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CNN Live Saturday
New Suicide Bombings in Baghdad
Aired November 22, 2003 - 18:03 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Iraq, there were new suicide attacks today and a plane taking off from Baghdad was the target of a missile. CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALT RODGERS, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What is left of this town's police force is a crater stares down at the crater left by a car bomb that targeted their police station in Khan Bani Saad northeast of Baghdad. Nearby an Iraqi policeman's arm band. Half a dozen Iraqi policemen as well as some civilians died in this blast, so powerful it knocked over trees and lifted the suicide bombers car into the air over an earthen barrier throwing it next to this building..
CAPT. RYAN MCCORMACK, U.S. ARMY: What we believe happened is a vehicle tried to enter the police station, the police reacted and fired upon the vehicle with AK-47 fire, at which time the vehicle exploded and the injuries occurred.
RODGERS: Not just Iraqi police died here, across the street crimson blood stains marking where a five-year-old girl was also killed in the monstrous blast. Looking on, a U.S. soldier laconically puffs a cigarette. This as these bombings and the killing become increasingly common. At another police station in Baqubah, also northeast of Baghdad a pattern emerges. A second suicide bomber strikes killing at least 10 here, the insurgents aiming to demoralize and destabilize the American installed police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
RODGERS: This Iraqi policeman said, I just arrived at my office, I heard a loud explosion and saw fire wounded colleagues in the corridor.
(GUNFIRE)
RODGERS: The previous night soldiers of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division cornered a former Iraqi Lieutenant General Taha Hassan (ph) suspected of being responsible for similar attacks on police stations. Violence begetting violence. Terrified women, tense and taunt soldiers, still the target of the raid, General Hassan is believe to have ordered mortars fired at the local police station. And his arrest testifies to a spreading circle of violence here. At Baghdad's Airport a really close call, a cargo plane on landing approach is struck by a surface-to-air missile. Iraqi insurgents have downed military helicopters, but previous missiles fired at planes missed, not this time. The pilot was, however, able to land his crippled plane with no fatalities.
(on camera): This was the week the U.S. military repeatedly said it was gaining control of the situation, curbing violence in and around Baghdad. But with at least 38 Iraqi policemen killed, wounded or missing in Saturday's bombings alone, stability here seems as allusive as ever.
Walter Rodgers, 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 November 22, 2003 - 18:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Iraq, there were new suicide attacks today and a plane taking off from Baghdad was the target of a missile. CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALT RODGERS, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What is left of this town's police force is a crater stares down at the crater left by a car bomb that targeted their police station in Khan Bani Saad northeast of Baghdad. Nearby an Iraqi policeman's arm band. Half a dozen Iraqi policemen as well as some civilians died in this blast, so powerful it knocked over trees and lifted the suicide bombers car into the air over an earthen barrier throwing it next to this building..
CAPT. RYAN MCCORMACK, U.S. ARMY: What we believe happened is a vehicle tried to enter the police station, the police reacted and fired upon the vehicle with AK-47 fire, at which time the vehicle exploded and the injuries occurred.
RODGERS: Not just Iraqi police died here, across the street crimson blood stains marking where a five-year-old girl was also killed in the monstrous blast. Looking on, a U.S. soldier laconically puffs a cigarette. This as these bombings and the killing become increasingly common. At another police station in Baqubah, also northeast of Baghdad a pattern emerges. A second suicide bomber strikes killing at least 10 here, the insurgents aiming to demoralize and destabilize the American installed police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
RODGERS: This Iraqi policeman said, I just arrived at my office, I heard a loud explosion and saw fire wounded colleagues in the corridor.
(GUNFIRE)
RODGERS: The previous night soldiers of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division cornered a former Iraqi Lieutenant General Taha Hassan (ph) suspected of being responsible for similar attacks on police stations. Violence begetting violence. Terrified women, tense and taunt soldiers, still the target of the raid, General Hassan is believe to have ordered mortars fired at the local police station. And his arrest testifies to a spreading circle of violence here. At Baghdad's Airport a really close call, a cargo plane on landing approach is struck by a surface-to-air missile. Iraqi insurgents have downed military helicopters, but previous missiles fired at planes missed, not this time. The pilot was, however, able to land his crippled plane with no fatalities.
(on camera): This was the week the U.S. military repeatedly said it was gaining control of the situation, curbing violence in and around Baghdad. But with at least 38 Iraqi policemen killed, wounded or missing in Saturday's bombings alone, stability here seems as allusive as ever.
Walter Rodgers, 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
