Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Bombings Follow U.S. Raids on Insurgents
Aired January 09, 2004 - 10:00 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to go ahead and begin this hour Iraq, where there have been two bombings, one, the deadly blast at a mosque, the other, an attack in the heart of Baghdad.
And in Tikrit, an overnight series of U.S. raids targeting suspected Fedayeen members.
Let's go to the capital now and our Karl Penhaul.
Karl, hello.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
That explosion came in Bakubur (ph) worshipers were leaving Friday prayers this afternoon. Coalition military spokesman have told us that they confirmed four people dead and 36 other injured at this stage. The attack came on a Shia mosque in the city of Bakubur. Bakubur is about 40 miles north of Baghdad, and most of the population there are Sunni. That's the other branch of Islam.
Now so far, there's been no claim of responsibility for that attack. And coalition military sources haven't been able to tell us what kind of device this was that caused the explosion, so still, a number of question marks over why this Shia mosque was targeted, though in some areas of Iraq these days there is tension between those two branches of Islam, between the Shias and between the Sunnis.
Now in another incident, the overnight raid in Tikrit -- that's obviously the old hometown of Saddam Hussein -- around 300 soldiers in the 4th Infantry Division were in action there, sweeping through that town, backed by armored units, backed by armored cars with aviation overhead, and they raided some 20 homes and a number of shops as well. Coalition spokesman say that they detained a total of 30 people, but they're most interested in 12 people that they suspect were former members of the old Fedayeen militia. That's the old paramilitary militia under Saddam Hussein. And the coalition believe that these people, are now those leading the anti-coalition insurgency in that area. So obviously, another attempt by the coalition to mop up the insurgent activity going on there.
The other incident that you mentioned, Daryn, was the attack on a Baghdad hotel, the Borgeau Hyatt (ph). That's used primarily these days by U.S. contractors. We're told by guards at the hotel that shortly after dawn this morning, four gunmen got out of two vehicles, began spraying the hotel with bullets, and they also fired rocket- propelled grenades at the hotel. There was damage there, but no casualties. The attackers fled in those cars. HEMMER: Karl Penhaul in Baghdad. Karl, thank you for 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 January 9, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to go ahead and begin this hour Iraq, where there have been two bombings, one, the deadly blast at a mosque, the other, an attack in the heart of Baghdad.
And in Tikrit, an overnight series of U.S. raids targeting suspected Fedayeen members.
Let's go to the capital now and our Karl Penhaul.
Karl, hello.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
That explosion came in Bakubur (ph) worshipers were leaving Friday prayers this afternoon. Coalition military spokesman have told us that they confirmed four people dead and 36 other injured at this stage. The attack came on a Shia mosque in the city of Bakubur. Bakubur is about 40 miles north of Baghdad, and most of the population there are Sunni. That's the other branch of Islam.
Now so far, there's been no claim of responsibility for that attack. And coalition military sources haven't been able to tell us what kind of device this was that caused the explosion, so still, a number of question marks over why this Shia mosque was targeted, though in some areas of Iraq these days there is tension between those two branches of Islam, between the Shias and between the Sunnis.
Now in another incident, the overnight raid in Tikrit -- that's obviously the old hometown of Saddam Hussein -- around 300 soldiers in the 4th Infantry Division were in action there, sweeping through that town, backed by armored units, backed by armored cars with aviation overhead, and they raided some 20 homes and a number of shops as well. Coalition spokesman say that they detained a total of 30 people, but they're most interested in 12 people that they suspect were former members of the old Fedayeen militia. That's the old paramilitary militia under Saddam Hussein. And the coalition believe that these people, are now those leading the anti-coalition insurgency in that area. So obviously, another attempt by the coalition to mop up the insurgent activity going on there.
The other incident that you mentioned, Daryn, was the attack on a Baghdad hotel, the Borgeau Hyatt (ph). That's used primarily these days by U.S. contractors. We're told by guards at the hotel that shortly after dawn this morning, four gunmen got out of two vehicles, began spraying the hotel with bullets, and they also fired rocket- propelled grenades at the hotel. There was damage there, but no casualties. The attackers fled in those cars. HEMMER: Karl Penhaul in Baghdad. Karl, thank you for 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
