Page 18 - Mortar Shell News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

When he gets home from the shorter and what should be far less dangerous tour of duty. bret? >> bret: all right, rick. thank you. part four tomorrow. the u.s. military reached an agreement with the afghan government on a gradual pull-out of american special forces. and the afghanp counterparts from one contentious region. president karzai blamed the troop for human right abuses. the u.s. officials denied all the allegations. investigators in nevis are trying to figure out what caused a mortar shell to explode in the firing tube monday night killing seven bleeps and woulding eight others. abo...

Loved ones. >> want to bring in our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. tell us, first of all, what do we know about how this even happened? >> reporter: well, suzanne, the military is saying seven marines were killed when a 60 millimeter mortar shell, already in the tube, in the weapon essentially exploded. seven marines killed, a number injured and medevac'd to hospital. likely with serious trauma injuries about the training situation, they would have been standing quite close to the mortar and to the weapon when it exploded. now a major investigation, of course, under way trying to deter...

And how about a marijuana dinner cruise? >> but without doubt, i think it plays a role and has a part in the future of tourism. >> is pod tourism the way for cash-strapped states a way to make money? you're live in the "cnn newsroom." and we begin this hour with breaking news. seven marines were killed in an explosion during a marine training exercise. it happened late last night in western nevada. let's head straight to the pentagon and our correspondent there, barbara star. can you tell us more about what happened, barbara? >> well, carol, the initial indications are that some type of mort...

Millimeter mortar shell that somehow exploded, causing this tragedy. now seven military families getting the worst possible news on this day, being notified that their marines were killed in this training accident. carol? >> do they often use live mortars in training exercises? >> well, there is live ammunition training in the u.s. military. it happens. what we don't know is whether this was a live round or some kind of other dummy round, perhaps, you know, a blank, if you will, that somehow also exploded, maybe causing these injuries. the marines just aren't saying yet. all they're telling us...

Marines there on a training mission from camp lejeune, north carolina. seven military members being notified the most tragic news. >> so many questions, i would ask you, but i know we are in the early stages of this. a mortar exploded? >> a shell is what they believe. a 16 millimeter mortar shell to answer everyone's question, no, it's not supposed to happen. so how this happened will be a matter of investigation, of course. was there any number of ways -- things they will be looking into. potential mishandling, technical malfunction, we don't know yet. a very tragic accident happened at 10:00...