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CNN Live Saturday

Palestinian Gunmen Kill 4 Israeli Settlers

Aired April 27, 2002 - 17:11   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It was a violent day in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Adora (ph). After cutting through a protective fence, three Palestinian gunmen went door to door shooting settlers. CNN's Rula Amin has details now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around 9:00 a.m., the attackers, dressed in Israeli army uniforms, infiltrated Adora (ph) settlement defenses and special fences and went on a shooting spree, going from one house to another.

At one home, a 5-year-old girl was killed. Her two brothers and her mother were likely injured. Next stop was another house, another bedroom. One woman was killed. Her husband was injured. They were still in bed.

Altogether, four settlers were killed; seven others were injured, one seriously, and was airlifted to a hospital in Jerusalem.

ARIEH MEKEL, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY: What has happened this morning, the attack against Israeli citizens in the West Bank, just comes to prove that terror has not yet been eradicated and that some Palestinian terror organizations are resolved to continue these attacks against Israelis.

AMIN: Israeli authorities quickly blamed Yasser Arafat and his authority. This is the first deadly attack by Palestinians in two weeks.

Adora (ph) is a few miles away from the Palestinian city of Hebron, where earlier in the week a leading militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade was killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile into his car. His supporters have vowed to revenge his death. It's not clear if today's attack was that revenge.

(on camera): The Israeli army didn't have a full scale military operation in Hebron like the rest of West Bank towns. However, the army did go into parts of town and arrested suspected militants. For Israel, the attack proved its need to continue with its military actions against Palestinian militants, wherever they are, Israeli officials say.

(voice-over): Palestinians point to such attacks as proof that no military action can bring an end to the militants' attacks, that only a political solution will.

In Qalqilyia, thousands of Palestinians came out to take part in the funeral of a leader killed by Israel during its latest operation in that town. Here, also calls for revenge.

As the U.S. tries to mediate, U.S. officials are also trying to come up with their own formula on how to end the violence between the two sides.

Rula Amin, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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