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CNN Live At Daybreak

One U.S. Soldier, Three Iraqis Killed on Roadside Blast

Aired December 05, 2003 - 06:01   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: We want to take you live to Baghdad now, where another one of those improvised roadside bombs explodes, and there are deaths and injuries.
Walter Rodgers is in the Iraqi capital to tell us more.

Hello -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The target was a U.S. military convoy, but circumstances combined to kill Iraqi civilians in the process. A three-vehicle U.S. military convoy, three Humvees, riding through southeastern Baghdad close to a mosque on the busy Friday, the Muslim prayer day, and what happened was a roadside bomb was in the median island in the middle of the road. It was detonated.

One American soldier was killed almost instantly, and then three Iraqis -- at least three Iraqis were also killed. What made it particularly bad, of course, was that the Iraqi bus was passing the American military convoy just when the Iraqi insurgents detonated that remotely-controlled device.

Walid Abdul Safer (ph) was there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I heard the large explosion on the main street. I saw American Hummers. One was hit and the other pulled up a little further. Two injured soldiers got out of the vehicle, and the American driver was dead and slumped over the steering wheel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The carnage was everywhere. The bus driver's body was seen lying in the road. The Iraqi police say three Iraqis were killed in the roadside bomb explosion.

However, Iraqi eyewitnesses say that six Iraqis were killed and upwards of a dozen or more injured and taken to a hospital. It was a very indiscriminate attack. The Iraqi insurgents didn't mind whether they killed their fellow Muslims or not. Their target was to kill Americans, and they killed one American, two other Americans injured in this blast -- this roadside bomb blast; again, southeastern Baghdad. Coincidentally or not coincidentally, it was timed on the very same day that the U.S. secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to ask you, Walter. That bus just happened to be in front of that U.S. military convoy. You know, these guerrillas seem to know the routes of these convoys, because the bombs are planted on the road, of course, before the convoys pass by. Is there any plan to change the route? Can they do that?

RODGERS: Well, these routes change constantly. I think the military is doing the best it can to protect its own men. The problem is it is so easy for guerrillas to attack weak vehicles -- that is, unarmored vehicles or relatively unarmored vehicles, like these Humvees. And the U.S. is responsible for maintaining some semblance of order here.

Most of the time, U.S. forces are behind big concrete barricades here, but they have to come out and do their job. The Iraqi guerrillas know that. And, as I say, the Iraqi guerrillas don't care whether they kill their fellow Muslims or not. They just want to kill Americans, and another American died today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers reporting live from Baghdad for us.

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 December 5, 2003 - 06:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you live to Baghdad now, where another one of those improvised roadside bombs explodes, and there are deaths and injuries.
Walter Rodgers is in the Iraqi capital to tell us more.

Hello -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The target was a U.S. military convoy, but circumstances combined to kill Iraqi civilians in the process. A three-vehicle U.S. military convoy, three Humvees, riding through southeastern Baghdad close to a mosque on the busy Friday, the Muslim prayer day, and what happened was a roadside bomb was in the median island in the middle of the road. It was detonated.

One American soldier was killed almost instantly, and then three Iraqis -- at least three Iraqis were also killed. What made it particularly bad, of course, was that the Iraqi bus was passing the American military convoy just when the Iraqi insurgents detonated that remotely-controlled device.

Walid Abdul Safer (ph) was there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I heard the large explosion on the main street. I saw American Hummers. One was hit and the other pulled up a little further. Two injured soldiers got out of the vehicle, and the American driver was dead and slumped over the steering wheel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: The carnage was everywhere. The bus driver's body was seen lying in the road. The Iraqi police say three Iraqis were killed in the roadside bomb explosion.

However, Iraqi eyewitnesses say that six Iraqis were killed and upwards of a dozen or more injured and taken to a hospital. It was a very indiscriminate attack. The Iraqi insurgents didn't mind whether they killed their fellow Muslims or not. Their target was to kill Americans, and they killed one American, two other Americans injured in this blast -- this roadside bomb blast; again, southeastern Baghdad. Coincidentally or not coincidentally, it was timed on the very same day that the U.S. secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to ask you, Walter. That bus just happened to be in front of that U.S. military convoy. You know, these guerrillas seem to know the routes of these convoys, because the bombs are planted on the road, of course, before the convoys pass by. Is there any plan to change the route? Can they do that?

RODGERS: Well, these routes change constantly. I think the military is doing the best it can to protect its own men. The problem is it is so easy for guerrillas to attack weak vehicles -- that is, unarmored vehicles or relatively unarmored vehicles, like these Humvees. And the U.S. is responsible for maintaining some semblance of order here.

Most of the time, U.S. forces are behind big concrete barricades here, but they have to come out and do their job. The Iraqi guerrillas know that. And, as I say, the Iraqi guerrillas don't care whether they kill their fellow Muslims or not. They just want to kill Americans, and another American died today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers reporting live from Baghdad for us.

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