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CNN Live At Daybreak

Karachi Bombing on Heels of Padilla-related Arrests in Pakistan

Aired June 14, 2002 - 05:31   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: Let's get back to that deadly explosion in Pakistan now. The blast killed at least eight people, injured 25 others outside the U.S. consulate in the port city of Karachi. It happened just about four and a half hours ago.

Our Chris Burns has details on the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities say the suicide car bomber crashed into a guard post outside the U.S. consulate. The blast damaged a boundary wall outside the consulate, destroyed several cars and shattered windows of the buildings and other near by.

The attack came two days after officials say five people were arrested in Karachi in connection with the accused American-born dirty bomb plotter, Jose Padilla, or Abdulla Al Muhajir. And it comes amid a crackdown by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Muslim militant groups linked to al Qaeda and linked to attacks in Kashmir that brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war.

Muslim militants are on trial for the kidnap slaying of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi earlier this year. Militants are also blamed for a car bombing in Karachi last month that killed 14 people, including 11 French nationals working on a submarine project.

A grenade attack on an Islamabad church near the U.S. embassy in March killed five people, including an American woman and her daughter. The United States and other countries have already called on their nationals to leave Pakistan.

Chris Burns, CNN, Islamabad, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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