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CNN Sunday Morning

Three Marines Injured in Land Mine Explosion

Aired December 16, 2001 - 08:07   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: Let's talk about the injured U.S. Marines we told you about at the top of the program. CNN's Mike Chinoy was within earshot of the explosion as it happened at the Kandahar Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was at the side of one part of the runway here at Kandahar Airport, being showed a mine field by the Marines, when we heard an explosion several hundred meters away down the runway. It turned out that three Marine combat engineers had been injured in a land mine explosion there, one of them stepping on a mine. The Marines going through a field they thought was free of mines to a house that they were going to clear of mines.

The three Marines were brought here to the tarmac at the center of the airport and put on a helicopter. Then they were medivaced to the field hospital at the Marine base at Camp Rhino in the Afghan desert south of Kandahar. This is the first time the Marines have sustained casualties since they occupied Kandahar Airport on Friday.

More Marines have been coming in since then, trying to consolidate their positions. One of the biggest challenges underscored by this latest incident is the profusion of land mines. Three sides of the airport are completely surrounded by land mines.

In addition, Marine ordinance disposal experts have told me that they have uncovered in virtually every building here in the airport compound munitions that were left behind by fleeing Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, including mines, artillery, rocket-propelled grenades, surface-to-air missiles. It's a very, very dangerous environment. Add to that concerns about security from Taliban and al Qaeda fighters who may have mingled with the local population nearby.

I was told by an Afghan journalist -- we're working with some of the journalists in the town -- that the Afghan guards here at the gates say that they detained two Arab al Qaeda members trying to reach this airport compound last night. So security and safety for mines and ordinance remain big concerns for the Marines here.

I'm Mike Chinoy with the U.S. Marines at Kandahar Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, several U.S. Marines that Mike just talked about that were hurt in Southern Afghanistan this morning, we've been talking about that. While at another part of the country, U.S.-led forces continue to pound Tora Bora.

CNN Military Analyst and former NATO supreme commander, retired General Wesley Clark joins us live from Little Rock to talk about these new developments.

Good to see you, General.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about these Marines that -- that were injured possibly sweeping for mines, looking for booby traps. What's the situation at the airport now, and is this something that could very easily happen again?

CLARK: Well, it could. There's been ordinance, probably, that's been buried there and mine fields that have been there for years and years and years, since the Soviet occupation. Some of that stuff may be there 20 years or so. Nobody will know where it all is. And it's a matter of systematically going through the areas that are most likely to be used by us and clearing that material out.

It should be done by dogs or mechanical means. We should be getting that stuff in very shortly; I'm sure it's on the way.

PHILLIPS: That was my question, is how do they do it? Dogs -- what kind of mechanical means? Is it special types of equipment that they bring in?

CLARK: Well, you start with hand-held mine detectors, and these detect anomalies under the soil by putting out radio waves and getting reflections from them. But you go into other devices. There are vehicle-mounted devices that can put pressure on the ground and churn up the ground and so forth, and dig in deep. We've developed a number of these during the mission in Bosnia. We had some previously; we've used them in the Iraq campaign during Desert Storm.

But they weigh a lot; they're probably not forward with the ships. They're going to have to be flown over from the United States. But they can be brought in. And that's what should be done in this area, because it's flat, it's open, and it is -- it's good soil for being able to use mechanical devices.

PHILLIPS: Now the senior Afghan commander claims Osama bin Laden has left Tora Bora. Do you believe that?

CLARK: Well, I think it's entirely possible. And we've always speculated on whether or not he would stay there and why he would stay there. It's tough to understand his motives. Don't know what to make of the reports that he was heard on the radio. Maybe he was heard on the radio. Maybe it was coming from somewhere else, maybe it was a tape recording, maybe it was a mistake. But my guess had always been that he would want to stay there long enough to make a stand, to try to show that his fighters could stand up to the great power of the United States, then he would try to slip out. Perhaps that's what he's done.

On the other hand, you know, our allies and our special forces people are going to need some time to move through this area. The fact is, they've been advancing against resistance. And when people would shoot at them, they'd fall back, they'd call for airstrikes.

Now, no one's shooting. That doesn't mean no one's left there; it doesn't mean every area's been searched. It's just that the areas where they thought they had organized resistance seem to have stopped resisting. So people will be in that area, it will take another probably couple of days, maybe longer, to go through the whole area to really see what's there. Maybe there are other bunkers; maybe there are other caves that we didn't know about.

PHILLIPS: Did that surprise you when Ben Wedeman, one of our reporters, reported yesterday that he believed that he was picking up possibly Osama bin Laden on his radio?

CLARK: Yes, I didn't expect that. I haven't expected to see Osama bin Laden out there personally directing the troops. That doesn't mean he couldn't do it. But it's normally a sign of real desperation, when you get the top commander -- like Osama bin Laden apparently is -- down at the tactical level, trying to tell people to move from one position to another and trying to encourage them to keep their spirits up.

PHILLIPS: What about these reports that the Eastern Alliance says it's captured the last al Qaeda positions at Tora Bora? Do you believe those reports?

CLARK: Well, I think that they certainly believe them. But I think it's also a matter of having enough time to really sweep through the area from multiple directions and really look. If this area is as torturous and cut off as everyone says it is -- and I haven't been there on the ground, obviously, myself personally -- but it's going to take more than just a couple of hours to work your way through the area. And we may be finding positions there for the next two or three days if they're still there.

PHILLIPS: General Wesley Clark, thank you so much, sir.

CLARK: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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