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CNN Live At Daybreak

67 Dead in Erbil Bombings

Aired February 02, 2004 - 06:37   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: To Iraq now. The U.S. military has raised the official death toll in this weekend's suicide bombings to 67.
Live to Erbil and Jane Arraf.

Hello -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Carol.

We're here in front of one of the sites of just one of the bombings. Now, these were devastating blasts set off simultaneously. You can see behind me a little bit of the destruction that this one caused. The building has been virtually blown apart, as has the other headquarters across town.

Now, in them, all you can see are blood-stained, shattered furniture. In one of the buildings, a tray of sweets that had been swept aside when the blast detonated. We are told these were very sophisticated explosives.

And at the headquarters across town, we're also told by Kurdish officials that the blast was detonated when a person packed with explosives reached out to shake the hand of a senior Kurdish official and detonated the blast around himself.

People here are deeply in shock and deeply in mourning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live from Erbil, Iraq, 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 February 2, 2004 - 06:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now. The U.S. military has raised the official death toll in this weekend's suicide bombings to 67.
Live to Erbil and Jane Arraf.

Hello -- Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Carol.

We're here in front of one of the sites of just one of the bombings. Now, these were devastating blasts set off simultaneously. You can see behind me a little bit of the destruction that this one caused. The building has been virtually blown apart, as has the other headquarters across town.

Now, in them, all you can see are blood-stained, shattered furniture. In one of the buildings, a tray of sweets that had been swept aside when the blast detonated. We are told these were very sophisticated explosives.

And at the headquarters across town, we're also told by Kurdish officials that the blast was detonated when a person packed with explosives reached out to shake the hand of a senior Kurdish official and detonated the blast around himself.

People here are deeply in shock and deeply in mourning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live from Erbil, Iraq, 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.