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CNN Live Today
Another American Soldier Killed
Aired August 26, 2003 - 10:22 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: Another hotspot in the region continues to be Iraq. Yet another American soldier has been killed in an attack and two others have been wounded.
CNN's Rym Brahimi following these latest developments for us from Baghdad. She joins us now with the very latest.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that soldier that died was from the 3rd Core Support Commander. He was apparently killed in an attack involving an improvised explosive device. So when his convoy was hit by such an explosion, the two other injured soldiers were taken to a hospital. That brings up to 139, Leon, the number of U.S. soldiers that have died since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May the 1st. Now, that means that basically there's one soldier more that died in that period that died actually during the war.
Now, there are some 12 attacks daily against U.S. soldiers in the past few weeks and months even. That's been the trend, but U.S. military officials say they will not be deterred by what they call such acts of intimidation. They say they will provide to provide security and work to create a secure and safe environment for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Now, one of the things they've been doing to bring about that secure environment, they say, is conduct daily raids, not daily, but on a regular basis, at any rate, in several areas of the country. The last major raid last night, overnight rather, in an area about 70 kilometers or 40 miles north of the Iraqi capital, involving more than 100 U.S. soldiers. The raid was carried out to try and capture members of a criminal gang that the U.S. says is also involved in some guerrilla activity against U.S. troops.
Now, it's not clear whether they were able to capture the leader of that gang, but they were apparently able to capture some members of that criminal gang. Now, there are 136,000 soldiers from the United States here in Iraq, Leon, as you know.
Now, the U.S. says it's not prepared to bring in more U.S. troops, but it is asking international troops to send in their own soldiers. That's still going to be worked out at the United Nations, but meanwhile, there are other coalition countries that have soldiers here.
Among them, the Bulgarians. Earlier today in a ceremony, they took over from the U.S. Marines in the holy city of Kurballah (ph). Now that's the second holiest city in Iraq. It's also a place where there's a sacred shrine to the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed. The Bulgarian troops at the takeover ceremony actually said they will not be dealing with administrative civilian affairs, but they will be there to provide security -- Leon.
HARRIS: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Thank you very much, Rym. Appreciate that.
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 August 26, 2003 - 10:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Another hotspot in the region continues to be Iraq. Yet another American soldier has been killed in an attack and two others have been wounded.
CNN's Rym Brahimi following these latest developments for us from Baghdad. She joins us now with the very latest.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that soldier that died was from the 3rd Core Support Commander. He was apparently killed in an attack involving an improvised explosive device. So when his convoy was hit by such an explosion, the two other injured soldiers were taken to a hospital. That brings up to 139, Leon, the number of U.S. soldiers that have died since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May the 1st. Now, that means that basically there's one soldier more that died in that period that died actually during the war.
Now, there are some 12 attacks daily against U.S. soldiers in the past few weeks and months even. That's been the trend, but U.S. military officials say they will not be deterred by what they call such acts of intimidation. They say they will provide to provide security and work to create a secure and safe environment for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Now, one of the things they've been doing to bring about that secure environment, they say, is conduct daily raids, not daily, but on a regular basis, at any rate, in several areas of the country. The last major raid last night, overnight rather, in an area about 70 kilometers or 40 miles north of the Iraqi capital, involving more than 100 U.S. soldiers. The raid was carried out to try and capture members of a criminal gang that the U.S. says is also involved in some guerrilla activity against U.S. troops.
Now, it's not clear whether they were able to capture the leader of that gang, but they were apparently able to capture some members of that criminal gang. Now, there are 136,000 soldiers from the United States here in Iraq, Leon, as you know.
Now, the U.S. says it's not prepared to bring in more U.S. troops, but it is asking international troops to send in their own soldiers. That's still going to be worked out at the United Nations, but meanwhile, there are other coalition countries that have soldiers here.
Among them, the Bulgarians. Earlier today in a ceremony, they took over from the U.S. Marines in the holy city of Kurballah (ph). Now that's the second holiest city in Iraq. It's also a place where there's a sacred shrine to the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed. The Bulgarian troops at the takeover ceremony actually said they will not be dealing with administrative civilian affairs, but they will be there to provide security -- Leon.
HARRIS: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad. Thank you very much, Rym. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
