Return to Transcripts main page

Breaking News

Four Injured in Jerusalem Suicide Bombing

Aired July 30, 2002 - 06:31   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a breaking story we have been covering the last few minutes. A suicide bombing has occurred in central Jerusalem. The information is still coming in. These are some of the first pictures we have been seeing.

There are reports of casualties. The Israeli police say there are several casualties. We do not how many. We do not know the extent of those casualties.

Obviously in these pictures, you can see they are cordoning off the area. It happened in downtown Jerusalem around lunchtime. Mike Hanna reported it possibly occurred at or near a falafel stand.

And we're going to go now to Mike Hanna, CNN's bureau chief in Jerusalem, right now.

Mike -- what's the latest?

MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Anderson, the latest we have received from police, the police chief of Jerusalem saying that there have been four Israeli casualties in this, three people lightly injured, one person moderately injured.

I stress at this stage, police not reporting any fatalities among Israelis. They do say, however, that the person carrying an explosive device, a suicide bomber, is dead in the blast.

So we have at this stage what does appear to be an attack of relatively minor scale. That's in comparison to previous attacks that have occurred in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. And we are told now by police four people injured in this attack, three lightly injured, one moderately injured. The suicide bomber responsible for the explosion, say police, is dead.

This explosion occurred in Hanevi'im Street, this a street running through the middle of Jerusalem parallel to Jaffa Road, which is the major arterial road through the heart of downtown Jerusalem. It occurred at or near a fast-food store, a very popular falafel restaurant in that area.

Once again, it's just after half-past 1:00 Jerusalem time, so the streets would be fairly crowded at this time. But we are hearing from police, no Israeli fatalities in this suicide bomb attack. There are, at the latest count, according to police, four people injured, three of these in a light -- receiving only light injuries, one, say police, with moderate injuries. No fatalities reported at this stage, apart from the person who, police say, detonated the explosive device, the suicide bomber -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Mike Hanna, we'll be checking in with you probably in just a few minutes. It's 33 past the hour. Mike Hanna, thanks very much for joining us from Jerusalem.

As we reported, a breaking story, a suicide bombing has occurred in central Jerusalem at or near a falafel stand. The suicide bomber has reportedly been killed. Several Israelis wounded in the attack, about four casualties, no reports of Israelis dead at this time.

It is a breaking story, and we will be following it all morning long.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.