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CNN Live At Daybreak
Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Aired November 24, 2003 - 06:00 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: Gunfire over Iraq, celebratory gunfire at the end of Ramadan. That means no more daytime fasting and Americans hope a lessening of random deadly attacks. That is the hope after a particularly grizzly weekend for coalition forces.
Let's head live to Baghdad and Christiane Amanpour.
Hello -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, indeed there were a total of three U.S. soldiers killed over the weekend. Two of those were killed in Mosul. And still, investigations are going on by the military into exactly how they met their deaths.
It seems to be clear that they were traveling, according to pictures we've seen and according to military spokespeople who have spoken about this incident, they were traveling in a civilian vehicle. There was gunfire. They appeared to have been killed in some kind of a traffic accident, and then witnesses say that their bodies were dragged from the car and stripped of their belongings.
It also appeared that they may have been, again, shot at close range, but were not entirely clear. We don't have the full official version, the autopsy and what the American military want to tell us is the full official version, and we're still waiting for that. But certainly, there are eyewitnesses who have given any number of fairly gruesome reports about what happened.
Now, that was in Mosul in the north, and as I say, investigations continue.
Down near Baghdad yesterday, there was another American soldier killed by one of these improvised explosive devices -- these explosives that are put by the side of the road and then detonated by remote control. This did kill one soldier from the 4th Infantry Division in a town called Ba'qubah, and it also injured two others.
Now, there was another incident, according to Iraqi police today, in which an explosive device was detonated, but in that incident none of the American soldiers were wounded, and just the vehicle was destroyed, and that was taken away.
But certainly, there is concern about what has been going on. Military officials tell us that they believe that the several weeks of Operation Iron Hammer, when they have launched their strongest raids on targets since the war officially ended, they believe that that, they hope, will have some effect. And they're continuing to go out on night raids fairly frequently to try to capitalize on some of the intelligence they say they've received and capture some of the people they hope that they can capture, who have been making these attacks against U.S. soldiers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour reporting 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 November 24, 2003 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gunfire over Iraq, celebratory gunfire at the end of Ramadan. That means no more daytime fasting and Americans hope a lessening of random deadly attacks. That is the hope after a particularly grizzly weekend for coalition forces.
Let's head live to Baghdad and Christiane Amanpour.
Hello -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, indeed there were a total of three U.S. soldiers killed over the weekend. Two of those were killed in Mosul. And still, investigations are going on by the military into exactly how they met their deaths.
It seems to be clear that they were traveling, according to pictures we've seen and according to military spokespeople who have spoken about this incident, they were traveling in a civilian vehicle. There was gunfire. They appeared to have been killed in some kind of a traffic accident, and then witnesses say that their bodies were dragged from the car and stripped of their belongings.
It also appeared that they may have been, again, shot at close range, but were not entirely clear. We don't have the full official version, the autopsy and what the American military want to tell us is the full official version, and we're still waiting for that. But certainly, there are eyewitnesses who have given any number of fairly gruesome reports about what happened.
Now, that was in Mosul in the north, and as I say, investigations continue.
Down near Baghdad yesterday, there was another American soldier killed by one of these improvised explosive devices -- these explosives that are put by the side of the road and then detonated by remote control. This did kill one soldier from the 4th Infantry Division in a town called Ba'qubah, and it also injured two others.
Now, there was another incident, according to Iraqi police today, in which an explosive device was detonated, but in that incident none of the American soldiers were wounded, and just the vehicle was destroyed, and that was taken away.
But certainly, there is concern about what has been going on. Military officials tell us that they believe that the several weeks of Operation Iron Hammer, when they have launched their strongest raids on targets since the war officially ended, they believe that that, they hope, will have some effect. And they're continuing to go out on night raids fairly frequently to try to capitalize on some of the intelligence they say they've received and capture some of the people they hope that they can capture, who have been making these attacks against U.S. soldiers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour reporting 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.
