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CNN Live Today

West Bank Bus Ambush Kills Seven

Aired July 16, 2002 - 12:10   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: To the Middle East now where the killing goes on. Witnesses say a bomb exploded, then gunfire began and the target: a bus traveling near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Joined now by our Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna. He has more -- Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Kyra, according to the latest figures, 7 Israelis killed in that attack, as many as 15 wounded, some of them in a serious condition.

The Israeli Defense Force says that the bus was stopped by an explosive device detonated alongside the road. The bus was tipped over, and as passengers attempted to flee from the bus, a group of Palestinian gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons. And the Israeli Defense Force confirms that these gunmen were dressed in Israeli Army uniforms, or part of Israeli Army uniforms. The Israeli Defense Force says, too, that a number of grenades were thrown inside the bus. However, these did not detonate; otherwise, say police on the scene, the death and injury toll would have been far, far higher.

From the Israeli government, the assertion that the Palestinian Authority must take responsibility for such attacks, saying that this attack further evidence that the Authority's intent on a strategy of terror. From the Palestinian side, the familiar response that it is the ongoing Israeli occupation of West Bank towns and cities that is responsible for such attacks.

All of this undercutting the talks going on in New York between mediating parties, the group called "the quartet," that's the U.S., Russia, the U.N., and the European Union, who are attempting to find a common position on how to renew their mediation in the ongoing conflict. These talks undercut even before they had begun by the killing of more Israelis in the West Bank -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mike Hanna, thank you so much.

I was just getting word in my ear that we're standing by for the White House briefing. We're expected that White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer will be commenting on the situation that's taken place in the Middle East here.

Once again, Mike Hanna telling us seven people now killed in that explosion on the bus.

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