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CNN Live At Daybreak

Another Suicide Bombing in Middle East

Aired December 05, 2001 - 05:08   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go back now to the Middle East, where, as we've told you this morning, there's been another suicide bombing. This latest attack coming in downtown Jerusalem.

And CNN's Jerrold Kessel is joining us from Jerusalem with the latest on that -- Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Catherine.

And a lucky let off, a really lucky let off is the way the Israeli police are describing this latest suicide bombing. It was a very powerful bomb, the Israeli police say, but only the bomber killed and six people very likely hurt, very likely hurt, mostly from splinters, scratches and from concussion.

But the incident occurred just about 7:30 this morning local time near the seam between East and West Jerusalem near the walled Old City where a man was crossing a road near one of the luxury hotels. It's not yet clear whether he was heading towards the hotel there or downtown Jerusalem, where that devastating suicide, double barreled suicide bombing took place on Saturday night.

But as he was crossing the road in front of this luxury hotel near the walled Old City, the explosion occurred. He was himself blown to smithereens and only those few small injuries of the people around him.

But this coming in the wake of those double barreled suicide bombings on Saturday night here, the bomb by a suicide bomber inside a bus in Haifa. The incidents, which left 25 Israelis killed and over 200 wounded, have left this city still in a very, very nervous atmosphere -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Jerrold, I can't imagine that it isn't a nervous atmosphere there. Have you seen a tremendous amount of security increased in that region there where the attacks occurred Saturday night?

KESSEL: There is a good deal of security around. Israelis, this is not dramatically new, but they are still aware, they're still nervous that there could be more suicide bombers headed for their cities. Police are on alert. You find that at malls. You find that at shopping malls. You find that in the center of the city, near bus stations, any crowded places.

But as the mayor of Jerusalem was saying this morning in reaction to this one, when people were saying was the target the hotel or was it some other crowded place, he said it seems as if there's numerous, numerous targets all around, because, he said, this is a war that has come to "inside the home," as he put it, because, he said, it is a battle for the home.

Well, that's the way the Israelis see the shape of this battle with the Palestinians. The Palestinians see it in exactly the same form. They say it's the battle for their home, for their existence in the wake of the Israeli retaliatory strikes after the suicide bombings. And the two sides very much set against each other in these violent episodes.

CALLAWAY: Yes, Jerrold, and lucky, indeed, this morning that this attack did not leave more people injured.

Thank you.

That was Jerrold Kessel reporting to us live from Jerusalem.

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