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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Trying to Determine Who Was in Vehicle Convoy

Aired February 07, 2002 - 05:01   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The United States is trying to determine who it killed in a missile attack on a convoy of vehicles in eastern Afghanistan.

CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live from Kandahar with the story -- Martin, is there a chance, a real chance that Osama bin Laden was in that convoy?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon to you, Carol, from Kandahar.

There is no confirmation in any way, shape or form as to who may have been struck with that Hellfire missile that was launched. No one here certainly even raising the possibility it could have been Osama bin Laden.

But there are others elsewhere who say maybe.

Essentially what we are being told right now is that there is an operation under way sending troops from here at the Kandahar military base, flying them by helicopter, trying to insert them into the area, which would be the Tora Bora region. This all goes back to last Monday when a CIA Prowler aircraft -- that's an unmanned aircraft that has been used a great deal for reconnaissance purposes throughout the Afghan campaign -- was apparently spotting a civilian entourage of vehicles, SUVs to be specific, a rather small one moving down the road.

They called in for an air strike obviously believing that they were suspect al Qaeda. But apparently there were no aircraft in the area that were capable of carrying out the strike when it was needed. That prowler also had a missile on it. It launched the hellfire and it struck, apparently, the convoy and it's believed that al Qaeda leaders were killed.

The problem was that happened on Monday. The weather had been so bad in the region they could not insert troops until now. No word yet on what they are finding and, of course, with the passage of time, it is quite possible that anyone that had been killed could have been removed already by the al Qaeda -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Well, I guess if you think about it, if you're hiding you want to keep on the move and maybe that's why Osama bin Laden might have been in that convoy. SAVIDGE: Well, one of the things that they have been noting is that the Tora Bora region, as we already know, is an area that had been used in the past, an area that's riddled with caves. Now, many of those caves were searched by U.S. forces as well as Afghan forces. They keep an eye on that region just in case someone comes back and it appears that maybe someone did. Just how many and how high were they on the al Qaeda food chain is remaining to be seen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, it should be interesting. Thank you.

Martin Savidge reporting live for us from Kandahar, where it is already the afternoon.

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