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CNN Live Today

10 Killed in Explosion in Baghdad

Aired December 17, 2003 - 10:24   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in on Baghdad now. A truck that was speeding toward an Iraqi police station apparently blew up early today, just short of its suspected target. At least 10 people were killed.
Our CNN's Satinder Bindra joins us from Baghdad with the latest.

Satinder, hello.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn, four days after the capture of Saddam Hussein, there's no letup in the violence here. And as you mentioned, another huge explosion this morning in Baghdad. There was a bomb, police sources say, it was placed on a truck, and the truck's original target was a police station, but just as this truck was crossing a busy intersection, the bomb exploded prematurely. Now at least 10 people who were passengers in a bus were killed, 15 others were injured. They've been taken to hospitals, where some of them have pretty horrible burn injuries.

Now, Daryn, one thing about these explosions. They've been going on for several weeks here, and if these had happened in any other city, you would see people fleeing from the streets, but as I walk about Baghdad, you see people are there in the streets. They're going about their business, and you almost get a sense there's a bit of bomb fatigue here now.

KAGAN: Satinder, what is it about police stations that they are continually a target there in Baghdad?

BINDRA: Well, most of these police stations are now, Daryn, staffed by Iraqi police officials. Thousands of them have been trained by American forces here, and for the insurgents, these Iraqi policemen are seen as a sellout. So they've been targeted. The security around them is not quite that much, and we've seen repeated attacks against them for the past several weeks here now.

KAGAN: Satinder Bindra in Baghdad, thank you for that.

New details are emerging about the dramatic capture of Saddam Hussein. According to U.S. officials, a trail turned red hot with the arrest of one man who was carrying some $2 million.

Our Alfonso Van Marsh is embedded with the 4th Infantry Division, who captured the former Iraqi leader. He is with us via videophone this morning from Tikrit.

Alfonso, hello. ALFONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning.

There's still a lot of buzz here, even though there's been a couple of days since the former Iraq leader was taken into custody. But the buzz at Raider Base is still over that historic raid over the weekend. I'll remind our viewers that over the weekend, CNN brought them exclusive pictures of U.S. service members that took part in that raid, coming on back to the base, celebrating, talking about what had happened, getting a pep talk from the military leadership, even taking pictures with each other in that celebratory, congratulatory mood.

KAGAN: That's all right.

Alfonso, I wanted to ask you about that night. As we said, you're embedded with this unit, and you've gotten perhaps some hints that perhaps something really big had happened, but I would imagine that being where you are on assignment, that there have been false alarms before that perhaps Saddam Hussein had been captured. How can you tell it's the tell it was the real deal?

VAN MARSH: Well, there are a couple of different things we can observe here. Let me tell viewers a little bit more about the embedded process. We use the phrase a lot. What it actually means is I actually live here amongst the soldiers at the 4th Infantry Division. That means I see them going in and out of work, I see them go on raids, I see them when they're on guard duty, I see them in the chow hall.

Now of course we maintain our journalist independence in terms of not getting close to the soldiers. But on thing I noticed on that night, there are usually two Bradley vehicles parked outside the CNN workspace. Those vehicles were gone that night. That was the first indication that something different or something big had been going on. Now when the those troops got back, again, we saw the exclusive video over the weekend of the soldiers. When I saw their faces, they were clearly excited. Something amazing had happened. Those were some of the first clues that something was going on. Unfortunately, due to the CNN's kind of global reach, we were able to put the pieces together, and then eventually, we were able to figure out that Saddam Hussein, of course, was in U.S. custody and now currently at an undisclosed location.

KAGAN: And from a journalistic standpoint in terms of your career, has it been able to sink in yet, what exactly that you had the front row seat to witness?

VAN MARSH: Well, you tell me. You see a lot of our executives out there. What's the buzz? So far here, everything seems great.

KAGAN: The buzz is you did a great job, Alfonso, and people are pleased with what you're doing. So you stay safe and you continue the good work there. Good to have you here with us.

VAN MARSH: Thank you. I'm just one member of a very large team. Thank you so much.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Important to remember, a lot of folks working behind the camera as well. Alfonso Van Marsh and his crew joining us there from Tikrit. Thank you so much.

