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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hamas Bus Bombing Kills Eight

Aired August 05, 2002 - 05:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention now to the violent Middle East, there has been yet another suicide bus bombing, this one in northern Israel. Sunday's blast killed eight Israelis. And just a few hours after that bombing, a Palestinian gunman killed one person and was himself killed by police.
Our Walter Rodgers has more on the bus bombing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Hamas bomb ripped through the middle of Bus 361, tearing open the roof and blowing out most of the right side. It was, according to survivors, a fiery inferno. Seats ripped asunder testified to the power of the blast and the death toll climbed throughout the day.

Zve Launder (ph) told us smoke was still rising from the bus and there was fire in the road when he first arrived. The dead were laid out in rows while the wounded in the front and rear of the bus were pulled out through blast holes in the roof.

In the debris of the blast, a sandal and a CD. This, as religious workers sifted through the wreckage to recover body parts for funerals. The smell of scorched flesh lingered for hours afterwards and fire hoses could not wash away all the blood.

To men like Avram Goldberg (ph) fell the grizzly task of recovering the human remains.

(on camera): As an Israeli citizen, how do you feel about this latest terror attack?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much as I feel about the previous attacks. It's terrible and it has to come to an end.

RODGERS: And how would you recommend that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you ask my opinion.

RODGERS: I'm asking your opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My personal opinion, Mr. Arafat has to leave the area. It's only since he came to this area it all started.

RODGERS (voice-over): While doctors labored to save the 49 people wounded in this bus bombing, Arafat's Palestinian Authority condemned the attack on the bus. But that was cold comfort to the victims, many of whom were young Israelis burned and maimed.

This young woman said there was a huge explosion just as she was about to board the bus at the Meron Junction. Another young woman said she is alive today because she was sitting behind the driver, away from the middle of the bus.

Izzedine al-Qassam, the military wing of the Islamic group Hamas, said the bomb was retaliation for Israel's killing of a Hamas military commander, as well as continuing resistance to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

(on camera): This latest bus bombing again demonstrates that Israel has yet to develop a viable defense against Palestinian terrorism, if, indeed, such a defense exists. It is also a painful reminder that despite Israeli incursions into the West Bank, a Palestinian terrorist infrastructure still exists and remains operational.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, at the Meron Junction in northern Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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