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Breaking News

Siege of Arafat's Compound Continues

Aired March 29, 2002 - 11:53   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Terror strikes once again in the Middle East this morning. What we've been watching unfold before our cameras and reporters' eyes this morning is an assault on the Ramallah compound of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat, we hear, is still holed up inside as Israeli tanks and troops have laid siege to this building. Some 60 or 70 may have been arrested in the last hour or so; no word on why and then whom was involved with all of that.

And while that happened there was yet another suicide bombing in Jerusalem this morning outside of a market there. A young girl believed to be 16 years of age blew herself up, killing herself and perhaps two other Israelis.

We will continue to follow this story as it develops here on CNN. We're still trying to chase down a phone line that can reach Yasser Arafat inside his compound. It's rather dangerous, because we understand there is some room-to-room fighting still underway inside that compound.

We did actually hear some of the automatic gunfire as we were talking to his mother-in-law about the scene as it unfolded there.

So once we do get in touch with Yasser Arafat, we'll have that for you live right here. We'll also have more coverage throughout the day here on the network coming up this evening.

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