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CNN Sunday Morning

At Least 12 Killed in Two Incidents in Israel

Aired August 04, 2002 - 11:01   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now the latest on the deadly violence in the Middle East. In all, at least a dozen people were killed and dozens more injured in a bus bombing near Saffat (ph) in northern Israel, and in the shoot-out in Jerusalem.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel is in Jerusalem with the latest on both those incidents.

Hi, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Another difficult day for Israelis, another bloody Sunday, as you say, another day of terror and mayhem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL (voice-over): Sunday morning the start to Israel's working week barely under way when terror strikes again. People heading back to work, soldiers back to their bases after weekend leave. The force of the explosive and the subsequent fire so fierce, said rescue workers, that everyone aboard the bus on route 361 was either killed or wounded.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group, again, quick to take responsibility for a suicide bombing as it did for one at Hebrew University in Jerusalem last Wednesday, an attack which followed the killing of the Hamas military commander and an Israeli airstrike Gaza, the previous week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Israeli attacks and Israeli crimes against our people should be reacted by the Palestinians. It's not part of revenge, it is part of our resistance to the Israeli occupation.

KESSEL: News of the latest attack came just as Ariel Sharon's government was sitting down to its weekly session.

I would like to ask the defense minister, said Prime Minister Sharon, to make a short announcement, that as terror carries on, we will have to continue acting against terror in every possible way.

The bus bombing comes despite stepped up Israeli military action in the West Bank continuing since Friday, in a major way, in the heart of the largest Palestinian town, Nablus, and including the demolition overnight of nine homes of relatives of earlier suicide bombers and Palestinian gunmen. Actions, which Israel says, is aimed at deterring future attacks.

But even as the region was still reeling from the latest bus bombing, another shooting, this time in East Jerusalem, outside the walled Old City, three dead. Authorities say a 19-year-old Palestinian shot and killed an Israeli security guard. A Palestinian bystander was killed and 14 people wounded in a subsequent shoot-out. As Israeli border police shot the Palestinian gunman dead.

Despite the latest attack, Israeli cabinet sources say planned talks between top Israeli leaders and senior Palestinian ministers will nonetheless go on, perhaps later in the week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL: The Palestinian Authority says it is hoping those talks will materialize, but with Israelis bracing for more attacks by Palestinian extremists, and Palestinians fully expecting that Israel will go on with its tough policy, both sides also reluctantly concede that the talks could, perhaps will, continue at best to take a backseat -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you, Jerrold from Jerusalem. Appreciate it.

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