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CNN Live Today
Intense Firefight in Mosul
Aired July 22, 2003 - 11:14 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, we want to go to Baghdad to see if we can learn something more on this front, that side of things. Harris Whitbeck is checking in right now.
Harris, what have you been hearing?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the details here are very sketchy. We had heard a few hours ago that there had been an intense firefight around a very large house in the Jaleel Fayant (ph) neighborhood in Mosul, in northern Iraq. We did hear that there were four high-ranking allies of Saddam Hussein who have been killed in that attack.
Now the information as to whether they are in fact Saddam Hussein's sons, we're hearing secondhand from the Al-Jazeera television network, who said it spoke to eyewitnesses, saying that Uday and Qusay Hussein had been in that house at some point.
But again, as Barbara was saying from the Pentagon, no conformation yet on the identities of those people who were killed. Meanwhile, there was another U.S. soldier who was killed in Iraq today; another one was wounded. This occurred on a highway between Ballad (ph) and Ar Ramadi (ph). That's in the Sunni Triangle, essentially an area of traditional support for Saddam Hussein. Their convoy was hit by rocket-propelled grenades and by small arms fire, and again, one U.S. soldier was killed during that incident -- Leon.
HARRIS: Harris, i want to go back to what you just read there moments ago some eyewitness account there who said he actually heard or saw somewhere. Was there any mention of exactly how this raid was executed?
WHITBECK: No. Again, we heard reports that there was a very intense firefight around this house in this neighborhood in Mosul. Some reports indicated that the firefight had actually had some air support, indicating that the U.S. forces thought it was something serious, that they might be facing something serious there. The report on who was inside the house, the identities of those inside the house, came from the Al Jazeera television network, who said it spoke to eyewitnesses, who had said at some point Saddam Hussein's sons had been inside that house.
HARRIS: Very interesting. Harris Whitbeck, reporting live for us from Baghdad. Thank you, Harris.
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 22, 2003 - 11:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, we want to go to Baghdad to see if we can learn something more on this front, that side of things. Harris Whitbeck is checking in right now.
Harris, what have you been hearing?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the details here are very sketchy. We had heard a few hours ago that there had been an intense firefight around a very large house in the Jaleel Fayant (ph) neighborhood in Mosul, in northern Iraq. We did hear that there were four high-ranking allies of Saddam Hussein who have been killed in that attack.
Now the information as to whether they are in fact Saddam Hussein's sons, we're hearing secondhand from the Al-Jazeera television network, who said it spoke to eyewitnesses, saying that Uday and Qusay Hussein had been in that house at some point.
But again, as Barbara was saying from the Pentagon, no conformation yet on the identities of those people who were killed. Meanwhile, there was another U.S. soldier who was killed in Iraq today; another one was wounded. This occurred on a highway between Ballad (ph) and Ar Ramadi (ph). That's in the Sunni Triangle, essentially an area of traditional support for Saddam Hussein. Their convoy was hit by rocket-propelled grenades and by small arms fire, and again, one U.S. soldier was killed during that incident -- Leon.
HARRIS: Harris, i want to go back to what you just read there moments ago some eyewitness account there who said he actually heard or saw somewhere. Was there any mention of exactly how this raid was executed?
WHITBECK: No. Again, we heard reports that there was a very intense firefight around this house in this neighborhood in Mosul. Some reports indicated that the firefight had actually had some air support, indicating that the U.S. forces thought it was something serious, that they might be facing something serious there. The report on who was inside the house, the identities of those inside the house, came from the Al Jazeera television network, who said it spoke to eyewitnesses, who had said at some point Saddam Hussein's sons had been inside that house.
HARRIS: Very interesting. Harris Whitbeck, reporting live for us from Baghdad. Thank you, Harris.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
