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CNN Live At Daybreak

Deaths Reported After Explosion at Mosque in Iraq

Aired July 01, 2003 - 06:02   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: Confidence is slipping. New polls show Americans are beginning to wonder about the war effort. Why? Continuing violence in Iraq. For example, overnight a deadly explosion at a mosque in Fallujah, and this morning there are accusations that a U.S. bomb or a missile is to blame. Also, in central Baghdad today, reports of three U.S. soldiers injured by a car bomb.
Live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf.

Sort it all out for us -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: I'll try, Carol. We're just getting details in on that latest incident that you mentioned, that deadly attack in central Baghdad. Now, witnesses there are telling us it appears categorically to have been a rocket-propelled grenade attack and quite a dramatic one. The upshot of this is that at least three American soldiers were wounded, two of them believed to have been wounded critically, and their Iraqi interpreter killed in that attack.

According to people on the ground, this happened very close to the gates of Mustansiriyah University, a major university in central Baghdad. And these days, the streets are full of traffic. Now, traffic there appeared to have halted next to a gasoline line. There were two American armored vehicles passing by, two Humvees, and as a red vehicle drove up, apparently the sunroof opened and someone lobbed a grenade at them, according to witnesses on the scene.

The U.S. military is still investigating that one, and they're also investigating another attack on the outskirts of Baghdad in Abugrade (ph). That was another RPG, a rocket-propelled grenade, thrown at a U.S. armored vehicle as it moved along that highway. This would be the second attack in that region near that major jail on the outskirts of Baghdad in two days.

And the major incident that you mentioned, Carol, in Fallujah, still trying to sort out why that explosion occurred in or next to that mosque. As you mentioned, at least four Iraqis killed, five more wounded, possibly more. No word yet on U.S. casualties, if there were any. But there's a lot of anger in that town, and in Baghdad as well, as these attacks continue to happen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, Jane, here in the United States, we're hearing those attacks described as guerrilla warfare. How are U.S. soldiers over there, how do they see them? ARRAF: They see them on the ground -- I know that U.S. officials are disputing that characterization, but it has all the hallmarks, according to soldiers on the ground who are dealing with these things, of guerrilla warfare in the sense that it comes out of nowhere, it's launched in unconventional ways.

This attack, for instance, today near the university, it's very hard to protect yourself if you are out in the community as these soldiers are required to be, protecting gasoline stations, escorting fuel deliveries, trying to police the city with local police essentially. To protect yourself from these kinds of attacks, it is a crowded, chaotic city these days, and there is danger lurking around every corner, according to soldiers. Now, that may not be the reality, but it's certainly the feeling.

And as much as the military cracks down on these attacks, it's not getting very far, according to local people, because it just increases the hostility in those towns -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

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 July 1, 2003 - 06:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Confidence is slipping. New polls show Americans are beginning to wonder about the war effort. Why? Continuing violence in Iraq. For example, overnight a deadly explosion at a mosque in Fallujah, and this morning there are accusations that a U.S. bomb or a missile is to blame. Also, in central Baghdad today, reports of three U.S. soldiers injured by a car bomb.
Live to Baghdad now and Jane Arraf.

Sort it all out for us -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: I'll try, Carol. We're just getting details in on that latest incident that you mentioned, that deadly attack in central Baghdad. Now, witnesses there are telling us it appears categorically to have been a rocket-propelled grenade attack and quite a dramatic one. The upshot of this is that at least three American soldiers were wounded, two of them believed to have been wounded critically, and their Iraqi interpreter killed in that attack.

According to people on the ground, this happened very close to the gates of Mustansiriyah University, a major university in central Baghdad. And these days, the streets are full of traffic. Now, traffic there appeared to have halted next to a gasoline line. There were two American armored vehicles passing by, two Humvees, and as a red vehicle drove up, apparently the sunroof opened and someone lobbed a grenade at them, according to witnesses on the scene.

The U.S. military is still investigating that one, and they're also investigating another attack on the outskirts of Baghdad in Abugrade (ph). That was another RPG, a rocket-propelled grenade, thrown at a U.S. armored vehicle as it moved along that highway. This would be the second attack in that region near that major jail on the outskirts of Baghdad in two days.

And the major incident that you mentioned, Carol, in Fallujah, still trying to sort out why that explosion occurred in or next to that mosque. As you mentioned, at least four Iraqis killed, five more wounded, possibly more. No word yet on U.S. casualties, if there were any. But there's a lot of anger in that town, and in Baghdad as well, as these attacks continue to happen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, Jane, here in the United States, we're hearing those attacks described as guerrilla warfare. How are U.S. soldiers over there, how do they see them? ARRAF: They see them on the ground -- I know that U.S. officials are disputing that characterization, but it has all the hallmarks, according to soldiers on the ground who are dealing with these things, of guerrilla warfare in the sense that it comes out of nowhere, it's launched in unconventional ways.

This attack, for instance, today near the university, it's very hard to protect yourself if you are out in the community as these soldiers are required to be, protecting gasoline stations, escorting fuel deliveries, trying to police the city with local police essentially. To protect yourself from these kinds of attacks, it is a crowded, chaotic city these days, and there is danger lurking around every corner, according to soldiers. Now, that may not be the reality, but it's certainly the feeling.

And as much as the military cracks down on these attacks, it's not getting very far, according to local people, because it just increases the hostility in those towns -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf live from Baghdad this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.