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Errant Bomb Strikes Civilian Area in Kabul, Afghanistan

Aired October 13, 2001 - 10:31   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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: A bomb has gone astray in Kabul, hitting a civilian area.

For the very latest on this, let's go to Sheilah Kast, who's at the Pentagon for us today -- Sheilah.

SHEILAH KAST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jeanne.

A senior Pentagon official has told CNN that it was a U.S. Navy plane off one of the carriers that was aiming for a helicopter at the Kabul airport. And the missile, as you said, it missed by about a mile. It went into a residential area.

The Pentagon does not know if there were deaths, or how many; but the Arabic language TV network Al Jazeera had reported earlier that a bomb fell on what Al Jazeera called a very poor residential area, and destroyed houses there. Al Jazeera reported at that time that one person was killed and three were injured, including a woman and a child. As I said, the Pentagon has no confirmation about deaths.

This was a smart bomb, a precision, guided bomb. And at this point the senior official says the Pentagon does not know why it went so far off its intended mark -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Sheilah Kast at the Pentagon for us, thank you.

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