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Israeli Media: 7 Dead in Jerusalem Bus Explosion

Aired August 19, 2003 - 14:59   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.


JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: We will continue now most immediately with our coverage of this suicide attack in Jerusalem. Jerrold Kessel, I believe, is standing by for us.
Jerrold, do we have any firm numbers, just yet, on how many killed and injured here?

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do know, John, that there are dead. We haven't had an accurate number. We do know there are children among the dead from official Israeli sources. We know that 80 people -- 80 people have been evacuated to hospital. At least 13 are reported with -- I'm just hearing in my other ear -- from Israeli radio, quoting police sources that there are seven dead, according to this report on Israeli radio.

And a number of them are children. That, we had heard before from Israeli police and medical relief services, a grim scene, all too familiar for Israelis. Although, as we've been remarking, there's been something of a respite as this unilateral cease-fire with the Palestinian militant groups had, by and large -- declared about seven seeks ago -- and, by and largely kept, now shattered here in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem -- John.

KING: And, Jerrold, as we watch these rather grim photos, the tape here of this scene, the devastation, the emergency workers trying to do their jobs, help us understand a little bit about this particular neighborhood, how crowded it would have been at this time, if we know much about this bus route.

KESSEL: It's a route that takes the long bus as they call it, this trailer bus, and that is clearly what accounts for the large number of casualties, from the center of city and through the ultra- Orthodox neighborhoods, the ultra-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

It's very close to the seam line between West and East Jerusalem. But they are clearly in the Western side that's traditionally been the Israeli side of the city. Its' a crowded neighborhood, mostly poorer people belonging to the ultra-Orthodox communities and most of whom do not have cars of their own and ride the buses, which would account for -- also for a number of children being on the bus.

The explosion -- it is now 10:00 p.m. in the evening. The explosion -- that blast -- and the police are saying it was a suicide bomber -- took place just about 45 minutes ago at 9:15 as the bus, as you can see, rounded a corner, coming from one of the main trunk roads in the city. It's Route No. 1, heading into the much more narrow streets of the Mea Shearim neighborhood, as you can see, as our cameras have been picking up the area, as the grim work continues.

And it would have been a crowded time. This is, of course, like most places in the northern hemisphere, it's vacation time. And people would have been out in the streets and perhaps going home, perhaps going from their lessons at one of the places -- one of the kind of educational systems which are still operating at those yeshiva, the religious seminaries. And so, many of them may have been on their way home from studies at this time of night, which is not a late night in Jerusalem, as many Israeli cities are late-living cities and life goes on pretty much until 11:00, midnight and so forth.

So it's pretty much in the heart of the night hours that the explosion took place. And the bomber struck clearly at a time which was very crowded, as this bus no doubt was -- John.

KING: And, Jerrold, these pictures, sadly, all too familiar. Are we, in your view, also, perhaps sadly, in an all-too-familiar cycle? Had the psychology improved? You mentioned it had been a period of relative calm, through the late summer months, anyway, into August? Was there more night life on the streets? Had people began to trust that perhaps their security was improving?

KESSEL: Absolutely so.

It's now seven weeks or so since we have had this he self- proclaimed cease-fire, which has by and largely held. We have had incidents here and there, and a number of lethal ones, but nothing of the magnitude of this. And people had been coming out on to the streets, comfortable, perhaps, going out to late-night cafes and certainly shopping centers. Malls were much more crowded.

This is a neighborhood which has a life of its own, John. You have to understand, this is a very compact community, the ultra- Orthodox. Now, whether the people all on this bus were actually from the neighborhood or were traveling through the neighborhood -- but I would guess a lot of them were in fact from this particular neighborhood.

So they might not have been affected absolutely by the reestablishment of traditional ways of life. They would have gone on with their way of life, even though -- the ever-present terror attacks of the last three years. But, certainly, the mood in the country as a whole had changed quite dramatically in the last month, as Israelis got used to a degree of quiet and had hoped that it would last.

As just as we were -- in fact, as this bomb went off, down in Gaza, the Palestinian leadership of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his security people, Mohammed Dahlan, were due to meet with the leaders of the Palestinian militant groups in an attempt to convince them not just to keep going with the cease-fire, but also to extend it beyond its September deadline.

Now, another interesting thing, if I may, John, about the neighborhood, many of the people here do not have televisions. In fact, I would say probably 95 percent of the community of the ultra- Orthodox, the ultra-religious Jews, do not have televisions. They might be listening to the radio, although many of them might not dare to. But word of mouth, of course, has brought them out on to the streets, brought them to see what's going.

And all around in these fairly narrow streets around where the stricken bus lies, there are clumps and clumps and scores and even hundreds of people standing in there in traditional black coats and black garb, waiting, and women alongside them, and waiting and watching, mostly silently and very grimly at this grim scene -- John.

KING: Jerrold Kessel, we'll leave you for now to continue your reporting in Jerusalem. I'm certain we'll come back to you in the moments ahead, a grim scene there on the streets of Jerusalem tonight, a deadly suicide bombing.