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 17, 2003 - 10:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in on Baghdad now. A truck that was speeding toward an Iraqi police station apparently blew up early today, just short of its suspected target. At least 10 people were killed.
Our CNN's Satinder Bindra joins us from Baghdad with the latest.

Satinder, hello.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn, four days after the capture of Saddam Hussein, there's no letup in the violence here. And as you mentioned, another huge explosion this morning in Baghdad. There was a bomb, police sources say, it was placed on a truck, and the truck's original target was a police station, but just as this truck was crossing a busy intersection, the bomb exploded prematurely. Now at least 10 people who were passengers in a bus were killed, 15 others were injured. They've been taken to hospitals, where some of them have pretty horrible burn injuries.

Now, Daryn, one thing about these explosions. They've been going on for several weeks here, and if these had happened in any other city, you would see people fleeing from the streets, but as I walk about Baghdad, you see people are there in the streets. They're going about their business, and you almost get a sense there's a bit of bomb fatigue here now.

KAGAN: Satinder, what is it about police stations that they are continually a target there in Baghdad?

BINDRA: Well, most of these police stations are now, Daryn, staffed by Iraqi police officials. Thousands of them have been trained by American forces here, and for the insurgents, these Iraqi policemen are seen as a sellout. So they've been targeted. The security around them is not quite that much, and we've seen repeated attacks against them for the past several weeks here now.

KAGAN: Satinder Bindra in Baghdad, thank you for that.

New details are emerging about the dramatic capture of Saddam Hussein. According to U.S. officials, a trail turned red hot with the arrest of one man who was carrying some $2 million.

Our Alfonso Van Marsh is embedded with the 4th Infantry Division, who captured the former Iraqi leader. He is with us via videophone this morning from Tikrit.

Alfonso, hello. ALFONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning.

There's still a lot of buzz here, even though there's been a couple of days since the former Iraq leader was taken into custody. But the buzz at Raider Base is still over that historic raid over the weekend. I'll remind our viewers that over the weekend, CNN brought them exclusive pictures of U.S. service members that took part in that raid, coming on back to the base, celebrating, talking about what had happened, getting a pep talk from the military leadership, even taking pictures with each other in that celebratory, congratulatory mood.

KAGAN: That's all right.

Alfonso, I wanted to ask you about that night. As we said, you're embedded with this unit, and you've gotten perhaps some hints that perhaps something really big had happened, but I would imagine that being where you are on assignment, that there have been false alarms before that perhaps Saddam Hussein had been captured. How can you tell it's the tell it was the real deal?

VAN MARSH: Well, there are a couple of different things we can observe here. Let me tell viewers a little bit more about the embedded process. We use the phrase a lot. What it actually means is I actually live here amongst the soldiers at the 4th Infantry Division. That means I see them going in and out of work, I see them go on raids, I see them when they're on guard duty, I see them in the chow hall.

Now of course we maintain our journalist independence in terms of not getting close to the soldiers. But on thing I noticed on that night, there are usually two Bradley vehicles parked outside the CNN workspace. Those vehicles were gone that night. That was the first indication that something different or something big had been going on. Now when the those troops got back, again, we saw the exclusive video over the weekend of the soldiers. When I saw their faces, they were clearly excited. Something amazing had happened. Those were some of the first clues that something was going on. Unfortunately, due to the CNN's kind of global reach, we were able to put the pieces together, and then eventually, we were able to figure out that Saddam Hussein, of course, was in U.S. custody and now currently at an undisclosed location.

KAGAN: And from a journalistic standpoint in terms of your career, has it been able to sink in yet, what exactly that you had the front row seat to witness?

VAN MARSH: Well, you tell me. You see a lot of our executives out there. What's the buzz? So far here, everything seems great.

KAGAN: The buzz is you did a great job, Alfonso, and people are pleased with what you're doing. So you stay safe and you continue the good work there. Good to have you here with us.

VAN MARSH: Thank you. I'm just one member of a very large team. Thank you so much.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Important to remember, a lot of folks working behind the camera as well. Alfonso Van Marsh and his crew joining us there from Tikrit. Thank you so much.

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