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CNN Sunday Morning

Terrorists Bomb Train in Israel

Aired June 30, 2002 - 08:31   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, a passenger train was bombed in the central Israeli town of Lod, injuring at least three passengers. Israeli authorities believe the bomb was planted during the night. Our CNN's John Vause is live in Jerusalem with the latest on this. Hello, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. A few things to tell you about from this part of the world, but let's start with that bomb on the train.

As you said, it happened in the town of Lod; that's a small town. It's quite close to the Tel Aviv Airport. Now, that train was traveling south when the explosion happened around 7:00 this morning local time, which is rush hour here in Israel. Sunday is the start of the working week.

Three people were injured, two of them were hurt. The third was treated for shock. As you say, Israeli authorities believe the bomb was, in fact, planted on the tracks and detonated as the train passed over it. It damaged the carriage, blowing out some windows.

Now, this all comes as Jerusalem is actually placed on a high state of alert after authorities here say that they've received hard evidence of an imminent terrorist attack.

Also here on the West Bank, the Israeli security forces have moved in, rounding up men, dozens of men, aged between 15 and 55. They are taken to a nearby school. They are in the refugee camp near Ramallah. They are taken to a nearby school, while soldiers went house-to-house, searching what Israel says are, in fact, terrorists responsible for a recent spate of terrorist and suicide bombings -- terrorist attacks and suicide bombings. Those men were also questioned.

Israeli forces are now in seven of the eight biggest towns on the West Bank. More than 800,000 Palestinians remain under curfew. Now, one of those towns that is, in fact, under curfew is Hebron. Now there, on Saturday, the Israeli security forces blew up the Palestinian security headquarters. That's also a government building, a very large building indeed. Four stories. It was leveled.

Now, they blew it up because inside, they say, were 15 gunmen who were wanted by Israel, 15 Palestinians. Now, they're been searching that rubble, they're been looking for those bodies, but they have not found those bodies. There is, in fact, now speculation that those men may have, in fact, escaped during the four-day siege which preceded the explosion of that building.

Now, also here in Israel, the government of that could be heading for a showdown with settlers. This comes after comments by the Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He said that he wants 10 settlement outposts dismantled. Now, there are 69 settlements of these outposts on the West Bank. They're fairly small, they're made of really temporary structures -- tents, caravans, that kind of thing. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer wants those dismantled by the end of the day. He said the settlers can do it, or he will send the army in to do it.

The settlers, for their part, are outraged. They say this is, in fact, rewarding 20 months of Palestinian terrorism. But the defense minister says he has chosen these outposts. He won't say exactly which ones, because he has chosen them because of their relatively small population and their vulnerability to attack. So it appears that his decision to dismantle these outposts is, in fact, one to do with resources -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, John Vause, live from Jerusalem. Thanks, John.

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