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CNN Live Saturday
Another Bloody Day in Iraq
Aired July 05, 2003 - 18:09 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.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Another bloody day in Iraq. A British journalist was shot and killed in Baghdad, and in a town not far away an explosion claimed the lives of Iraqis dedicated to restoring order.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The blast appears to be an attempt to undermine the cooperation between Iraqi police and U.S. troops in the town of Ramadi.
Ramadi is a town that has a history of support for Saddam Hussein. This attack comes just a day after a tape purporting to be the voice of Saddam Hussein warned people, warned Iraqis not to cooperate with U.S. troops.
Eyewitnesses describe these police cadets, who were just coming from a training session with U.S. troops, walking down the road as they have done every day of the last week or so walking from the training academy back to their headquarters when the explosion happened.
People described the many injuries at the side of the street, people with head injuries, leg injuries, arm injuries. The eyewitnesses say people were bundled into vehicles, taken to the local hospital for treatment but many of the people we spoke to at the scene there said that they believe the U.S. troops were responsible for placing the explosive device at the side of the road.
However, one senior police officer we saw there tried to explain to the crowds that he didn't believe that. He tried to explain to them that the reason the police were getting the training and providing the cooperation with the U.S. troops was to provide security in the town and he said that he believed it was subversive elements that were trying to undermine that cooperation that were behind the attack and that was certainly the view of the commanding U.S. officer in the area we talked with.
He said the explosive device used was very similar to an explosive device used to target his troops just a few days before. He said it was a few sticks of explosives with a remote-controlled detonation device apparently detonated as that group of cadets were walking down the street past the sack that it was in.
The U.S. commander and the troops at his base also told us that recently their base has seen an increased number of attacks, five mortar attacks in recent days, but certainly this attack on these Iraqi policemen designed in the view of police officials, designed in the view of U.S. officials in the town of Ramadi designed to undermine the cooperation and try and put Iraqi people off from cooperating with the coalition, with the U.S. troops.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 July 5, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Another bloody day in Iraq. A British journalist was shot and killed in Baghdad, and in a town not far away an explosion claimed the lives of Iraqis dedicated to restoring order.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The blast appears to be an attempt to undermine the cooperation between Iraqi police and U.S. troops in the town of Ramadi.
Ramadi is a town that has a history of support for Saddam Hussein. This attack comes just a day after a tape purporting to be the voice of Saddam Hussein warned people, warned Iraqis not to cooperate with U.S. troops.
Eyewitnesses describe these police cadets, who were just coming from a training session with U.S. troops, walking down the road as they have done every day of the last week or so walking from the training academy back to their headquarters when the explosion happened.
People described the many injuries at the side of the street, people with head injuries, leg injuries, arm injuries. The eyewitnesses say people were bundled into vehicles, taken to the local hospital for treatment but many of the people we spoke to at the scene there said that they believe the U.S. troops were responsible for placing the explosive device at the side of the road.
However, one senior police officer we saw there tried to explain to the crowds that he didn't believe that. He tried to explain to them that the reason the police were getting the training and providing the cooperation with the U.S. troops was to provide security in the town and he said that he believed it was subversive elements that were trying to undermine that cooperation that were behind the attack and that was certainly the view of the commanding U.S. officer in the area we talked with.
He said the explosive device used was very similar to an explosive device used to target his troops just a few days before. He said it was a few sticks of explosives with a remote-controlled detonation device apparently detonated as that group of cadets were walking down the street past the sack that it was in.
The U.S. commander and the troops at his base also told us that recently their base has seen an increased number of attacks, five mortar attacks in recent days, but certainly this attack on these Iraqi policemen designed in the view of police officials, designed in the view of U.S. officials in the town of Ramadi designed to undermine the cooperation and try and put Iraqi people off from cooperating with the coalition, with the U.S. troops.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
