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CNN Sunday Morning

2 Dead, 5 Wounded After Attacks in Israel

Aired February 10, 2002 - 08:09   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: Overseas, attacks and reprisals in Israel and the West Bank. Two are dead, five wounded, three arrested. CNN's Jerrold Kessel joining us live from Jerusalem with the details and what is the developing story. Jerrold, what is the latest?

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, and the latest of this attack in the southern Israeli desert town of Bathsheba. Two Israeli women have been shot and killed, evidently by Palestinian gunmen, who opened fire with automatic weapons outside a major army base. Across the road there's a small cafe restaurant where many soldiers and other civilians were there during their lunch time break, opening fire, shooting dead two Israeli women, wounding five others, one of whom is in very serious condition according to a hospital in Bathsheba.

And within seconds after beginning the shooting rampage, the two Palestinian gunmen were shot and killed themselves by Israeli soldiers who were outside that army base there in the southern desert town of Bathsheba.

And this is a slightly unusual place for an attack of this sort. In fact, the first time in the almost year and a half now of the bloody confrontation between the Palestinians and the Israelis that has happened here in the town of Bathsheba, which is possibly as remote as you can get. And that's pretty relative in Israeli terms. Just about 20 kilometers from either the West Bank -- or 15 miles West Bank or Gaza borders. But that's about as far as any place in central Israel gets. There have, of course, been similar such attacks of gunmen or suicide bombers in the heart of Israeli towns. But the first time that they've hit the Israeli town of Bathsheba in the southern part of the country.

The police began a search for the believed possibility that there was a third gunman, but as of now it seems that that was a wild rumor and that there were only the two men who were, as I say, shot and killed themselves after they had shot and killed to Israeli women and wounded five others -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem, thank you very much as we track that developing story there.

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