In the small community of North Korean defectors in Seoul, a story is circulating that Kim Jong Il, the North's leader, narrowly avoided an assassination attempt by changing his schedule at the last moment. According to the rumours, residents of Ryongchon were not informed of his new schedule. Some 700 children were lined up on the platform to wave flags in greeting but were caught in a blast timed to kill him as his train went past.

Jang Song Gun, an official in charge of rescue efforts, said that the blasts occurred at noon after an electricity pole was knocked down when an oil wagon collided with two other wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertiliser. The fire caused by the short circuit ignited the oil wagon and the chemicals as the trucks were being shunted.

KEVIN SITES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. I am actually standing in what we believed to be a 500-pound bomb crater. As you've seen us all week, we've been reporting from the rooftop of the building we rented in Chamchamal. Now we are actually reporting from the Iraqi position on the hillside that coalition forces hit so fiercely just two days ago.

We hiked up here today with our videophone gear and we got a chance to look around this command bunker and it is just literally obliterated. I don't have an ISB that reaches far enough down into this crater but just to give you an idea of the size, it's probably about 25 feet in circumference and about 15 feet deep. The explosion just must have been massive. And the area surrounding it has also just been blown to bits.