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CNN Live Saturday
Three British Soldiers killed in Basra
Aired August 23, 2003 - 14:14 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq the violence against coalition troops has moved south. Three British soldiers were killed in Basra.
CNN's Be Wedeman is in Baghdad -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened was earlier today a group of British vehicles were going through the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a city that by and large has been calm compared to, for instance, Baghdad in the central part of the country. They were going through the town on an ordinary drive-thru, when they apparently came under a hail of machine gunfire from another vehicle causing their cars to crash, leaving three British soldiers dead and one very seriously wounded.
Now this is the 10th British -- rather 10 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the May 1 declaration that combat is over by President Bush. A total of 47 British troops killed since the beginning of the war in March. Meanwhile, the remember Lebanese Broadcast Corporation aired a video statement by a group calls itself the Jaish Mohammed or Army of Mohammed. In that statement one of their members claimed responsibility on behalf of a sub brigade of Jaish Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the Tuesday's bombing of the United Nations headquarters which left at least 22 people dead. Now in that statement the individual said that the group had no ties -- or rather the people who undertook this attack on U.N. Headquarters were not from outside Iraq, they were native Iraqis. This contrary to the suggestions that some coalition officials that the bombing was some how orchestrated by foreign elements.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, U.N. workers from U.N. headquarters went back to work. However this time they are functioning out of tents and other temporary headquarters until some sort of more permanent arrangement can be made.
Meanwhile, in the city of Kirkuk, U.S. forces came upon a demonstration or rather a clash there between ethnic Kurds, and ethnic Turks, otherwise known as Turkoman. There apparently U.S. forces came under fire from some of these people involved in the clash. United States forces returned fire leaving two people -- Turokmen dead, and two others wounded. Now, against this backdrop of violence and unrest, the chief American administrator, Mr. L. Paul Bremer III, came out and said he had a swelling tied of good news relating to the restoration of basic public services to prewar levels. And for instance, he said that all of Iraq's 240 hospitals are now up and running. That Iraqi schools would soon be opening, again, for the fall semester. Nonetheless, he did make a tie, or a connection between the attack on U.N. headquarters, and the U.S. war on terrorism, saying there could well be a link. And that in his words, Iraq has now become one of the fields in America's global war on terrorism -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Ben Wedeman, reporting live from Baghdad thanks 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 August 23, 2003 - 14:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq the violence against coalition troops has moved south. Three British soldiers were killed in Basra.
CNN's Be Wedeman is in Baghdad -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened was earlier today a group of British vehicles were going through the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a city that by and large has been calm compared to, for instance, Baghdad in the central part of the country. They were going through the town on an ordinary drive-thru, when they apparently came under a hail of machine gunfire from another vehicle causing their cars to crash, leaving three British soldiers dead and one very seriously wounded.
Now this is the 10th British -- rather 10 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the May 1 declaration that combat is over by President Bush. A total of 47 British troops killed since the beginning of the war in March. Meanwhile, the remember Lebanese Broadcast Corporation aired a video statement by a group calls itself the Jaish Mohammed or Army of Mohammed. In that statement one of their members claimed responsibility on behalf of a sub brigade of Jaish Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the Tuesday's bombing of the United Nations headquarters which left at least 22 people dead. Now in that statement the individual said that the group had no ties -- or rather the people who undertook this attack on U.N. Headquarters were not from outside Iraq, they were native Iraqis. This contrary to the suggestions that some coalition officials that the bombing was some how orchestrated by foreign elements.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, U.N. workers from U.N. headquarters went back to work. However this time they are functioning out of tents and other temporary headquarters until some sort of more permanent arrangement can be made.
Meanwhile, in the city of Kirkuk, U.S. forces came upon a demonstration or rather a clash there between ethnic Kurds, and ethnic Turks, otherwise known as Turkoman. There apparently U.S. forces came under fire from some of these people involved in the clash. United States forces returned fire leaving two people -- Turokmen dead, and two others wounded. Now, against this backdrop of violence and unrest, the chief American administrator, Mr. L. Paul Bremer III, came out and said he had a swelling tied of good news relating to the restoration of basic public services to prewar levels. And for instance, he said that all of Iraq's 240 hospitals are now up and running. That Iraqi schools would soon be opening, again, for the fall semester. Nonetheless, he did make a tie, or a connection between the attack on U.N. headquarters, and the U.S. war on terrorism, saying there could well be a link. And that in his words, Iraq has now become one of the fields in America's global war on terrorism -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Ben Wedeman, reporting live from Baghdad thanks 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
