Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Toll Rises to at Least 16 Dead
Aired June 11, 2003 - 13:08 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We will hear from Jerusalem in just a bit. As a matter of fact, I think we have Jerrold Kessel now. Jerrold Kessel, live in Jerusalem -- Jerrold, if you could give us the latest.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello. We're down here in Jerusalem, just getting our camera in order to go in and show you the picture of that stricken bus here. It is, now, two hours after the bomber struck aboard bus No. 14 here on Jerusalem's busy Jaffa Street, 16 people, at least 16 people killed.
Just a few minutes ago, a stretcher was taken aboard the bus. It could be they're going to bring out the body of the suicide bomber. That's our estimate from here, we haven't had that confirmed. But what we do know for sure, as our camera can go into that bus, where the final cleanup aboard the bus and the forensic work is being completed, we do know the bomber that stepped aboard that bus, just after 5:00 in the afternoon here, a busy time in Jerusalem, was disguised as an orthodox Jew, and that, quite clearly, made it more difficult for the driver or fellow passengers to detect his nefarious intent.
Shortly after the bus pulled away from the stop here at this busy intersection, one of the busiest in downtown West Jerusalem, the bomb exploded. Sixteen people killed, and from what we've been able to hear from the Israeli police, 10 of those died aboard the bus, three on their way to hospital, three of the people killed outside the bus in the street, perhaps in a car or at the bus stop. We're not quite sure about that.
But a deadly toll of 16 killed, dozens, scores wounded. And the horror still sinking in as the people of Jerusalem contemplate yet another terror attack in the heart of their city.
O'BRIEN: Jerrold, this tactic that you referred to, the suicide bomber in this case dressed as if he were an orthodox Jew, not the first time we've seen that, is it?
KESSEL: No, it isn't, and it's making the work of the Israeli security and of the police all that more difficult. They've seen the bombers disguise themselves as -- perhaps in traditional garb of the young Israelis, even as punkists (ph), with a couple dying their hair. Sometimes as women. There have been women bombers too. And here in Jerusalem, it seems of late there have been a number of occasions when they've disguised themselves as orthodox Jews. It makes the work of the security, it makes the work of other Israelis who try to detect somebody who might be suspicious boarding a bus that much more difficult. It makes riding a bus that much more fearful -- preoccupation.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jerrold Kessel, off of Jaffa Road on Jerusalem. Thank you -- in Jerusalem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 11, 2003 - 13:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We will hear from Jerusalem in just a bit. As a matter of fact, I think we have Jerrold Kessel now. Jerrold Kessel, live in Jerusalem -- Jerrold, if you could give us the latest.
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello. We're down here in Jerusalem, just getting our camera in order to go in and show you the picture of that stricken bus here. It is, now, two hours after the bomber struck aboard bus No. 14 here on Jerusalem's busy Jaffa Street, 16 people, at least 16 people killed.
Just a few minutes ago, a stretcher was taken aboard the bus. It could be they're going to bring out the body of the suicide bomber. That's our estimate from here, we haven't had that confirmed. But what we do know for sure, as our camera can go into that bus, where the final cleanup aboard the bus and the forensic work is being completed, we do know the bomber that stepped aboard that bus, just after 5:00 in the afternoon here, a busy time in Jerusalem, was disguised as an orthodox Jew, and that, quite clearly, made it more difficult for the driver or fellow passengers to detect his nefarious intent.
Shortly after the bus pulled away from the stop here at this busy intersection, one of the busiest in downtown West Jerusalem, the bomb exploded. Sixteen people killed, and from what we've been able to hear from the Israeli police, 10 of those died aboard the bus, three on their way to hospital, three of the people killed outside the bus in the street, perhaps in a car or at the bus stop. We're not quite sure about that.
But a deadly toll of 16 killed, dozens, scores wounded. And the horror still sinking in as the people of Jerusalem contemplate yet another terror attack in the heart of their city.
O'BRIEN: Jerrold, this tactic that you referred to, the suicide bomber in this case dressed as if he were an orthodox Jew, not the first time we've seen that, is it?
KESSEL: No, it isn't, and it's making the work of the Israeli security and of the police all that more difficult. They've seen the bombers disguise themselves as -- perhaps in traditional garb of the young Israelis, even as punkists (ph), with a couple dying their hair. Sometimes as women. There have been women bombers too. And here in Jerusalem, it seems of late there have been a number of occasions when they've disguised themselves as orthodox Jews. It makes the work of the security, it makes the work of other Israelis who try to detect somebody who might be suspicious boarding a bus that much more difficult. It makes riding a bus that much more fearful -- preoccupation.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jerrold Kessel, off of Jaffa Road on Jerusalem. Thank you -- in Jerusalem.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
