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CNN Live At Daybreak

Eight Killed in Karachi Blast

Aired June 14, 2002 - 06:02   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: We want to take you now to Pakistan, where witnesses report a horrifying scene outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. It came after a car bomb attack.

Journalist Azhar Abbas joins us on the phone from Karachi with an update -- good morning.

AZHAR ABBAS, GOTV PAKISTAN JOURNALIST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Can you tell us what happened?

ABBAS: Well, actually it was a huge blast, a very powerful bomb. It was in a car. And according to the police, they are still saying that it's a suicide bomb attack. And it was that he kind of parked the car near the Consulate and the bomb exploded, killing, as you just mentioned, eight people and about 40 injured.

It was a horrific scene. I just talked to doctors at the main city hospital, and they are saying that a couple of them are seriously injured and may not survive even. So that's the latest.

COSTELLO: Any Americans hurt in the blast?

ABBAS: No. I have checked with the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate here and no Americans were injured. But the Embassy did say -- the official did say that a few Pakistani officials working in the U.S. Consulate had minor injuries, because of the glass -- the U.S. Consulate glass that broke.

COSTELLO: Tell us who is responsible for this.

ABBAS: Well, so far, obviously there is no news as such. No one has claimed responsibility. But the city police chief I have been talking to, Kamal Shah (ph), has said that it seems that al Qaeda or any group, which has sympathies with al Qaeda, is behind that. They don't have any proof -- he said that they don't have any proof of that, but the attack is almost the same type of attack, the modus operandi was the same as that of the May 8 attack, a suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel in which the French nationals were killed.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you very much for that update -- Azhar Boss live on the phone from Karachi, Pakistan this morning.

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