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American Morning

Car Bomber Stopped in Afghanistan

Aired July 30, 2002 - 07:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A traffic accident may have been the only thing standing between the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and a suicide bomb attack.
Nic Robertson in the capital city of Kabul to bring us up to date. And also on some information, it appears to conflict at times, as well -- Nic, good afternoon to you there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you there, Bill.

Well, defense ministry officials, in fact, the defense minister himself, the foreign minister and the president here of Afghanistan have been meeting today to discuss the security situation. They say they have one man in detention. They say that he has been so far uncooperative. They believe he's a foreigner. They say that they also believe that he may be from, he may be a member of al Qaeda.

Now, they believe his target list in Kabul was not only, as you say, potentially the embassy of the United States, but also they believe it could have been the office of President Hamid Karzai. It could have been an office of any of the top ministers or the top ministers themselves.

They say they believe that this bomb was very sophisticated. They say that it couldn't have been made inside Afghanistan. They say explosives were packed in the door frames, in the trunk of the vehicle and that it was being driven into the city to cause maximum potential damage.

They are saying, investigates sources here are saying that this was not something that could have been created inside Afghanistan. They are saying that the bomb, the first time they were aware of it was in the east of Afghanistan, an indication that they believe, perhaps, it was constructed in Pakistan.

However, Bill, they're not saying that. And as you say, some of the details here are murky and contradictory. We're being told by other officials here in the information ministry that the subject has so far not talked. That contradicts what the intelligence officials are saying, that so far he has talked somewhat -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nic Robertson live in Kabul with the latest on that story there.

Thank you, Nic.

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