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American Morning

Embassy Bombings

Aired October 14, 2003 - 09:39   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Getting the latest out of Baghdad now, I want to get to the scene right now.
Harris Whitbeck standing by on the scene, the Turkish embassy there, where at least two are dead, including the suicide bomber who apparently drove this car.

Harris, what have you learned there?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

As you can see, the U.S. military here has taken control of the street that runs in front of the Turkish embassy. A car bomb, at least one car bomb did go off, two explosions were heard. One car bomb is confirmed to have gone off. And among the dead, the suicide bomber. Coalition officials are saying that one person died. People on the ground are saying two people actually died during this car bombing, which occurred at around 2:30 in the afternoon local time. Eight people wounded. At this hour, again, the situation well under control.

The next step here is for the Iraqi police to come in and to begin the preliminary investigative work. That is what happened after the bombing of the Baghdad Hotel, and they will be looking for similarities between these two events and between several car bombings that have occurred in the Iraqi capital since last August -- Bill.

HEMMER: Harris, you reported earlier this concrete structure may have prevented a lot further damage in terms of human life. You have more on that?

WHITBECK: That's correct. People here say that the -- what they call blast walls, which are basically large concrete barriers, or large containers filled with dirt, had been erected in front of the embassy, and that those blast walls probably absorbed about 90 percent of the explosive impact of that suicide bomb. So that lessened the damage to the building and probably saved a lot of lives inside of the embassy, because the embassy of course did not collapse.

But again, these bombs are very powerful. The blast was actually heard at our location at the Palestine Hotel, which is several blocks away. And the blast again was powerful enough to cause the deaths of two people, including the suicide bomber, and eight people who were inside the building itself.

HEMMER: Harris, as you well know, about a week ago, the Turkish parliament approved sending troops eventually at some point to help with the reconstruction effort there. It did not go over well with the Kurds in the north. We know the history in that part of the country. Do you know of any threats that have been made against the Turkish embassy in the past week since that vote was passed?

WHITBECK: Well, we haven't been able to confirm this, but some people here on the ground say that they had heard that the embassy had received a threatening phone call about three days ago. We've not been able to speak to embassy diplomats or officials to confirm that. But people here on the ground, people who apparently have something to do with the embassy, local staff perhaps, say that a threatening phone call had been heard before.

As you know, embassies have been targeted in the past. The Jordanian embassy was targeted several weeks ago, and all embassies, all diplomat representations in Baghdad have taken extreme security measures since these suicide bombings began several weeks ago.

HEMMER: Harris, thanks, be safe over there. Again, on the streets of Baghdad right near the embassy, the Turkish embassy, at least two dead, including one of the drivers of that suicide car bombing.

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 October 14, 2003 - 09:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Getting the latest out of Baghdad now, I want to get to the scene right now.
Harris Whitbeck standing by on the scene, the Turkish embassy there, where at least two are dead, including the suicide bomber who apparently drove this car.

Harris, what have you learned there?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

As you can see, the U.S. military here has taken control of the street that runs in front of the Turkish embassy. A car bomb, at least one car bomb did go off, two explosions were heard. One car bomb is confirmed to have gone off. And among the dead, the suicide bomber. Coalition officials are saying that one person died. People on the ground are saying two people actually died during this car bombing, which occurred at around 2:30 in the afternoon local time. Eight people wounded. At this hour, again, the situation well under control.

The next step here is for the Iraqi police to come in and to begin the preliminary investigative work. That is what happened after the bombing of the Baghdad Hotel, and they will be looking for similarities between these two events and between several car bombings that have occurred in the Iraqi capital since last August -- Bill.

HEMMER: Harris, you reported earlier this concrete structure may have prevented a lot further damage in terms of human life. You have more on that?

WHITBECK: That's correct. People here say that the -- what they call blast walls, which are basically large concrete barriers, or large containers filled with dirt, had been erected in front of the embassy, and that those blast walls probably absorbed about 90 percent of the explosive impact of that suicide bomb. So that lessened the damage to the building and probably saved a lot of lives inside of the embassy, because the embassy of course did not collapse.

But again, these bombs are very powerful. The blast was actually heard at our location at the Palestine Hotel, which is several blocks away. And the blast again was powerful enough to cause the deaths of two people, including the suicide bomber, and eight people who were inside the building itself.

HEMMER: Harris, as you well know, about a week ago, the Turkish parliament approved sending troops eventually at some point to help with the reconstruction effort there. It did not go over well with the Kurds in the north. We know the history in that part of the country. Do you know of any threats that have been made against the Turkish embassy in the past week since that vote was passed?

WHITBECK: Well, we haven't been able to confirm this, but some people here on the ground say that they had heard that the embassy had received a threatening phone call about three days ago. We've not been able to speak to embassy diplomats or officials to confirm that. But people here on the ground, people who apparently have something to do with the embassy, local staff perhaps, say that a threatening phone call had been heard before.

As you know, embassies have been targeted in the past. The Jordanian embassy was targeted several weeks ago, and all embassies, all diplomat representations in Baghdad have taken extreme security measures since these suicide bombings began several weeks ago.

HEMMER: Harris, thanks, be safe over there. Again, on the streets of Baghdad right near the embassy, the Turkish embassy, at least two dead, including one of the drivers of that suicide car bombing.

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