike, what are you finding out?

MIKE HANNAH, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Bill, we're still waiting to confirm casualties. We've heard in the last few minutes from somebody on the scene that there are a number of injured, as many as 40 injured, was the figure we heard there. Twenty of them receiving serious injuries, it was described as.

Police not yet formally confirming it was a suicide bombing. However, it does appear that this was the case. We have confirmed at this stage, two people dead in this explosion. One of them, it does appear, the person who detonated the explosive device. Waiting to hear further details as to the number of fatalities.

But this reportedly happening in a pedestrian mall in Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv, the scene of the suicide attack exactly two weeks ago, when a number of Israelis were killed and injured in that particular attack. No complete claim of responsibility on that occasion.

There was speculation that the person who carried out that attack had come from the Gaza Strip, though this never confirmed by Israeli authorities. But now at this stage, we have been waiting for further details.

We do know that as many as 40 people have been injured in the blast. At least two people killed, one of them, the person believed to have been the suicide bomber. Ambulances still carrying the wounded and the injured away from the scene.

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