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CNN Live At Daybreak
British Troops Attacked in Southern Iraq
Aired June 25, 2003 - 06:03 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Also out of Iraq this morning, the big question: Are the attacks on coalition forces becoming more organized, more effective? And who is behind them? This comes after six British soldiers are killed in Amarah.
Live to Ben Wedeman near the scene of the attack.
Good morning -- Ben. What exactly happened?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
Actually, the incident happened in al-Majar al-Kabir, which is where I am actually. What happened was -- and it is very difficult to sort out where the truth lies in all of this -- but according to one version of events, yesterday morning a British patrol was going through the main market of this fairly tribal Shiite city in the southern part of Iraq, when there was a stone-throwing incident from local children. It apparently got out of hand. Some of the British soldiers fired in the air to try to disperse the crowd.
But then rather than dispersing, the crowd grew larger and larger. At some point the British soldiers, according to local eyewitnesses, had to open fire with plastic bullets. This only exasperated the situation, causing more people to come to the area.
Now, according to a police source here, the British patrol retreated to the main police station of this town of about 60,000, where a very large crowd gathered. Now, this police source said that among the crowd were as many as 400 armed men. Now, outside the police station, you could see there were a fair number of bullet holes in the walls of that police station, and it is here, according to both British and the Iraqi sources, that four of those soldiers were killed, in addition to two on the nearby river bank.
Now, also during the exchange of gunfire, 4 Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded.
Now, at this point it does not appear that this was part of any spread of organized attacks against coalition forces. It looks like it may have been a case of emotions getting out of control. And, really, just the feeling the situation getting out of control, not necessarily similar to those attacks which have taken place in Baghdad and the central part of the country -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman reporting near Amarah this morning. British troops, by the way, on high alert this morning, and, of course, they're in southern Iraq. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 25, 2003 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Also out of Iraq this morning, the big question: Are the attacks on coalition forces becoming more organized, more effective? And who is behind them? This comes after six British soldiers are killed in Amarah.
Live to Ben Wedeman near the scene of the attack.
Good morning -- Ben. What exactly happened?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.
Actually, the incident happened in al-Majar al-Kabir, which is where I am actually. What happened was -- and it is very difficult to sort out where the truth lies in all of this -- but according to one version of events, yesterday morning a British patrol was going through the main market of this fairly tribal Shiite city in the southern part of Iraq, when there was a stone-throwing incident from local children. It apparently got out of hand. Some of the British soldiers fired in the air to try to disperse the crowd.
But then rather than dispersing, the crowd grew larger and larger. At some point the British soldiers, according to local eyewitnesses, had to open fire with plastic bullets. This only exasperated the situation, causing more people to come to the area.
Now, according to a police source here, the British patrol retreated to the main police station of this town of about 60,000, where a very large crowd gathered. Now, this police source said that among the crowd were as many as 400 armed men. Now, outside the police station, you could see there were a fair number of bullet holes in the walls of that police station, and it is here, according to both British and the Iraqi sources, that four of those soldiers were killed, in addition to two on the nearby river bank.
Now, also during the exchange of gunfire, 4 Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded.
Now, at this point it does not appear that this was part of any spread of organized attacks against coalition forces. It looks like it may have been a case of emotions getting out of control. And, really, just the feeling the situation getting out of control, not necessarily similar to those attacks which have taken place in Baghdad and the central part of the country -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman reporting near Amarah this morning. British troops, by the way, on high alert this morning, and, of course, they're in southern Iraq. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
