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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pentagon Looking into Cause of Accidental Bombing in Afghanistan

Aired December 06, 2001 - 05:15   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: Well, the Pentagon is looking into a long list of possible causes of yesterday's suspected errant bombing in Afghanistan. That disaster claimed three American and five Afghan lives as well as wounding dozens of others.

CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre now with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the dead and more than two dozen wounded American and Afghan troops were flown into the U.S. Marine base southwest of the front lines, heavy press restrictions allowed only these pictures from far away. American pool reporters could see only wounded Afghan troops who were fighting the Taliban when the bombing accident occurred.

According to Pentagon, a 2,000-pound satellite guided bomb dropped from a U.S. Air Force B-52 hit within 100 meters of where two teams of U.S. Army and Air Force special forces were helping opposition groups fighting the Taliban. Someone on those teams radioed the target coordinates for the strike to the bomber crew. No one yet knows what went wrong.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The coordinates could have been wrong in the first instance. They could have been transmitted incorrectly. They could have been received incorrectly. They could have been put into the fire control system incorrectly. And many other things could also have happened. There could be a bent pin on the weapon.

MCINTYRE: It's the second time an errant 2,000 pound has hit too close to friendly forces. Five U.S. special forces have been awarded purple hearts for injuries from a similar accident last week near Mazar-e Sharif.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pull back. Pull back at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, guys, let's get out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heads up! There's shrapnel inbound! Shrapnel inbound! CAPTAIN PAUL, U.S. ARMY: Yes, I didn't hear anything. And all of a sudden -- I didn't hear an explosion or anything. It was just all of a sudden I could feel myself flying. And like I said, everything was brown. Once I hit the ground, my first thought was I just laid there in a little ball because I was thinking, okay, now something is going to land on top of me.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Pentagon sources say the blast from the powerful bomb also wounded Hamid Karzai, the man just picked to head Afghanistan's interim government. But one Pentagon official described his injuries as "flesh wounds." Another said he appeared to be fine.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And you can find more information on the U.S. investigation into this friendly fire incident on CNN.com, of course. AOL keyword is CNN.

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