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Breaking News

Blast Hits Jerusalem

Aired March 21, 2002 - 10:33   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Glad you're back joining us. I just want to update you now on some breaking new that we've been covering now for about 1 1/2 hours, a massive explosion in downtown Jerusalem, on King George Street, near Jaffa Road there. A suicide bomber struck late in the afternoon there.

To give you an idea of what kind of area this is, this is the equivalent of New York's Times Square. This is a place where people gather late in the day at outdoor cafes, both international tourist as well as Israeli Jews.

We understand from CNN's Mike Hanna, who was just reporting to us, that at least two people are dead, more than 40 people wounded, eight of them very critically, and that a group, according to CNN's Palestinian sources, called the Al Aqsa Brigade is claiming responsibility. They have named the suicide bomber. The Al Aqsa Brigade is an armed offshoot of the Fatah movement, which is the political arm of Yasser Arafat's organization. So the questions that Mike raised in live shot just a few minutes ago is how much control does Yasser Arafat have over his own people?

We are covering this story on the ground with Christiane Amanpour, who is at the scene of the suicide bombing. Mike Hanna is working all his political sources. And we've got chief White House correspondent John King working his sources with the administration.

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