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CNN Live At Daybreak

Death Toll Rising in This Morning's Suicide Bombing on Jerusalem Bus

Aired June 18, 2002 - 06:01   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 go live now to Jerusalem for the latest on this morning's rush hour suicide bombing on a crowded bus. The death toll has been rising all morning long. The latest figures from authorities: 18 dead, 50 injured.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, is at the scene of the blast. She joins us live on the phone with the latest -- Sheila, good morning.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We are just hearing now from Israeli police that in fact there are now 19 dead as a result of this deadly explosion. More than 50 people wounded, some of them remaining in very serious condition.

It happened about five hours ago, the height of Jerusalem's rush hour, a commuter bus coming into the city crowded with workers going to their jobs, students going to school. A suicide bomber detonated his device apparently as the bus pulled away from a bus stop, and the devastation -- the result of all that devastation that you see.

Now, this morning we had a very unusual visit. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to the scene of the bombing. It's the first time anyone here can recall him coming to such a scene. This, of course -- this event, of course, comes as the U.S. administration and President Bush are getting ready to make an announcement, some kind of a statement about what they think should be the way forward in terms of political dialogue over the region. And Prime Minister Sharon used very strong language, saying that this was a scene that words could not describe.

And went on to talk about if they are talking about a Palestinian state, what kind of state do they mean? Israel's government has already made clear their opposition to the creation of any kind of interim or transitional Palestinian state, and this morning at the scene we heard from Israel's police minister, Uzi Landau, who was here shortly after that explosion took place and talked about how Israel's government would view such a state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UZI LANDAU, ISRAELI MINISTER OF INTERNAL SECURITY: Well, it is quite clear that all of the talks about the establishment of a future Palestinian terror state provide a tremendous boost for terrorism in this region. No doubt in my mind that even the belief that as a result of terrorist activities over the past 20 months, there will be countries who will come with the conclusion that there should be a future Palestinian terror state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACVICAR: Now, that's Israel's Police Minister Uzi Landau at the scene this morning. You heard him there talking about what he called a "Palestinian terror state."

Now, Carol, the Palestinian Authority has itself condemned this morning's bombing, saying that they do not condone attacks against Israeli civilians, and saying that given the circumstances in the territories, as the result of Israeli military incursions that have left their security forces in tatters or infrastructure destroyed, they are not in a position to be able to effectively stop such suicide bombings.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group, which has never been a party to the peace process, never in any way supported the peace process, has claimed responsibility to this bomb blast -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sheila, a couple of questions for you. There were students on this bus. How old were they?

MACVICAR: Well, they would have been students of many different ages. There is a high school nearby, and it's not yet clear to us, we don't yet know the identities of those who have been killed or wounded. We are not entirely sure of the age of any of the people who were killed this morning, but it is likely, given that classes were about to begin that there will have been some, at least, wounded on this bus who were high school students -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The Israeli Cabinet is now meeting. Is that correct? And if it is meeting, does that mean Israel will again attack militarily?

MACVICAR: Well, Prime Minister Sharon, after he left the scene here, called in discussion what's known as his Security Cabinet, the group of ministers who meet on a fairly regular basis, sometimes in response to actions like this, often at times of crisis, to discuss what the response should be.

Now, obviously there are a number of things in play here, in addition to the question of whether or not there will be an immediate military response and what form that response that might take. There is also this diplomatic political initiative out there that is being read by the U.S. administration. The expectation that President Bush will be making either a speech or a statement sometime very soon in the coming hours or days to talk about the U.S. administration's view of the way things should go forward.

So we don't yet know what decisions, what precisely they are talking about in the Security Cabinet, or what decisions they have taken. There were some hints here this morning that there may be further military action, or they may simply choose to pursue a policy to go after people that they know -- that they say that they have specific intelligence about who may be planning or preparing to commit terrorist acts -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good enough. Sheila MacVicar reporting live for us by phone from Jerusalem -- thank you.

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