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CNN Live At Daybreak

Twin Suicide Bombings in Tel Aviv Kills 3

Aired July 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take you live now to the Middle East for more on the latest bloodshed there. Suicide bombers killed three people; they wounded 40 others in twin bombings yesterday.

Let's go to Chris Burns who is in Tel Aviv where the attacks took place -- Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Catherine, yes, in fact, I am standing right on the spot where those blasts went off, and right over my shoulder are some of the police and local officials and Israeli officials surveying the situation. Among those 40 wounded are five people in very serious condition.

But as you can see, the shops have reopened, a lot of them open for sale; very, very difficult to see that a bombing went off, except for a few telltale signs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Near the yellow spray paint, marking off where the bomb fragments lay, life goes on. In this working-class district of Tel Aviv, immigrants and ex-patriot workers from Eastern Europe, Asia and elsewhere shop and live and died. Two guest workers and an Israeli were killed in a double-suicide bombing. The bombers were packed with explosives and nails to cause as much injury as possible.

Vladimir (ph), a Russian-Israeli, says the blast threw him up against this tree, which he says saved him from injury. He came back today to water it.

(on camera): Is he afraid of more attacks?

"Here in my own country, I am not afraid of anything," he says.

The blasts happened right outside this sex cinema and moments after, a newspaper says, a prostitute approached one of the bombers, offering him her services.

"I didn't come here to have fun," he said. "I came here to die."

(voice-over): The bombers hit what's called a soft target. Shops and cafes in this area don't have the money to hire private security guards, as in other parts of Tel Aviv. The bombings came as Israelis were already in mourning, mourning for eight killed when Palestinian militants attacked a bus near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Emmanuel on Tuesday.

Israel had just begun loosening its month-old grip on the West Bank, easing curfews in some cities, and starting talks with some Palestinians. But the fresh attacks have hardened the Israeli position, and plans for higher-level talks have been put on hold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Catherine, we are looking at right here at the cafe where the bomb had gone off, there is an Israeli legislature who is visiting. Also talking to one of these victims, the guy in the yellow T-shirt, had been showing some his wounds, pulling his pants down to show the wounds. And so there are victims here who are visiting the scene again today.

Now, the frustration continues also in the West Bank, where an Israeli clampdown continues. That operation a month old, and some Israeli -- some Palestinian officials say that if that clampdown continues, there will be more frustration and probably more attacks like these -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you. That's Chris Burns in Tel Aviv -- thanks, Chris.

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