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American Morning

Twenty Wounded Troops Moved to Forward Operating Base

Aired December 05, 2001 - 08:04   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We are following a breaking news story out of southern Afghanistan, where two U.S. soldiers are dead; 20 more are wounded in what U.S. officials are calling a case of so-called friendly fire.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from the Pentagon with the very latest -- Bob, how much more is the Pentagon telling you now?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're getting it in bits and pieces, of course. A defense official says that of the 20 U.S. forces, who are wounded, several of them have life-threatening injuries -- not specific in the number. A few of the others are -- quote -- "ambulatory," but all have been evacuated from the bombing tragedy north of Kandahar to the Marine base that has been established south of Kandahar, where 1,300 Marines are setting up what's called a Forward Operating Base.

In any case, they will be evaluated there, and the troops will then be evacuated as needed to hospitals in the region, or perhaps as far away as Frankfurt. But again, some of these injuries are considered life threatening. The death toll may rise.

It occurred this morning about 12:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 10:00 o'clock in the morning in the region north of Kandahar, where the siege has been going on for quite some time to try and wrest that city from the control of the Taliban. According to defense officials, the opposition forces and the U.S. forces, who were accompanying them, came under mortar fire. So the U.S. troops called in for -- quote -- "close air support." That close air support involved a B-52, among others.

A B-52 was flying at 33,000 feet, we are told, but still, with the new bombs that are available, the so-called smart bombs, that is still considered close air support. The particular bomb we are talking about is called a JDAM, which stands for Joint Direct Attack Munitions. What that means is that coordinates are given, and it has a guidance kit on it, which converts the existing free-falling bombs into smart weapons. It has a range of 15 miles.

The 2,000 pound bomb is the one that was called upon. It gets coordinates, and the officials here say an investigation is begun with three possibilities that either the coordinates that came from the ground were incorrect, or the coordinates that were punched in on the plane were incorrect, or there was a malfunction of the bomb itself.

In addition to the U.S. troops who were involved, an unknown number of the opposition forces they were accompanying were killed or wounded. Of course, there is still a lot of information that has not entirely come.

Now, there was, on October 5, another problem with a bomb that was dropped inaccurately -- another smart bomb. That was during the siege at the prison at Mazar-e-Sharif, in which five U.S. troops were injured at that same operation. Of course, a CIA paramilitary man was also killed -- Paula.

ZAHN: So once again, the bottom line, Bob, we know that two Americans soldiers are dead. You said 20 wounded -- some of them with life-threatening injuries.

FRANKEN: That's correct -- some of the others not as serious. Of course, the numbers are not precise at this point.

ZAHN: All right. Bob Franken, thanks for that update.

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