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 August 19, 2003 - 14:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: We will continue now most immediately with our coverage of this suicide attack in Jerusalem. Jerrold Kessel, I believe, is standing by for us.
Jerrold, do we have any firm numbers, just yet, on how many killed and injured here?

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do know, John, that there are dead. We haven't had an accurate number. We do know there are children among the dead from official Israeli sources. We know that 80 people -- 80 people have been evacuated to hospital. At least 13 are reported with -- I'm just hearing in my other ear -- from Israeli radio, quoting police sources that there are seven dead, according to this report on Israeli radio.

And a number of them are children. That, we had heard before from Israeli police and medical relief services, a grim scene, all too familiar for Israelis. Although, as we've been remarking, there's been something of a respite as this unilateral cease-fire with the Palestinian militant groups had, by and large -- declared about seven seeks ago -- and, by and largely kept, now shattered here in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem -- John.

KING: And, Jerrold, as we watch these rather grim photos, the tape here of this scene, the devastation, the emergency workers trying to do their jobs, help us understand a little bit about this particular neighborhood, how crowded it would have been at this time, if we know much about this bus route.

KESSEL: It's a route that takes the long bus as they call it, this trailer bus, and that is clearly what accounts for the large number of casualties, from the center of city and through the ultra- Orthodox neighborhoods, the ultra-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

It's very close to the seam line between West and East Jerusalem. But they are clearly in the Western side that's traditionally been the Israeli side of the city. Its' a crowded neighborhood, mostly poorer people belonging to the ultra-Orthodox communities and most of whom do not have cars of their own and ride the buses, which would account for -- also for a number of children being on the bus.

The explosion -- it is now 10:00 p.m. in the evening. The explosion -- that blast -- and the police are saying it was a suicide bomber -- took place just about 45 minutes ago at 9:15 as the bus, as you can see, rounded a corner, coming from one of the main trunk roads in the city. It's Route No. 1, heading into the much more narrow streets of the Mea Shearim neighborhood, as you can see, as our cameras have been picking up the area, as the grim work continues.

And it would have been a crowded time. This is, of course, like most places in the northern hemisphere, it's vacation time. And people would have been out in the streets and perhaps going home, perhaps going from their lessons at one of the places -- one of the kind of educational systems which are still operating at those yeshiva, the religious seminaries. And so, many of them may have been on their way home from studies at this time of night, which is not a late night in Jerusalem, as many Israeli cities are late-living cities and life goes on pretty much until 11:00, midnight and so forth.

So it's pretty much in the heart of the night hours that the explosion took place. And the bomber struck clearly at a time which was very crowded, as this bus no doubt was -- John.

KING: And, Jerrold, these pictures, sadly, all too familiar. Are we, in your view, also, perhaps sadly, in an all-too-familiar cycle? Had the psychology improved? You mentioned it had been a period of relative calm, through the late summer months, anyway, into August? Was there more night life on the streets? Had people began to trust that perhaps their security was improving?

KESSEL: Absolutely so.

It's now seven weeks or so since we have had this he self- proclaimed cease-fire, which has by and largely held. We have had incidents here and there, and a number of lethal ones, but nothing of the magnitude of this. And people had been coming out on to the streets, comfortable, perhaps, going out to late-night cafes and certainly shopping centers. Malls were much more crowded.

This is a neighborhood which has a life of its own, John. You have to understand, this is a very compact community, the ultra- Orthodox. Now, whether the people all on this bus were actually from the neighborhood or were traveling through the neighborhood -- but I would guess a lot of them were in fact from this particular neighborhood.

So they might not have been affected absolutely by the reestablishment of traditional ways of life. They would have gone on with their way of life, even though -- the ever-present terror attacks of the last three years. But, certainly, the mood in the country as a whole had changed quite dramatically in the last month, as Israelis got used to a degree of quiet and had hoped that it would last.

As just as we were -- in fact, as this bomb went off, down in Gaza, the Palestinian leadership of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his security people, Mohammed Dahlan, were due to meet with the leaders of the Palestinian militant groups in an attempt to convince them not just to keep going with the cease-fire, but also to extend it beyond its September deadline.

Now, another interesting thing, if I may, John, about the neighborhood, many of the people here do not have televisions. In fact, I would say probably 95 percent of the community of the ultra- Orthodox, the ultra-religious Jews, do not have televisions. They might be listening to the radio, although many of them might not dare to. But word of mouth, of course, has brought them out on to the streets, brought them to see what's going.

And all around in these fairly narrow streets around where the stricken bus lies, there are clumps and clumps and scores and even hundreds of people standing in there in traditional black coats and black garb, waiting, and women alongside them, and waiting and watching, mostly silently and very grimly at this grim scene -- John.

KING: Jerrold Kessel, we'll leave you for now to continue your reporting in Jerusalem. I'm certain we'll come back to you in the moments ahead, a grim scene there on the streets of Jerusalem tonight, a deadly suicide bombing.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com