McVeigh to Plead Innocent in Oklahoma City Bombing : Blast: In interview, he claims he first learned about the attack from the officer arresting him and says he was ‘horrified’ by the deaths of children.

In his first interview since his arrest, Timothy J. McVeigh, one of the prime suspects in the bombing of the federal building here, told Newsweek magazine that he first heard about the attack from the highway patrolman who stopped him that morning for driving without a license plate.

McVeigh also told the magazine he was “horrified” by images of the children killed and maimed in the bombing, and believes it will be difficult to get a fair trial.

The former Army sergeant denied published reports that after his arrest he refused to state anything more than his name, rank and serial number.

“I never, never called myself a prisoner of war,” he said.

McVeigh and former Army colleague Terry L. Nichols are the only suspects charged in the April 19 attack that killed 168 people and wounded at least 500. Both are being held in federal prison in El Reno, Okla., and face the death penalty if convicted under a federal anti-terrorism law.

In the 70-minute Newsweek interview, which took place Thursday in the prison in the presence of McVeigh’s attorney, Stephen Jones, McVeigh said he plans to plead not guilty.

When asked directly whether he bombed the building, McVeigh said: “The only way we can really answer that is that we are going to plead not guilty.”

McVeigh resisted discussing his political views and denied published reports suggesting that he had attended meetings of anti-government militia groups or was angry over the federal siege and raid of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex.

He acknowledged that he visited the site during the 1993 standoff and again after the raid, and said the government “most definitely” made mistakes.

McVeigh said the first he heard about the blast was in the patrol car with the Oklahoma highway patrolman who stopped him soon after the bombing.

“For two days in the cell, we could hear news reports, and of course everyone, including myself, was horrified at the deaths of the children,” he said. “And you know, that was the No. 1 focal point of the media at the time too, obviously--the deaths of the children. It’s a very tragic thing.”