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Chance: Powerful suicide bombing at army base
TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- A suicide bomber on Tuesday detonated a powerful explosive at a bus stop outside a military base near Tel Aviv. Several people were killed or wounded. The bomber also was killed. Correspondent Matthew Chance described the scene to CNN's Wolf Blitzer. CHANCE: The authorities here, they've got a lot of work to do. They're moving us on from this location in central Israel, because this is the place where this latest explosion took place, this latest suicide bombing. It's a chaotic scene. It's a scene that, unfortunately, Israelis have gotten so used to over the years, that these kinds of attacks have taken place. This latest attack, this latest explosion, was outside a big military complex in central Israel, some distance from the city of Tel Aviv. We understand from the authorities, the police, that several people have been have been killed as a result of this. Others injured. The suicide bomber, obviously, was killed as well. The injured, the dead, have been taken away from this area -- evacuated to a hospital. But as you can see, the security forces are out in some considerable strength. They're still checking out what they can find here in terms of evidence. Police say they're trying to gather as much evidence as they can here at the scene to put together a sort of forensic survey of the actual scene of the crime here. BLITZER: Matthew, [there is] a lot of controversy involving that fence the Israelis are building separating the old West Bank border from Israel itself. How close are you right now to where that fence has either been built, the so-called security wall, or has not yet been built? I wonder if that's at all a factor in this particular incident. CHANCE: I think it's one of the things that further infuriated many Palestinians, but the fact is this is not anywhere near where that barrier passes through, dividing off Israel from the occupied territories of the West Bank. This is right in the heart of Israel, just a short distance from the main Israeli city of Tel Aviv. And so, it's really very much a strike in the Israeli heartland. It's not something that's an operation, a bombing that's been carried out in the occupied territories. What's also interesting, Wolf, if you remember, on August 19th, whereas, that devastating suicide attack on a bus inside the city of Jerusalem, which left eventually 22 people dead, was clearly an attack that targeted the civilian population of this city. This was clearly an attack which targeted the military personnel. This is a stop here, a bus stop, a hitchhiker stop, used by members of the Israeli armed forces, right outside a big Israeli military installation here. Many members of the security forces were gathering in this area to go home, as they do every night, to make their journey back to their homes, if they don't stay in barracks. Having said that, there may have well been some civilians amongst the crowd where this suicide bomber detonated the explosives. BLITZER: Once again, what is the casualty count, as of this moment? How many dead, how many injured? CHANCE: Well, we have just spoken to the authorities here. They're telling us at this stage, five people have been confirmed dead, plus the suicide bomber. We also understand that at least 15 people have been quite seriously injured. The hospital officials that we've spoken to are not ruling out the possibility that the final death toll in this devastating explosion, the latest to strike the people of Israel, could very well rise in the hours ahead.
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